Apparently I read this in chronological order rather than publication order. Which meant that I had my "oh hey it's that guy!" moments backwards and also, you know, that worked pretty well.
I just love Guy Gavriel Kay and Simon Vance does such a good job reading the books. I'm not sure I can explain why it is that his storytelling works so well for me, something about the way he thinks about human motivations and is extremely thoughtful about the role of the narrator just really works for me. Some of us still secretly want our favorite devices from the 19th century novel back and if you are one of those people, Kay delivers.