The Fall is a short prequel novella describing the events that lead to "Of Blood and Fire". Overall, it's a much tighter and self-contained story, and better written, while keeping with the same style as the first novel.The Fall can be read standalone, but I think it reads better when read after the first novel. Events hinted at in that book are fleshed out here, and there's plenty of action and drama. 

Much like the first novel, there's nothing really groundbreaking here. If you've read a good amount of fantasy, you've seen the world, magic system, and even most of the characters and plot devices before. That's not a bad thing, there's been a relative lack of "generic" fantasy lately, and this series fits the bill.