HoC - consensus seems to be that the first bit with Karsa doesn't really fit, the story meanders along a little and parts of it don't make a huge amount of sense at the time (specifically the scenes in the Nascent with Karsa/Trull/Onrack)
My opinion - this is the first book that really starts to give a bigger idea of the picture of the whole world and some of the backstory, see Apsalar's cmments on Traveller, the intoduction of Andarist and the other Andii. Karsa's bit is a nice change of pace from the rest of the series and works well as an introduction to the character. The final battle/s at Raraku are well written and the conclusion to the sisters storyline is beautifully ironic as is Pearl's/Lostara's reaction to it.
Any one else out wanting some of the abuse this thread will generate feel free to comment.
This post has been edited by The Dark Wanderer: 24 May 2009 - 10:56 PM