Many books on semiconductor physics err on the side of breadth at the expense of depth . I found this book to be a pleasant exception . I believe this leaves other similar books like Physics of Semiconductors and their Heterostructures by J.Singh far behind .
Cardona (of course) is at his best when discussing otical properties , especially optical diagnostic methods . I have not seen a similar book at this level which gives the same level of description of light-matter interaction in semiconductors.
I recommend it highly to all fellow graduate students .
The references are the classical or landstone papers about a specific subject, very good for further research.
In summary, this is an excellent textbook, if you want to study it hard.