Ombria in Shadow

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written but lacking emotional depth...
Review: A beautifully imagined tale, full of rich, lyrical prose. McKillip's shadow world is fascinating, a recurrence of her theme of parallel worlds joined by gateways that only those that can "see" can access. I loved Mag's character and thought Ducon had a lot of potential, but felt that they lacked a certain emotional depth. As usual, McKillip ends the tale with more ambiguities--no simple "happily ever after" ending for this author! Such is life, I suppose, but in your fiction, it is nice sometimes to have closure...and I had hoped that Mag and Ducon would end up falling in love, so ended a bit disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Good, readable fantasy
Review: A good chef can make wonderful pastries from ordinary ingredients. That's how McKillip writes: she starts with the evil queen, a half-hidden mage, a city on the edge of shadow, and the eventual defeat of evil. There's a princeling, not yet of age, around whom the intrigues and fights for dominance center. McKillip turns these basics into a very readable, enjoyable fantasy.

There's enough left unsaid at every step to hold a reader's attention: what is that other city, the one without daylight? Who, or what is that artist? Why does each thing he draws take on extra meaning? I won't spoil the story by saying too much - there are many other questions to be answered before the book is over.

This book is clearly aimed at readers with more interest in the people involved, and less interest in weapons and combat. It's fast-paced, but gentle and a bit romantic. The right reader will get a lot of pleasure from it.

Rating:
Summary: A superbly written and complex fantasy novel!
Review: A young prince who could inherit his kingdom finds an evil great-aunt stands in his way, while a sorceress weaves spells which also will influence the direction of a divided kingdom in this complex and fine fantasy, powered by strong characters and confrontations with good and evil.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and enchanting...
Review: As always, McKillip's prose is exquisite, particularly suitable to this fairy tale that also pays homage to many elements of the gothic literary tradition. The characters are fascinating sketches of otherwise tired archetypes: the evil sorceress (Domina Pearl), the bastard prince (Ducon Greve), the orphan (Mag), and so forth. Their growth throughout the story as they react to how the death of their ruler changes their lives gives this tale emotional depth. The plot moves quickly -- perhaps at times too much so -- and there are a myriad of threads and subthreads to follow. No one character seems to emerge as a protagonist, but as a team, the cast tells the story well. Still, there are a few things left unresolved at the end of the book which left me wanting more. While the worldbuilding is an extravaganza of imagination, there were times I wished a few things had been articulated a bit more clearly throughout. All in all, though, a beautiful book and a wonderful reading experience. Definitely recommended.

Rating:
Summary: (3.5) Lovely but somehow lacking
Review: Check out jsolinas' review for a better summary of the plot than I can give. I'll just tell you what I liked and didn't like about _Ombria in Shadow_.

What I liked: The prose was gorgeous. Much like the author's nearly perfect _Winter Rose_, this book is like one of those lush dreams that seems more real than reality. McKillip shows her writing "chops" off to best advantage in this novel.

What I didn't like: The villain was a one-dimensional cliche, and several of the protagonists were just too Nice And Sweet for my taste. I guess the real gripe is that McKillip spent so much time on her setting that the characters suffered by comparison. And while several of her other books feature ambiguous situations where you don't know whose side to take, it's clear from page one of _Ombria_ that Domina Pearl has to go. I prefer my good and evil a little murkier and greyer.

Overall, this book works as a sort of prose poem; read it for the beauty of the writing, and maybe for the interesting concept of the shadow city, but don't expect an epic.

Rating:
Summary: nice book, though not her best
Review: first of all i've got to say that i did enjoy most of the parts in this book, just as in books i've read by patricia mckillip, she draw a picture of a beautiful world, occupy with beuatiful people, intriguing riddles and history and magic mixing in a prefect way.

this is a story of a few people and how they combine together in a city's and a nation's turning point. the story jumps from a rich palace dominated by a crule old regent named domina pearl, an underworld with ghosts and witches and people who aren't all human, the dangerouse city's streets and tavern, and a beautiful inn wench who used to be the dead prince's misstress, and in between - the bastered son to royalty, ducon grave, and a lost child call meg.

just like in all her other worlds - it all mix together, to form a beautiful intence tapestry. why then i think that this book's not as good as "the riddlemaster trilogy" or "the book of atrix woolf"? cause unlike those book, this simply doesn't ends in a satisfing way, it is as if she sets all the scene to have the mystery solved andthen don't find an explenation that's interesting or satisfingenough, which sort of ruin the whole plot.

it's still a sweet very visual book, but there are better books by her you could read.

Rating:
Summary: Starts Off Well, But Falls Flat
Review: For a novel that started off so great with such promise, I was a bit disappointed to give "Ombria in Shadow" just three stars. Patricia McKillip is a very skilled writer and her writing talent is clearly evident in this book but somewhere towards the end I lost all interest in the book. It's not that the book was a chore to finish but as I kept getting towards the end I was wondering where the story was going. I didn't know if McKillip would throw in a plot twist or what, but I found the last third or so of the book to be inferior to the rest.

The novel takes place in Ombria, the greatest city in the world. When the book opens up the reader will learn how the prince of Ombria lies dying and his son, who happens to be a young boy, is the next, and last in the Greve family, in power for the throne. The regent ends up being the evil witch Domina Pearl, also known as The Black Pearl. The main characters of the novel are Ducon, the prince's cousin; Lydea, the prince's former servant and playmate; and Mag, the apprentice to a sorceress in the undercity, a dark area of Ombria full of magic. This novel chronicles all of the characters and how they react with one another, and eventually how everything comes together in the end.

Let me start off with the good that I found in this book. Patricia McKillip is a true master of the craft, with intricate prose, characterizations, and descriptions. It is a joy to read about the city of Ombria and everything that goes on in it, especially that which takes place in the undercity. Most of the characters are completely drawn out and well written, especially the three main characters. McKillip's style is easy to read and feels just like the story is being told to you verbally as everything is simple and just flows along gracefully.

Now, the problems. From the beginning of the novel I was hooked and kept reading thinking that the novel would get better and better as each page moved along. This didn't happen. Everything seemed to stay the same with not much development in the plot for most of the book. As the last one hundred or so pages dawned on me things started coming together, but when everything was resolved I asked myself, "Is that it? It's all done?" The ending seemed to be very rushed and and wasn't brought out to it's full potential. I also found that as the story progressed that the plot got very shallow. I thoought that the only depth in the book were the characters.

Despite the negative parts that I found in the book, I still enjoyed the book to a certain degree. This will not be my last book by McKillip. In fact, I look forward to reading a lot more of her works as I saw the potential of her writing here. "Ombria in Shadow" is not a must read for the general fantasy fan, but can still be enjoyed in that it is pretty original.

Happy Reading!

Rating:
Summary: Good display of talent yet very complex story
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but... (warning: spoiler)
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: different from the usual...
Review: I would actually give this book 4.5 stars if I could, but since that's not an option, 4 stars is better. I do agree with some of the other reviews saying that there is something missing from the book. It just...I want to know more! And that's a good thing! I find myself thinking about this book constantly. It's very thought-provoking, because you don't REALLY understand what's going on sometimes, and I've had to read parts over because I just flew by readung it the first time. It's a VERY interesting book. It's definetly not just any fantasy. When I was reading it, and after I finished, this book feels very much like a dream. It has that dream-quality, where it just kind of floats by, and after you've woken up, you don't really remembered what happened.

It is a very good book, if you want something a little different, with intresting characters (for some reason, I particularly liked Ducon. I think it had something to do with the hair! He was just a cool character, in my opinion) I think no matter how many times you read this book, you'll still want more.