I think it's a great adventure, but a very poor fit for Encounters. With a week between sessions, it crawls. Compress it to 8 weeks and it would soar. I'm inventive enough and have engaged enough players so that we're having a lot of fun with it, but there wasn't enough thought about making it both a good one to run at home and a good one for Encounters.
In a home game? It should be great.
I think this (highlighted) is a matter of taste. I'm finding it very hard to enjoy this adventure at all. And it has nothing to do with the mechanics, which are mostly non-existent. Don't get me wrong, the players are having a great time. But it is not because of the adventure material provided. I'm really having to work hard to overcome the lack of inspiration from this adventure. None of the hooks are compelling. None of the NPCs are even worthwhile. The only NPC that has even caught the player's interest was the "hairdresser" (alchemist), and that was because the entire session was ad-libbed.
As a Forgotten Realms campaign resource, the campaign guide is mildly interesting, but definitely not a block-buster. It has no index which makes it even more useless for easy/quick reference. It's organized in a way that makes it very difficult to use as a campaign reference guide. I had to quickly look for information on a particular NPC. Since the adventure is rather open-ended this comes up often. I had a hell-of-a-time finding his information. The information is there but difficult to find and access during play, which is when I'm going to need it.
If I had actually paid money for this adventure ($35) I would be even more disappointed. The map/screen is interesting and somewhat eye-catching, but the internal information (DM side) is rather lack-luster. So much so that at times it is worthless. Finding any information on the map is rather difficult, unless you get intimately familiar with the city layout. The numbers on the internal map are not easily ordered/sequenced to make it easy to follow. I tried to find a location by its name, and finding where it was located on the map was obnoxiously incoherent. When I'm looking for information during play I want it to be accessible, and this adventure does not do that well, if at all.
The production values are good, the text is clearly readable, the illustrations are very nice, and the map is very pretty. The "illo" of Coran (sp?) is the stupidest in the book, but I guess that is just a nit-pick. However for "at the table" functionality, I would grade this a "C-". Both as an adventure, and even more importantly as a reference guide it does not pass the "smell test".
As a comparison, the Neverwinter Campaign Setting (NWCS) was $40, hardbound, 223 pages, has a functional/usable Table of Contents, a foldup map, 60+ pages of player options, a few monsters, monsters per area tables, and many adventure ideas and hooks. NWCS does not include a "functional" adventure but enough hooks to create many. MiBG has an adventure, but for the amount of work required from the DM I would not call it functional.
If I'm paying that much money for an "adventure" I expect some value, and I'm not really finding it here.
IMO, for Encounters it is a horrible fit. For a home game it is usable. I know that if I had purchased this to run it for my home group I would be very disappointed with the purchase. YMMV.