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


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.


From Library Journal
The death of Ombria's prince places the city and its child-heir in the hands of a ruthless regent. Only the late prince's former mistress, a bastard nephew, and a sorcerer's apprentice stand between the machinations of the ageless and apparently deathless Domina Pearl and the true heir to the city. In her latest novel, award-winning fantasy author McKillip (The Tower at Stony Wood) creates an intriguing and compelling portrait of a city born of light and shadow, whose citizens may discover the means to cross the borders between the real and the merely possible. The author's graceful prose and remarkable depth of characterization bring to life a tale of love and loyalty that transcends time and space and belongs in most fantasy collections. Highly recommended for both adult and YA readers. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
When Ombria's prince breathes his last, the struggle to rule the whole of the city -- both its light and shadows -- will rest in the hands of those whose fractured lives align like the lost pieces of a magical puzzle.


Download Description
"Ombria. It is a city that echoes with the footfalls of sapphire-heeled shoes that holds its breath as a straw-haired apparition glides through its streets that sees its dreams and nightmares take shape in the drawings of a bastard-heir. It is an enchanted time and place envisioned by World Fantasy Award winner Patricia A. McKillip, acclaimed author of The Tower at Stony Wood. When Ombria¿s prince, Royce Greve, breathes his last in palace rooms high above the city he leaves his young son at the mercy of his ancient great-aunt, Domina Pearl a woman who has plotted her rise to power in Ombria for far too many years to allow a little boy to stand in her way. Already she has thrown Greve¿s pretty mistress out into the streets, where no one would expect her to live an hour. The boy will take her a little longer. Meanwhile, in a dreamlike underworld peopled by Ombria¿s ghosts, a sorceress weaves her spells and brews her potions, never revealing her real face or true heart. And somewhere in between, the struggle to rule the whole of Ombria both its light and shadows will rest in the hands of those whose fractured lives align like the lost pieces of a magical puzzle"


About the Author
Patricia A. McKillip is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, and the author of many fantasy novels, including The Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy, Stepping from the Shadows, and The Cygnet and the Firebird. Her most recent novels are The Tower at Stony Wood, Winter Rose, and Song for the Basilisk.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Patricia A. McKillip, author of award-winning novels such as The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and Harpist in the Wind, has written her best novel in years. Ombria in Shadow is a surreal mixture of fantasy, romance, and fairy tale where the lines between reality and myth become blurred in the shadows of an ancient city.

Ombria is a place heaped with history -- and secrets. There is a buried city beneath it inhabited by ghosts, accessible only through magical passages and long-forgotten doorways. When the Prince of Ombria dies suddenly, his wicked great-aunt Domina Pearl seizes power by becoming regent to the prince's young son, Kyel. Minutes after the prince's death, Domina kicks Lydea, the prince's longtime mistress, out into the streets to die. But she is saved by a strange girl named Mag, a supposed waxling created by a powerful sorceress who lives underneath the city. With the help of Mag and the prince's bastard nephew, a strange, silver-eyed man obsessed with drawing, Lydea tries to save Kyel and somehow defeat Domina.

Reading Ombria in Shadow was an absolute delight. Not just a haunting bittersweet story with truly captivating characters but a beautifully designed book as well. The cover art by Kinuko Y. Craft makes this a book lover's treasure. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Ombria. It is a city that echoes with the footfalls of sapphire-heeled shoes...that holds its breath as a straw-haired apparition glides through its streets...that sees its dreams - and nightmares - take shape in the drawings of a bastard-heir. It is an enchanted time and place envisioned by World Fantasy Award winner Patricia A. McKillip, acclaimed author of The Tower at Stony Wood." "When Ombria's prince, Royce Greve, breathes his last in palace rooms high above the city, he leaves his young son at the mercy of his ancient great-aunt, Domina Pearl - a woman who has plotted her rise to power in Ombria for far too many years to allow a little boy to stand in her way. Already she has thrown Greve's pretty mistress out into the streets, where no one would expect her to live an hour. The boy will take her a little longer." Meanwhile, in a dreamlike underworld peopled by Ombria's ghosts, a sorceress weaves her spells and brews her potions, never revealing her real face - or true heart. And somewhere in between, the struggle to rule the whole of Ombria - both its light and shadows - will rest in the hands of those whose fractured lives align like the pieces of a magical puzzle.

FROM THE CRITICS

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. (Jan. 8) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA - Walter Hogan

Veteran fantasy author McKillip will please her many fans and win new ones with this haunting Gothic fantasy. During the past decade, she has produced half a dozen fantasy novels, each in the same small format with sumptuous jacket illustrations by Kinuko Craft. Here she draws readers into the crumbling, brooding port city of Ombria, whose young prince, Royce Greve, has recently died, leaving his vulnerable young son, Kyel, in the dubious care of the malignant regent Domina Pearl. Kyel's survival becomes the focal point of intrigues in the corrupt and decadent city

KLIATT

The Prince of Ombria lies dying. His aunt, called the Black Pearl, is poised to take over, and very few can oppose her: Kyel, the child-heir; Ducon, the Prince's bastard nephew, more interested in sketching than in ruling; and Lydea, once mistress to the Prince and now a lowly barmaid. But there is another Ombria, existing in the shadows beneath this one, inhabited by a sorceress and her human child-servant Mag. The sorceress knows a secret about Ombria, but she has no interest in the affairs of the world above, until the Black Pearl dares to interfere in her own life. This hallucinatory novel is almost impossible to summarize, but it is wonderful, and fans of historical fantasy will love it. For all fantasy collections. KLIATT Codes: SA￯﾿ﾽRecommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Berkley, Ace, 298p., Root

Library Journal