Ombria in Shadow [Paperback]

Patricia McKillip (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2004

The Prince of Ombria is dying, and already his sinister great-aunt is plotting to seize power. The Black Pearl is feared throughout the land, and the city folk know her reign will be a terrible one. Only the prince's son can stop her from seizing the throne but he's just a boy - barely worth the trouble of doing away with. Ombria, it seems, is doomed. And yet, beneath the streets, in a buried world of shadows and ghosts, a mysterious sorceress is weaving new spells, watched over by a girl sculpted entirely from wax ...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As Ombria in Shadow demonstrates, World Fantasy Award winner Patricia A. McKillip (author of Riddle-Master, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, and other novels) ranks with Ursula K. Le Guin and Jane Yolen as one of the great fantasists of the 20th century--and the 21st.

The Prince of Ombria lies dying, and already his sinister great-aunt, Domina Pearl--called the Black Pearl--is seizing power. The Prince's heir is a child, a boy too young to oppose her, and the Prince's nephew is a powerless bastard, an artist preoccupied with sketching the decaying city. No one lives who may stop the Black Pearl's ascent to the throne, or so it seems. But beneath the streets of Ombria lies a second, shadow Ombria, a buried city inhabited not only by ghosts, but by a powerful, mysterious sorceress and her creation, a girl sculpted from wax. But the sorceress is a woman of uncertain allegiances, and her beautiful young assistant has become fascinated by the Prince's bastard nephew--and has caught the malevolent eye of the Black Pearl. --Cynthia Ward --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Harking back to some of her earliest works (namely The Forgotten Beasts of Eld), McKillip offers up a ghostly tale of human emotions gone astray in a city that lives and dies in endless cycles. Greed, despair, grief and avarice have all taken their toll on the once-beautiful city of Ombria, but it is the death of its prince that pushes it over the edge into darkness and shadow. Several key players participate in this particular procession of dying and rebirth: Kyel Greve, the new prince-to-be who is too young to rule but old enough to feel the despair of those around him; Lydea, the dying prince's lover who feels the weight of the city resting on her shoulders; Ducon Greve, the bastard prince who sees and feels the change happening but is in no position to alter the coming darkness; Domina Pearl, the sorceress who is pushing the city even further on its path of destruction; and Mag and Faey, two mysterious women who hold some of the past, present and future of Ombria inside them. In tone more gothic horror than straight fantasy, this somber novel lacks a clear protagonist, each character being more intent on finding his or her own path than fighting any clear battle. But the fine prose is nothing less than what one would expect from a World Fantasy Award winner, while the detailed portraits of the dying city coupled with the gloomy attitude of its citizenry are quite chilling.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown Childrens Books (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904233333
• ISBN-13: 978-1904233336
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,438,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, February 7, 2002

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ombria in Shadow (Hardcover)

Patricia McKillip at her worst is far better than usual fantasy writing, and here she is in fine form. Three-dimensional characters, flowing plot, flowery prose all meld together into a satisfying novel.

Gloom and shadow fall over the city of Ombria as its ruling prince lies dying, leaving four people in the palace: Kyel, his child-heir who is traumatized by the loss of his family and friends. Lydea, the prince's mistress from a tavern, who genuinely mourns him. Domina Pearl (also called "Black Pearl"), an ancient, hideous, deathless, inhuman woman who seeks to control Kyel for her own power over Ombria. And Ducon Greve, the prince's silver-eyed nephew, whose father is a mystery and who expresses himself through charcoal drawings.

When the prince dies, Kyel becomes the new prince -- but not before Domina Pearl throws Lydea out of the palace, and she flees to her father's grimy tavern -- only to find that she longer belongs there, but that she never belonged at the palace either.. Ducon is asked by nobles to try to overthrow the Black Pearl, but his sole concern seems to be for Kyel's safety, and he cannot act if it could hurt his young cousin. And in the "undercity," the sorceress Faey (who is definitely not human) is hired to "undo" Ducon -- except her waxling Mag (a living creature formed from wax) doesn't want Ducon to be killed.

But the political strife is only a portent of things to come. It's all linked to strange, ancient events that start with "perilous times, a desperate city, the ruling house in chaos, in danger." It's all linked to Ducon, Domina Pearl, Mag, a locket of blood and rose petals, a children's tale, and the shadow.

