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platanus's review
3.0
It was a very solid adventure story, with the Red Wizards and their allies being bad without any other characteristics and the heroes being good with a little characteristic to set them apart.
Setting and plot were done neatly, nothing great but good enough, and let me warn you about the forced romance that made absolutely no impact at all in the story or even the characters for that matter.
Setting and plot were done neatly, nothing great but good enough, and let me warn you about the forced romance that made absolutely no impact at all in the story or even the characters for that matter.
emmaf09's review
3.0
If you've seen Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, this is a great entry into the Forgotten Realms series!
3 Harper Agents infiltrate Thay to investigate a Red Wizard who is building up a monstrous army of magical beasts.
Fun fun fun! I love a Forgotten Realms novel that spends time creating a well developed villain in addition to the heroes. It is satisfying to see him have a real personality, instead of just being a faceless bad guy. Thay is an exciting, creepy setting, and very different from the rest of the Realms. Rabe does an excellent job explaining and developing the setting without info dumping too much.
The Harper trio being so clearly over their head creates a super readable dynamic.
Despite being written by a woman, this book does not pass the Harem Test. (my own personal qualifier for a Forgotten Realms novel: Is there a mind wiped sex slave or harem that does whatever the bad guy wishes, or is used to tempt the hero.)
3 Harper Agents infiltrate Thay to investigate a Red Wizard who is building up a monstrous army of magical beasts.
Fun fun fun! I love a Forgotten Realms novel that spends time creating a well developed villain in addition to the heroes. It is satisfying to see him have a real personality, instead of just being a faceless bad guy. Thay is an exciting, creepy setting, and very different from the rest of the Realms. Rabe does an excellent job explaining and developing the setting without info dumping too much.
Spoiler
Szass Tam coming in as an even eviler, spookier bad guy is a fun touch.Despite being written by a woman, this book does not pass the Harem Test. (my own personal qualifier for a Forgotten Realms novel: Is there a mind wiped sex slave or harem that does whatever the bad guy wishes, or is used to tempt the hero.)
flashy99's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
dark_reader's review
1.0
Not the worst first outing for a new author, but it was lacking in many ways. I am glad that Jean Rabe has gone on to author many other works, because I could see potential here, but in many ways it cried out for a strong editor and/or some solid writing classes. I have the distinct sense that, at least in the early days of TSR book publishing in the Forgotten Realms line, they would give a book to any staff member who expressed an interest. This worked out well at times (for example, the writing couple Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak), maybe not so great at others.
The characters are one-dimensional, especially the villains. Unfortunately they are the most interesting of the bunch. The three heroes are lacking in personality, show only banal character growth, and lack any meaningful agency in the narrative. They are merely carried along, to ultimately place them in the villains' way at the end. Their driving 'mission' from the Harpers is pretty weaksauce.
Some scenes and events were utterly superfluous. For example, some slaves are purchased, engage in some minor highjinks, fail to have any dialogue, and then are released into the night, never to appear again. One character suffers severe memory loss from an attack, but then recovers before the next serious conflict, which rendered the event inconsequential and begs the question of why it was included at all. A certain class of undead are put forward as a vicious, barely-restrained threat to the heroes but then disappear from the narrative. Either something was missing, edited out, or not well-plotted in the first place.
Where this book succeeded to some degree was to present Thay in novelization; the only previous mention in published Forgotten Realms novels was at the end of Dragonwall in the Crusades trilogy, when Red Wizards approached the army in that series with a proposal. Here, we get a decent portrayal of the rivalry and constant vying between the Red Wizards of Thay and a taste of the social and economic organization of that nation.
The characters are one-dimensional, especially the villains. Unfortunately they are the most interesting of the bunch. The three heroes are lacking in personality, show only banal character growth, and lack any meaningful agency in the narrative. They are merely carried along, to ultimately place them in the villains' way at the end. Their driving 'mission' from the Harpers is pretty weaksauce.
Some scenes and events were utterly superfluous. For example, some slaves are purchased, engage in some minor highjinks, fail to have any dialogue, and then are released into the night, never to appear again. One character suffers severe memory loss from an attack, but then recovers before the next serious conflict, which rendered the event inconsequential and begs the question of why it was included at all. A certain class of undead are put forward as a vicious, barely-restrained threat to the heroes but then disappear from the narrative. Either something was missing, edited out, or not well-plotted in the first place.
Where this book succeeded to some degree was to present Thay in novelization; the only previous mention in published Forgotten Realms novels was at the end of Dragonwall in the Crusades trilogy, when Red Wizards approached the army in that series with a proposal. Here, we get a decent portrayal of the rivalry and constant vying between the Red Wizards of Thay and a taste of the social and economic organization of that nation.
mw2k's review
2.0
While this was a fun and easy read, it possessed all the negative qualities that many associate with heroic fantasy fiction. The characters weren't memorable, the bad guys stereotypical, the resolution of the story was too swift and unsatisfying, in fact as one character remarks: "It's too easy". It was too easy in the end for our heroes to vanquish the bad old Red Wizard and win the day.
To this book's credit though, it was never boring, and the prose style was easy on the eye. Good fun, but look for profundities elsewhere.
To this book's credit though, it was never boring, and the prose style was easy on the eye. Good fun, but look for profundities elsewhere.
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