Stepping from the Shadows

[psocoptera]

Stepping from the Shadows, Patricia McKillip. This was not any of the things I am supposed to be reading - I still have two Hugo categories where I am way behind - but I had for some impulsive reason put in a library hold for it instead of just putting it on my to-read list, and then it showed up, so what could I do. I really liked it - it's not exactly fantasy, but it's a realistic (and probably semiautobiographical) coming of age story told in a way with fantastic/surrealistic/magically realistic elements, and the writing is gorgeous. I am not very familiar with McKillip - I read the Riddle-Master trilogy when I was a teen, I'm pretty sure, and maybe Forgotten Beasts of Eld? or Changeling Sea? But I remember nothing about any of them. This book was like reading Le Guin, the specificity, the richness of the language, the clarity of the emotional conflicts that are the heart of the story (or here, pretty much the entirety... this is not a book with plot, especially). I'm really glad I happened to see my friend's rec for it when McKillip passed away earlier this year.

Comments

[oracne]

She was such an incredible stylist.

[randysmith]

Wow. She's one of my favorite authors, though _Stepping from the Shadows_ is one of the few books of hers I haven't read. She varies what she does, but her style is always evocative of mysteries that one's only seeing the surface of. I hesitate to recommend specific books because I think whether or not you like them will depend a lot on the specific book/person fit.

If you're interested in recs in this space, I think I'll suggest _The Sorceress and the Cygnet_ (which I really loved the climax of), and I still deeply cherish _The Changeling Sea_ (though it sounds like you've read that one). Her others are good, and worth reading, and generally weird/special in their own individual ways, but I don't know how to predict whether someone would like them or not.

[elysdir]

Just saw this, so I’m belatedly commenting to say: So glad that you liked it!

A couple of thoughts for anyone else who might see this comment but hasn’t read the book:

* It’s my favorite of McKillip’s books.

* It’s hard to find—I’ve only ever seen two copies of it, one of which I own. (But clearly some libraries have it.)

* I asked last year for permission to reprint it as an ebook, but her agent told me that McKillip didn’t want it reprinted. (He gave no reason for that.) :(

* There’s something very unusual going on in the book that isn’t clear until a ways in, but is indicated in the back-cover blurb. So if possible, I recommend reading it without reading blurbs or reviews first.