You're right about them mostly being like portraits, and only you will know if that will work for you or not.
Oddly enough, this is one of my easiest decks to read and I get some very deep, spiritual readings from it. I barely even notice which cards they are, if that makes sense...I see the images and I know what they're saying to me, right off the bat, before I realize that I'm looking at the Hierophant or the 5 of Pentacles or whatever. But I've never had that reaction to any other deck. I've had this deck for 2 years and haven't even read the guidebook yet; it's that intuitive for me. I do plan on eventually reading it, to hopefully deepen my experience of the deck. But I wanted to form my own relationship with it before I heard what the creator and artist had to say.
I think we all have decks that for some reason or another hit us that way and we find them very easy to read. I've heard some people raving about this deck, and others saying it's impossible to read. If you ever get it, I'd love to know what you think!
edit- Wait..it might be one year only. I can't remember if I got this deck last summer or the summer before...lol!