You're giving me waaaaay too much credit. I just now went by link to the prequel from sometime last year. Now I like it even better. That piece is also amazing. And while it was not required to be read to understand this one, I now like my frame of reference better.
(And it's nice to know the fandom is there for me, considering I've been rather busy and myself just wrote my first piece in over two months [only two pages at that] and have been skimping on writing thoughtful, good reviews.)