Ombria in Shadow

Ombria in Shadow is a standalone novel set in Ombria, an old, decaying city state with another city lying under it like a reflection. When Royce Greve, the Prince of Ombria, dies, his court turns dangerous overnight. His ancient great aunt, the sorceress Domina Pearl, takes control as regent for his small son, Kyel, and throws the prince's mistress, Lydea, out of the palace. Lydea finds her way back to her father's tavern, helped along the way by forces she does not understand.

Ducon Greve, a bastard of the ruling family, has to decide whether to seize power or protect the child heir from Domina Pearl, and he moves through the castle's hidden passages to do it. His real passion is drawing the city, including the parts not everyone can see. Beneath the streets lives Faey, a sorceress who sells spells to whoever can pay, and Mag, the girl she raised, who has been told she is a waxling made by magic and soon learns the truth, that she is human. When Faey is hired to kill Ducon, she prepares poisoned charcoal for his drawing. By the end the shadow city rises into the living one. Ducon kills Domina Pearl and meets a man who looks just like him, his own father, a man from Ombria's reflection who long ago fell in love with Royce's sister. The city is transformed, only Faey and Mag remember what it was, and Ducon rules as regent for the young prince Kyel, with Lydea as the boy's governess and Mag as his tutor.

McKillip writes dense, rich, rhythmic prose, and she withholds explanation: the reviewer Matthew Scott Winslow wrote that "what they don't know, the reader doesn't know either." There is no single hero, which some readers find disorienting. It is a book that rewards slow reading, and rereading. It suits readers of fairy tales, of Mervyn Peake, and of fantasy that cares more about atmosphere and language than battles.