The first two versions of the Shadowrun Companions were something of a mixed bag of goodies consisting of stuff the designers wished they'd put in the core gamebook. With SR4 the designers have had their wish and as a result this verison is more focused on Character Creation Concepts. This starts with roles for characters and hints and tips for running and playing a good campaign before progressing to alternative character generation rules, then rules for creating Metahuman varients, changlings, drakes, the Infected (Vampire: Shadowrun anyone?), Sapient Critters, Shapeshifters, AI's and Free Spirits. After all that there's a heap of new qualities then expanded rules for contacts and a selection of new contacts, followed by the Advanced Lifestyle System that first appeared in the Sprawl Survival Guide (with a few new lifestyle qualities to take the changes in setting into account). Finally it finishes up with a look at a shadowrun from multiple veiwpoints. Overall this is a very good book especially for players but GM's will also find it useful for coming up with something a bit unusual to throw at players. The only reason I won't say this book will statisfy the most fussy player is that I know just how fussy players can be!