I came across this one while searching for novellas, and I'm delighted that I did. The First Shadows is an epic disguised as a novella, which is a stunning feat of execution, because so much happens within this book that it could have fallen short of what it was attempting to achieve. There are few places, where a longer book would have allowed for some greater development, especially with regards to the magic system, which was fascinating and could have filled many more pages, and I would have loved to have been able to delve further into it and how it related to the rest of the world. That said, it leaves me keen to dive into the rest of the series as soon as possible, and combined with the pacing, and a writing style that flowed easily and entranced me from the first world, this is a book I would highly recommend.