This was a discarded library book.

Royce Greve, Ombria's ruling prince, is dead. His six-year-old son, Kyel, now rules Ombria; the ancient Domina Pearl rules Kyel. While the inscrutable regent weaves murderous plots and frustrated nobles conspire against her, Kyel's life depends on three neutral players moving between Ombria and its ghost-inhabited shadows: Lydea, his father's discarded mistress; Ducon, his bastard cousin; and Mag, a girl apprenticed to the subterranean sorceress who controls Ombria's fate.

Ombria in Shadow is probably the most straight-forward McKillip book I've yet read, although my memory may be at fault: it's been years since I read her, and my grasp of plot nuances may have improved. The book deals with the usual McKillip motifs (shadows, foils, abandoned orphans, forgotten knowledge, and unusual hair), and it follows her tradition of dealing with big events within a narrow scope. For example, we only occasionally see the various noble conspirators, and then only from Ducon's perspective. McKillip writes anti-epic fantasy, which is why I like her.

And I liked Ombria in Shadow, although more for its characters and imagery than for its plot or structure. The trio at the center of Ombria in Shadow bear transparent motivations and subtle complications. (Exhibit A being Ducon, whose unrequited love for Lydea is only implied.) Moving along separate paths, they encounter each other at odd junctures and alter one another in unexpected ways. As a character-driven piece, Ombria in Shadow does a splendid job. But the plot is loose and clunky, and the story is somewhat marred by an unnecessary coda that neatly resolves everything and explicates things that didn't need to be explained. ( )

A sort of dreamlike extended fairy tale. The main characters are a sorceress for hire and her 'waxling' assistant, a dead prince, his fragile young son, mistress and dreamy bastard cousin. And Domina Pearl, a scheming witch who plans to rule the kingdom. The relationships between those characters drive the book. The city-kingdom of Ombria was also a protagonist. But for me it had no grounding; the city was too generic. So it seemed the characters just slipped around each other in an extended dream with no real surprises, which ultimately was unsatisfying. ( )

I would recommend this book to people who really enjoyed Peake's [b:Titus Groan|39063|Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)|Mervyn Peake|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871204l/39063._SY75_.jpg|3250394] or the whole line of the Gormenghast novels. Both are slow, gothic, and obsessed with language and timing.

There were some quite beautiful passages and overall, I did enjoy the story. It wasn't my favorite KIND of story, however, and I wasn't always as engaged in the tale of the magical usurper/regent and her charges as I probably should have been. It was a case of the details carrying the weight of the plot more than the characters.

I can definitely see why quite a few people fell in love with this, however. It brings Fantasy back to the old days where kingdoms were besieged from within. Where history is more of a villain (or something else) than anything.

I think it's pretty well designed to be a quiet, thoughtful read.

Me, however... I didn't really get into it as much as it probably deserves, having won the World Fantasy Award. ( )

Elegant, stylised, both sparse and lush (filigree details delivered with a light touch). Heavy on the wonder and the magic, light on the mechanics, which gives it a beautiful fable-ish feel. ( )