This book adds in-depth history of a region that was never before explained at all. So it is a great addition to any Shadow World collection. The story, the legends, the artifacts and the life of two great human and elven kingdoms are detailed. For treasure hungry adventurers there are also many tombs of their greatest kings, with all the traps and loot you might expect. And apart from all the useful information, you also get a great campaign to play. We run a 60 session campaign with this book, and that only got us through half of the places described. The maps are clear, and there are some images of places and people that also help in understanding this region.

This is a two-part product really; the first half is a setting guide to the western area of the continent of Jaiman on the Shadow World, and the second half is a set of adventures, locales, and game statistics.

I came to this product as a long-term fan of the Shadow World and TK Amthor's writing, and it doesn't disappoint. There is the usual extension of the "notable world events" timeline, with the focus on the area covered by the sourcebook, and a nice map of the same area (though it might have been better placed at the beginning of the book, and maybe repeated in the middle with the legend added). Discussions of the politics of the area, including the various competing organisations and secret societies, are also a staple of Shadow World books and are included too.

The artwork in the book is excellent; the Shadow World really benefits from the new illustrations (including a Shard...fans, rejoice!) but I'm glad to see that TK Amthor's traditional 3D renders are also still present. The adventures and adventure locations offer a good mixture of challenge levels, avoiding that all-too-common Rolemaster problem of endless near-godlike beings inhabiting every village. Layout and typesetting are good as well, making the text clear and readable in PDF format.

Overall, this book continues the excellent level of quality found in all Shadow World products. My only concern might be that lots of the terminology will be unknown to someone coming to book as their first introduction to Shadow World, but with all the other books available to download too, it's not such an issue. If you want a setting that delivers a huge amount of atmosphere, you can't go wrong here.