These short works expand on Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy, and should definitely not be read by those unfamiliar with the series. Shades in Shadow is a triptych of short stories, each exploring the origin story of a specific character: who they are, and who they decide to be. The Awakened Kingdom takes the same theme but goes much more into detail, from the point of view of a newborn godling. Even though there’s sometimes a lot of action in the stories, the feel of them is very quiet and meditative; most of the actual change takes place inside the characters.