Captain Vorpatril's Alliance felt to me like she was trying to answer all the questions and tie up the series. It certainly didn't read as good as soon of the others.Memory is definitely the best, although also so hard to read at the start.

The religion in Chalion is great - I love the fact that the gods do want to intervene, but have rules (and that the rules aren't really understood by anyone).

The plot picks up more in the 3rd and 4th books ofSharing Knife. I love the totally different basic setup and the whole Lakewalker culture and life. It is really interesting to speculate on what might have happened before or how things will change.