The book was developed by Ian Lemke and written by Brian Campbell, Jackie Cassada, and Nicky Rea, who wrote it with a theme of balance and the disruption thereof.

The Shadow Court describes Unseelie society, including their traditions, factions, relationships with other evil creatures, festivities, abilities and magic, and their activities on the night of Samhain.

[5] Arcane considered it to live up to the standards set by previous Changeling: The Dreaming books, in terms of production quality, artwork, and style, as well as the short introductory story.

[7][8] Arcane considered the book to particularly excel in its connection of the Unseelie fae to a cycle of pagan seasonal festivals, but criticized it for not going into enough detail about the Shadow Court itself or revealing secrets relating to them that are hinted at in the core rulebook.

[6] The book was considered useful, with praise at the newly introduced dark arts and Unseelie fae;[4][5][6] Arcane did wish that it had gone further than just suggesting uses in stories, and that it would have been expanded with a fleshed-out, playable scenario.