Ombria in Shadow
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Ombria in Shadow is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip, first published by Ace Books in 2002. It won the 2003 World Fantasy Award as well as the Mythopoeic Award the same year. The book centres on the the activities of several characters who inhabit a shadowy city beset by intrigue and entropy.
[edit] Plot summary
In the beginning of Ombria in Shadow, Royce Greve, ruler of Ombria, has just died, and his mistress, Lydea, is being thrown out of the castle by the ancient, evil, and powerful Dominia Pearl who wishes to gain control over the court by acting as regent for Royce's young son, Kyel. Lydea flees throught the dangerous night-time streets of Ombria, throwing her jewels away to distract her myriad assailants, and eventually, with some aid from a mysterious source, reaching the tavern of her father. She must work to repair their relationship as they have become estranged since she left abruptly to be Royce's mistress years ago.
Meanwhile, beneath Ombria, Faey, a sorceress who can wear any face she likes, and her assistant Mag are working away, concocting magical potions and charms for the wealthy of the city. Mag is Faey's adopted 'waxling', who only comes to realise that she is human (thinking independently and feeling emotions) after accidentally swallowing a spell intended for one of Faey's clients. It is Mag who helped Lydea survive her flight from the castle. Mag begins to take note of the other characters in the book, becoming attached to some and thinking about whether she should help or hinder them. She introduces herself to Lydea as the person who saved her life before.
In the castle, Ducon Greve, Royce's bastard nephew tries to support his young cousin, Kyel, against the machinations of Dominia Pearl in an increasingly paranoid climate. Various nobles, unhappy with Dominia's ruthless rule, attempt to convince him to work against her and set himself up as the new prince of Ombria. However, Dominia has strong magic at her disposal and is much older than should be possible, casting doubt on whether she could even be killed at all. Unwilling to go down such a dangerous route and concerned that it could have dire concequences for Kyel, Ducon manages to foist them off, escaping through the vast network of secret passageways and rooms that permeate the castle. He uses the secret passageways to exchange messages with Kyel, from whom he is almost entirely cut off by Dominia. Apart from that, he wanders the city using charcoal to sketch people and architecture, especially doorways.
Concerned for Kyel, with whom she was very close, Lydea hatches a plot to return to the castle to work, a role in which she would go unnoticed by Dominia or anyone else. She decides to search for Faey's lair, where she thinks she will be able to find Mag who may be able to assist her in her plan.
Eventually one noble come to consider Ducon more of a potential threat to his plans than ally and hires Faey to create a spell to kill him. She does this, making a magical piece of charcoal that he will feel unable to stop drawing with that is imbued with poison. Mag, who has been observing Ducon does not want him to die and searches for a way to undo the spell. However, she becomes trapped in the castle, eventually freed by the historian Dave on the promise that she will bring him to meet Faey, who has been alive for ages, and whose history is entwined with the city's.
Ducon, using the charcoal sketches a man who looks just like him, who seems to come to life. Pursuing him, but delirious from the poison, he inadvertantly falls into Faey's layer, where Lydea, who was searching for Mag to help her return to the castle, happens to be. Lydea seeing Ducon, with whom she was friends in the castle, insists that Faey cure him, which Faey, for some reason, decides to do.
Afterwards, with Ducon and Faey's help, Lydea is able to return to the castle where she works as Kyel's tutor alongside Dave. She gives him hope, and tries to undo the effects of the drugs that Dominia is using to keep him docile. Dave, however, is obsessed by the legendary Shadow City, a reflection of Ombria that is supposed to manifest itself during Ombria's bleakest hour, changing everything in some mysterious way. All the while, Dominia's tyrranous grip over the city continues to tighten.
Dave, after being introduced to Faey, wanders the city's underworld conversing with ghosts of the past trying to find out about the Shadow City and how Ombria has been changed in the past by its manifestation. Mag is given a pendant by Faey, which had been left with her as a baby on Faey's doorstep. Using the small piece of charcoal that she finds inside, Mag begins to draw random shapes. Screaming, Dominia finds her in the castle and imprisons her. The drawings have somehow been able to damage her, destroying various parts of her body. Dominia decides to turn on Faey, whom she can no longer trust not to interfere with her plans. She holds Mag to ransom demanding that Faey present herself. Dominia manages to capture Ducon and Lydea along with Mag, bringing them to the secret room where she keeps her regenerative bed, the reason that she has lived so long. Enraged, Faey leaves the underworld. The stirring of the incredibly powerful sorceress is the trigger for the manifestation of the Shadow City. Ombria shakes and Dominia's hold over her captives wanes. Ducon is able to smash her bed, ensuring that she will now die, and Lydea escapes with Kyel. Dominia pursues Lydea with her mind-enslaved guards. She escapes by running through a rift into the Shadow City shown to her by the same mysterious man seen earlier by Ducon. Ducon follows and kills Dominia, and then meets the man who looks like him, who is his father. From Ombria's reflection, years ago he fell in love with Royce's sister, and tarried with her long enough to get her with child. The shadow transition eventually finishes, and Ombria has changed. No one has memories of the previous Ombria but for Faey and Mag. Ducon is now Prince and Lydea his love. Kyel is his heir and Mag his tutor. All is happy.
[edit] Similarities to other works
The vague and dreamlike city of Ombria resembles in many respects a renaissance-era Italian city state, such as Venice or Florence. It is similar in tone to Brian Aldiss's The Malacia Tapestry.
The idea of a shadowy alternate world overlaying another world following some triggering event is also used in the Magic: The Gathering setting of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. Characters and the environment suddenly change, with only some individuals maintaining their memory of how things used to be.
