I read from time to time that the stories making up Le Guin's "Hainish Cycle" are loosely connected and that one can read them in whichever order they prefer. That's just plain wrong. In order for this book to make sense and for you to feel that something is at stake in this story, I find it very much necessary to read "Rocannon's world" and "Planet of Exile" beforehand.

With this out of the way, this is so far my favourite book of the cycle with "The disposessed". It starts fairly slowly, but halfway or three-fourth through becomes extremely tense, with a level of intricacy that I found similar to what I read in "Death Note".