Alone and Unobserved

Robin McKinley’s most recent book, Sunshine, deserves a posting all of its own. I have been an on-again, off-again fan of McKinley’s books for quite some time, and until last year my favorites were The Hero and the Crown, The Blue Sword, and, of course, Beauty. I tried her other works and found them entertaining, but these three were the only ones that really lodged in my heart.

Well, that has changed. Hero, Sword and Beauty are now tied as my second-favorites, as the top place has been taken by the redoubtable Sunshine. Who knew McKinley had such a wonderful book inside her? or that she loves vampires?

Well, she did, and does. McKinley sets Sunshine in a “near-Earth” in more or less the present day, a world of uncertainty that is still recovering from the ravages of the magical “Voodoo Wars.” Her heroine, Rae (nicknamed Sunshine for several reasons), is a down-to-earth baker in her mid-twenties who is fascinated by the Others (supernatural non-humans such as demons, angels, fairies, and weres), but especially by vampires, the Darkest Others. She becomes quite suddenly more personally acquainted with the objects of her fascination when she is abducted one night by a group of vampires to be used as bait for one of their own kind.

It is her imprisonment that helps her understand a few things about herself, her heritage, and her future–and that is only the beginning.

Sunshine works because it is so real. Rae is a perfectly believable character, forced to be heroic against her will and (she thinks) against her nature. The world she lives in is also intensely real: the Other/human dynamic is perfectly reasonable if one accepts the existence of the former; the neighborhood where she works is richly detailed, as are its inhabitants; the food (which is served up on almost every page) is mouthwatering and calorie-laden.

This is a fantastic book. I recommend it very highly.