Recipient of McKillip's second World Fantasy Award... and well-deservedly so.
This is definitely one of McKillip's best (does she have a worst? - I don't think so!)
Here, McKillip introduces us to Ombria - a city of shadows and secrets, labyrinthine palaces and alleys, intrigues and magic... Ombria is somewhere between Gormenghast and Tanith Lee's Paradys... that fantasy city that we all dream of (but might not want to actually live in!)
Although the other McKillip book I read recently (Winter Rose) was a quiet story, more involved with emotion than action, this book is action-packed, with murders, sword-fights, desperate flights and pursuits, etc..
At the outset, we meet Lydea, mistress of a prince who has recently been killed in a palace intrigue. The regent to the child heir (Kyel), a viciously conniving old hag known as Domina Pearl, throws Lydea out on the street in all her finery, hoping she will be killed by some cutthroat mugger.
However, Lydea survives, with the help of a mysterious young girl, Mag, who may or may not be human - she is servant to a sorceress, Faye, who lives in the underworlds below the city, who claims that she created Mag from wax, and gave her life, golem-like.
Lydea wishes nothing more than to somehow return to the palace and somehow save the young heir, whom she loves like a son, from the clutches of the regent - but, working in disgrace at her father's tavern, she can see no way to do so.
But Mag has been discovering a mind of her own, and doesn't wholly approve of the poisons and spells that her mistress has been purveying - especially those that have been going to the regent, for her nefarious uses.
And in the palace, plots are afoot to put a young lordling, Ducon, upon the throne. But he would much rather wander the streets of Ombria, living the life of an artist. Will he agree to assassinate his royal cousin? Is the only one young Kyel is safe with his history-obsessed tutor, Camas? Or does Camas care more about his researches into the ancient legends that surround Ombria? ...rumors of a shadow city, of mysterious shifts and transformations....
The story has a rather unexpected ending - and one that some people didn't really agree with - but I thought it really worked, and made sense with clues proffered throughout the story... can't really say more without spoilers!
A wonderful book....
This is definitely one of McKillip's best (does she have a worst? - I don't think so!)
Here, McKillip introduces us to Ombria - a city of shadows and secrets, labyrinthine palaces and alleys, intrigues and magic... Ombria is somewhere between Gormenghast and Tanith Lee's Paradys... that fantasy city that we all dream of (but might not want to actually live in!)
Although the other McKillip book I read recently (Winter Rose) was a quiet story, more involved with emotion than action, this book is action-packed, with murders, sword-fights, desperate flights and pursuits, etc..
At the outset, we meet Lydea, mistress of a prince who has recently been killed in a palace intrigue. The regent to the child heir (Kyel), a viciously conniving old hag known as Domina Pearl, throws Lydea out on the street in all her finery, hoping she will be killed by some cutthroat mugger.
However, Lydea survives, with the help of a mysterious young girl, Mag, who may or may not be human - she is servant to a sorceress, Faye, who lives in the underworlds below the city, who claims that she created Mag from wax, and gave her life, golem-like.
Lydea wishes nothing more than to somehow return to the palace and somehow save the young heir, whom she loves like a son, from the clutches of the regent - but, working in disgrace at her father's tavern, she can see no way to do so.
But Mag has been discovering a mind of her own, and doesn't wholly approve of the poisons and spells that her mistress has been purveying - especially those that have been going to the regent, for her nefarious uses.
And in the palace, plots are afoot to put a young lordling, Ducon, upon the throne. But he would much rather wander the streets of Ombria, living the life of an artist. Will he agree to assassinate his royal cousin? Is the only one young Kyel is safe with his history-obsessed tutor, Camas? Or does Camas care more about his researches into the ancient legends that surround Ombria? ...rumors of a shadow city, of mysterious shifts and transformations....
The story has a rather unexpected ending - and one that some people didn't really agree with - but I thought it really worked, and made sense with clues proffered throughout the story... can't really say more without spoilers!
A wonderful book....
