My perception may be skewed, as I read the first three books quite young and it was some time before I came to AWA, but my recollection (which largely stands up to re-reading, though I Haven’t done that for a long time either) is that the first is pretty fantastic, the second is brilliant, I didn’t like the third at all, and the fourth was a weaker story. The third I just didn’t like the main character as much, so I don’t know how that one actually stands up. Anyway, yeah, read the earlier ones. 🙂
My perception may be skewed, as I read the first three books quite young and it was some time before I came to AWA, but my recollection (which largely stands up to re-reading, though I Haven’t done that for a long time either) is that the first is pretty fantastic, the second is brilliant, I didn’t like the third at all, and the fourth was a weaker story. The third I just didn’t like the main character as much, so I don’t know how that one actually stands up. Anyway, yeah, read the earlier ones. 🙂