Like many of her recent books, this book focuses on several individuals whose lives interconnect within the main plot. As for the plot itself, well, expect the unexpected. In some ways it resembles "Song for the Basilisk," a prior book of McKillip's, with its mingling of magic and politics; also, Domina Pearl is in some ways reminiscent of the Basilisk, with her aura of quiet, stifling malevolence. But while the plotline of "Basilisk" was politics fueled by magic, it's the reverse here, magic fueled by politics; also, while the Basilisk was the figure on the throne, Domina Pearl is the power behind the throne. The "shadow city" is freshly created and beautifully explains certain plot points.

Like Morgan of the Riddle-Master trilogy, Ducon Greve is a quiet person who doesn't particularly want to get involved in earthshaking events, but has to anyhow. Lydea's growth is also well-done, as she tries to help Ducon and Kyel. Mag is a little more difficult to connect to at first, as she seems to think in a manner entirely differently from Lydea and more like (but not exactly like) Ducon. As the book unfolds, we do see more of her emotions and feelings. Faey is one of the most original characters -- we're never entirely sure what she is or what her motivations are, aside from herself. But that never makes her unsympathetic or hard to connect to.

McKillip's writing is, as always, lush and detailed without being smothering. Her dialogue ranges from beautiful and poetic to downright funny in a few places, down to Kyel playing with his little puppets. And we have yet another gorgeous Kinuko Craft cover (look carefully for the black pearls in Lydea's hair).

This will probably be one of the best fiction releases all year, a tale of power-seeking, magic, the cycles of history, ghosts, shadows, and underground sorcery. A treasure.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars more lucid dreaming, March 28, 2002

By 

Diana Nier (Ithaca, NY, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ombria in Shadow (Hardcover)

Reading Patricia McKillip is akin to lucid dreaming; I am aware that the world is not real and is not functioning according to everyday logic, but people and events form oddly beautiful and meaningful patterns. I slow down, reading individual words instead of compressing them into sentences and paragraphs; McKillip's language is half the pleasure of her books.

The other thing I love about McKillip is how little her books resemble cookie-cutter "fantasy" dreck. While her books are all reminiscent of each other, they are all individual. And they are not like anything else I've read. "Ombria in Shadow" is no exception.

Ombria is an ancient city; its past lies buried underground, layers of buildings and previous incarnations of the city shrouded in darkness. Aboveground, the city is troubled. The prince has died, leaving his five-year-old son Kyel Greve under the control of Domina Pearl, a woman who is steadily running Ombria into the ground for her own purposes. She is opposed by the prince's mistress, Lydea; his bastard nephew, the artist Ducon Greve; Mag, the "waxling" servant of a mysterious sorceress who lives in the underground city; and various coalitions of nobles who know nothing of the magical forces also working in Ombria.

Magic and legends of a shadow city weave in and out of the political story. I am still not sure how everything connects, particularly since none of the characters completely understands what happens towards the end. I am not terribly convinced by the explanations given to Ducon and Mag, and the last chapter left me thoroughly confused. However, while the story leaves a lot to be desired on the everyday level, the end *feels* right.

I just wish it made sense, too.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but... (warning: spoiler), April 22, 2004

By 

J. Greenwood "joanng57" (Hewitt, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ombria in Shadow (Hardcover)

I haven't read every McKillip book, but I've read a lot of them, and like some reviewers, I felt unfulfilled by this one. Despite the artistry of her words, I was just unfulfilled. After wondering about it, I finally realized why. McKillip's characters experience suffering and pain, just like you and me, and the richness of that pain experience -- how it deepens who they are and how they interact with others -- is part of their attraction. Perfect examples are in "Riddlemaster", "Atrix Wolfe", "Forests of Serre" and "Basilisk." Just about every book she writes, characters persevere through suffering, and their images seen through the lens of that suffering are strong and always hopeful.

That is what is lacking in this book (and here comes the spoiler). Most of the characters whose suffering the reader has grown to care about forget their suffering. Totally forget, as if it had never happened. No one learns or grows from the experience, no one is strengthened by it. To me, this cheapens what they experienced. It even lessens the hope we should (in classic McKillip) feel for them at the end -- for if no one remembers persevering through a painful past, how does anyone mature towards a hopeful or loving future? What would Morgan of Hed (Riddlemaster) or Ronan of Serre (Forests of Serre) have been like if they had completely forgotten their suffering? (...)

Despite her marvelous (as usual) prose here, I will not be buying this one in hardback.