Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
reviewed by Saluki
“Sunshine,” by Robin McKinley is a quirky, heart-pounding, vampire novel unlike anything I’ve ever read. The author takes you on a journey through a world where “Others,” live amongst humans and vampires threaten to take over the planet within the next century. The SOF (Special Other’s Force) works to keep the human population safe from the worst “Others” of all: vampires.
Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, works as a baker in her Charlie’s Coffehouse. Her step-father owns the coffeehouse, and her mother works in the office. She hasn’t seen her father since she was a little girl, but doesn’t think about him much. In fact, she really doesn’t know a whole lot about her father, besides the fact that he was a magic handler.
Besides baking, Sunshine loves reading about the “Others,” and searching the globenet for any information she can find about demons, werebeasts and vampires. She has a boyfriend, Mel, and what few friends she has tend to be customers of the Coffeehouse. All in all, Sunshine considers her life to be extremely ordinary.
However, that all changes when she decides to drive out to the lake and visit a cabin that used to belong to her family. Sunshine wanted to get some peace and quiet, but ended up getting way more than she ever bargained for. One minute she is sitting on the porch, enjoying the sounds of the lake, and the next she wakes up surrounded by vampires. Bo, the head of the vampire gang that has kidnapped Sunshine, orders her to change into a dress and then takes her to a lakeside house and chains her to the wall. This in and of itself is terrifying; however, there is another, hungry, vampire chained to the wall.
Sunshine soon learns the vampire is named Connie, or Con for short. Surprisingly, Con declines to kill Sunshine, citing his hatred for Bo being stronger than his hunger for human blood. Over the course of the time they are together, Sunshine and Con share bits of their past with each other. We learn that Sunshine’s grandmother gave her a little bit of magical training before she and Sunshine’s father, along with the rest of their clan, vanished during the Voodoo Wars. Con is locked in a battle with Bo, but is on the losing end because he doesn’t have a gang of vampires behind him like Bo does.
Sunshine tries not to sleep, fearing Con will go back on his decision not to kill her. However, exhaustion finally wins, and while asleep, she dreams about her grandmother. In her dream, Sunshine remembers that her grandmother taught her to transmute objects. She learned to change small things, like a rose into a daisy, or a sparrow feather into a blue bird feather. The most complicated transmution she had ever done was changing the red stone in her Grandmother’s ring to green. Whether it was from age or the desperation of her situation, Sunshine took those memories and used them to change her pocket knife into a key that she then used to free Con and herself from their chains.
If Sunshine thought escaping from her vampire prison was the end of her troubles, she couldn’t have been more wrong. First, she can’t tell anyone what really happened because humans don’t live through vampire encounters. Second, she committed the unforgivable sin of helping a vampire. And, of course, she isn’t safe. The escape of both Sunshine and Con means that something extraordinary happened, with Bo concluding that the something extraordinary must have involved Sunshine. So, as much as she never wants to see another vampire again, Sunshine must work with Bo if she wants to stay safe.
It is at this point in the book that I really feel in love with both Con and Sunshine. Though bound only by their need to defeat Bo and rid their lives of his danger, you feel that both Con and Sunshine begin to see each other as much more than a means to an end.
As a character, Sunshine is beautifully complex. She is a girl without much ambition. She is neither overly warm nor friendly. However, she would do anything for a friend in need. And, when her destiny calls she doesn’t back down, despite her confession that she isn’t a brave person. She is happy in her perfectly ordinary world until she is kidnapped by Bo. That incident forces her to talk a look at herself and discover the truth about who and what she really is. We see her on the verge of a nervous breakdown, then standing up to one of the most powerful vampires in existence. We see her repulsed by Con and then hurt when he seemingly rejects her. And in the end, we see Sunshine taking ownership of her heritage and the changes that have been made in her life as the result of one fateful day.
Another aspect of the book I love is the fact that the author made no attempt to make Con human in any way. He’s not attractive like Damon or Edward Cullen. She also makes him nerve-wrackingly inhuman. Actually, she does that with any vampire we see in the story, points out how very human they’re not, which pleased me. After reading the popular vampire fiction out now, it is refreshing to see a vampire that is not humanized in any way. Not only that, Con almost seems to treat the human world as an aside – not necessarily that he and all vampires are superior to humans, just that the world of humanity is neither here nor there, which I found interesting.
Thought it all, Robin McKinley keeps the book from falling into “Beauty and the Beast” territory. Yes, Con and Sunshine develop a connection, but she develops that connection without feeling the need to have them fall in love and run off into the sunset. Again, a refreshing change from most of the popular books I have read.
I have to warn you that Robin McKinley has a very unique writing style. She has a kind of stream of consciousness way of writing that at times was a bit distracting. However, it works for the story, particularly where Sunshine is concerned. She also doesn’t have chapters in the book, which makes it hard to stop reading if you’re like me and hate to stop in the “middle” of a scene.
I really hope you go out and pick up a copy of “Sunshine”. It is such a unique book and a refreshing change the typical “vampire as hot guy passing as a human” that seems to be the it thing right now. I give this book 4 out of 5 fangs.
This sounds really interesting. It’s definitely going on my list of books to read. It’s a really long list right now….
Nice review. I probably would have an issue with the no chapters thing. Whenever I am trying to put a book down, I say to myself “okay, one more chapter.” With this book it sounds as if I would have to just find a stopping point.
I’ll add it to the list, but I think I have about eight other books in front of it!