Ombria in Shadow
by Patricia A. McKillip

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Book Reviews of Ombria in Shadow

Book Review: "Surely you Expected no Reward for Loving"
Summary: 4 Stars

The royal prince of Ombria is dead, leaving a child-heir, a grieving mistress and a confused bastard nephew at the mercy of Domina Pearl ('The Black Pearl'), the regent of the city, who is seemingly immortal and has her own dark plans for the ruling of the oldest city in the world. Casting the young mistress Lydea onto the streets and poisoning the young prince Kyel into a state of deep depression is just the beginning. The bastard-son Ducon is drawn almost against his will into the designs of the noble conspirators, when all he wishes to do is attempt to fulfil his passion for drawing doorways, windowsills and other openings - searching for something in his pictures that he doesn't understand.

Meanwhile, the mysterious sorceress Faey dwells in the shadows beneath the city, doing whatever magical task the highest bidder pays her for, along with her magical "waxling" Mag. A creature of magic is what Mag has been led to believe she is, but after accidentally swallowing a heart-spell of Faey's, she begins to feel rather human emotions that bring her tangled into the conspiracy of the crown, with her own part to play...

Perhaps the inclusion of all these characters without a clear protagonist is a slight fault of the novel, but in a way I think that is a technique that McKillip sought to take, in the way of puttin Ombria itself in the title role, with all her characters fitting together like a jig-saw puzzle in order to save it. Certainly out of everything, Ombria is her most fascinating creation. Below the sunny streets lies another Ombria, a shadow Ombria: the city's own past. Ghosts and magic dwell there, and the entrances are through abandoned doors and shadows. It is almost as if time itself runs differently in the city - it runs not horizontally, from left to right, but vertically, with the city's past gradually sinking downwards into the underworld (an idea helped along greatly by the imagery presented in the great underground river, lined with empty houses and its black surface lit by lamps). I was utterly intoxicated by such an idea, and the language with which it was used suited it perfectly.

As it is, I wasn't entirely satisfied by the conclusion; it was suitably ambiguous, but still didn't answer all my questions, especially concerning the relationship and the real nature of Faey and the Black Pearl. But nonetheless "Ombria in Shadow" is a wonderful read, and comes complete with another of K. Y. Craft's beautiful title covers, which is well worth the price of any book!

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