I must admit, it is one of my favourite books. There was more depth to the book and, as you say, the characters are a bit more rounded. And we have Ingtar's sacrifice/redemption at the end. One of the best segments of any of the books.

I think this book is one of the reasons I became so infuriated with the latter books and the lack of plot progression and the expansion of minor plots.

The early books 1 - 6 are like Star Wars Episodes 4 - 6: Action for a large part and a real joy to behold. 7 and onwards are like the Star Wars Prequels: They are not as good, but you keep on reading in the hope that they get better.