Now that I've finished BOTNS, I can firmly state that the first book was exactly worth it. So many things that don't make sense on first blush but slowly become revealed throughout the entire series to the reader who's paying attention. I find myself utterly entranced by Wolfe's description of a world based on the detritus of ages past - and how exactly that detritus fits into the narrative arc is similarly extraordinary. I loved this, from Triskele to the Sanguinary Fields, and like Wolfe's "Peace" it'll change how I view unreliable narrators forever.