The Shadow of What Was Lost

What I liked: Who's the good guy? Who's the bad guy? What the hell is going on here?

What I'm mixed on: The magic system. Essence is meh, but Kan seems pretty cool. Shadows are cool, but the reasons they become shadows kind of sucks. And why do the people seem to hate the people that can't do magic so much more than they seem to hate the people that can do the magic they hate? I don't want to spoil things for you, but when one character meets Malshash, interesting times begin. It's very mixed because some stuff worked for me, but some explanations did not.

What I didn't like: Arbitrary, poorly thought-out limitations on magic users. The entire general setting of the world grated on me.