Fair point, I wasn't being precise in my language. I look forward to finishing the books before it at any rate. For what it's worth, I'm sure it does benefit from reading them first but you can definitely piece together the major plot points established in the preceding novels from the dialogue in the book, but they are certainly enhanced by knowing the full background.

Maybe relatively, but it was what was on-hand (in jail) and by itself it was more than interesting enough to get me to begin reading the series in order when I got the chance.