Sunday, July 09, 2006

Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip

I used to really really like Patricia McKillip's books. Not all of them, but I adored Fool's Run, Sorceress and Cygnet, Winter Rose, the Riddlemaster books, even Atrix Wolf. And Stepping Out from the Shadows was incredible. But the last three or four have left me quite utterly cold.

Including, alas, this one. Perhaps I'll reread, though I feel no great desire to; I reread Basilisk, the first of her books to disappoint, and found it actually rather charming, if not as good as I'd hoped.

I don't know if I've changed, or if the books have. They don't seem to have enough substance to them, and all the twists and character types are vaguely familiar from other books. I think the substance in her books has always been mostly in what she doesn't say, what is alluded to and implied. And I'm not picking up on that any more.

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