Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Okay, I lied. I didn't get around to posting anything last night. That means, I'll be making two posts today.
Here's my post about Sunshine by Robin McKinley
I recently read this book because it was the June Challenge for calico_reaction's book club and I had never read anything by Robin McKinley before so it sounded interesting. On the other hand, I didn't have high expectations for this book. It's a vampire story with a female protagonist and, thanks to Anita Blake and her endless clones, that premise always leaves me wary. Also, I was afraid that the hype surrounding her writing would turn me off it.
However, aside from a couple of bumps, this book turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
The book starts off with our protagonist Rae Seddon being captured by vampires after she drove to the lake outside of New Arcadia to get away from her family's bickering. Rae spends a great deal of time describing her family to the reader, but fortunately it's not your usual cliched Abusive Family or Perfect Loving Family so her descriptions manage to remain interesting. She also describes her work as a baker at a coffehouse which I really liked. It's rare to see a fantasy heroine with an occupation as mundane as a baker. Rae's voice is somewhat snarky at times, but never to the point where I want to smack her, which was nice after reading one Snarky Bitch archetype too many.
So the vampires capture her, force her to change into a long red dress and walk over rough terrain barefoot. The reasons for this become as they take her to an abandoned mansion and chain her up next to another vampire who's also chained to the wall. Bo, the leader of the vampire pack that's captured Rae, has brought her as food to tempt his prisoner, another vampire disdainfully nicknamed Connie by him and his pack.
Rae ends up caught in a game of Cat and Mouse between Con (short for Constantine) and Bo as Bo and his pack leave Rae to tempt Con while Con resists eating Rae by asking her to talk about her own life and anything that might keep from eating her so as not to give Bo a victory. I liked this because it gave a good reason for Con not to eat Rae that doesn't revolve around him being a bleeding heart like so many modern vampires I could name.
Another thing I liked about Robin McKinley's vampires is that she gave them weaknesses to go with their strengths. They may be faster and stronger than humans, but they also burn to death if sunlight touches them. They're strong, but they're not invincible. They also tend not to relate to humans all that well.
This becomes important as Rae tries to keep Con from eating her and he tries to resist the temptation presented by her blood. We begin the see the beginnings of an awkward bond between Rae and Con as they resist Bo and his pack together. This lasts for two days and then we hit the biggest wall banger in the entire book.
Now, Rae's memories of learning magic from her grandmother start to come back, even though she hasn't thought of them in ages. This helps her remember how to transform a pocketknife that the vampires didn't bother confiscating because it was too small to hurt them into a key that unlocks her shackle. She's also the daughter of a famous magician, too so she's inherited her powers from her father's side. Head, meet desk. I skipped right through it at the time I was reading it, but thinking about it now, it's a fairly obvious Deus Ex Machina.
Fortunately, the book becomes interesting again as Rae decides that Con should escape with her. At first, he asks her if she's insane, but once she finds a way for him to travel in daylight without burning to death, he agrees. So they escape Bo together.
From here, the book becomes more complicated as Rae tries to resume her normal life, but the circumstances won't allow it. She has a scar that won't heal, trouble dealing with SOF (Special officers employed by the government to deal with vampires, demons, weres, etc.), and of course neither Bo nor Con have forgotten her either. Many of the people she deals with aren't what they seem at first and her own heritage could be more complicated than it first appears.
Personally, my favorite aspect of the book was the relationship between Rae and Con. It takes a while for them to trust each other and Rae can never forget that he's a vampire. It doesn't turn into the goopy tru wuv mess that so many other human-vampire relationships turn into. Con doesn't prance around in frilly shirts and offer to sex Rae up. Rae doesn't turn into a limpet whose life revolves around her vampire boyfriend. Their bond starts awkward, stays awkward, but gets stronger as time and experience mold them both. By the time they confront Bo together, you can see them fighting together in a believable manner.
As for the other subplot involving the SOF, it was entertaining, but a lot of it was rather predictable from many members of the SOF not being completely human themselves to having an evil boss that tried to expose Rae's secrets. Luckily, it didn't detract from the story too much.
Another thing I liked about the latter parts of Sunshine was the pacing. The pacing dragged a bit in Part 1, but it stops dragging in Parts 2 and 3 and the book wraps up in 348 pages. It was one of those books where being relatively short was a good thing. It didn't need to be any longer. I read this book in two sittings and enjoyed them both, despite the bumps along the way.
As for the ending, it was an open ending, but not one that left too many loose ends. It could definitely work as a Sequel Hook, but it didn't leave me screaming at the book (unlike the end of The Deeds of Paksenarrion trilogy, but that's another rant for another book review). All in all, I found it satisfying.
Summary: Aside from a few bumps, this was a fun book to read as light reading. The characters were fun, the plot stayed tight, and it didn't follow all the stupid vampire cliches. I would rate it as an okay book overall.
Here's my post about Sunshine by Robin McKinley
I recently read this book because it was the June Challenge for calico_reaction's book club and I had never read anything by Robin McKinley before so it sounded interesting. On the other hand, I didn't have high expectations for this book. It's a vampire story with a female protagonist and, thanks to Anita Blake and her endless clones, that premise always leaves me wary. Also, I was afraid that the hype surrounding her writing would turn me off it.
However, aside from a couple of bumps, this book turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
The book starts off with our protagonist Rae Seddon being captured by vampires after she drove to the lake outside of New Arcadia to get away from her family's bickering. Rae spends a great deal of time describing her family to the reader, but fortunately it's not your usual cliched Abusive Family or Perfect Loving Family so her descriptions manage to remain interesting. She also describes her work as a baker at a coffehouse which I really liked. It's rare to see a fantasy heroine with an occupation as mundane as a baker. Rae's voice is somewhat snarky at times, but never to the point where I want to smack her, which was nice after reading one Snarky Bitch archetype too many.
So the vampires capture her, force her to change into a long red dress and walk over rough terrain barefoot. The reasons for this become as they take her to an abandoned mansion and chain her up next to another vampire who's also chained to the wall. Bo, the leader of the vampire pack that's captured Rae, has brought her as food to tempt his prisoner, another vampire disdainfully nicknamed Connie by him and his pack.
Rae ends up caught in a game of Cat and Mouse between Con (short for Constantine) and Bo as Bo and his pack leave Rae to tempt Con while Con resists eating Rae by asking her to talk about her own life and anything that might keep from eating her so as not to give Bo a victory. I liked this because it gave a good reason for Con not to eat Rae that doesn't revolve around him being a bleeding heart like so many modern vampires I could name.
Another thing I liked about Robin McKinley's vampires is that she gave them weaknesses to go with their strengths. They may be faster and stronger than humans, but they also burn to death if sunlight touches them. They're strong, but they're not invincible. They also tend not to relate to humans all that well.
This becomes important as Rae tries to keep Con from eating her and he tries to resist the temptation presented by her blood. We begin the see the beginnings of an awkward bond between Rae and Con as they resist Bo and his pack together. This lasts for two days and then we hit the biggest wall banger in the entire book.
Now, Rae's memories of learning magic from her grandmother start to come back, even though she hasn't thought of them in ages. This helps her remember how to transform a pocketknife that the vampires didn't bother confiscating because it was too small to hurt them into a key that unlocks her shackle. She's also the daughter of a famous magician, too so she's inherited her powers from her father's side. Head, meet desk. I skipped right through it at the time I was reading it, but thinking about it now, it's a fairly obvious Deus Ex Machina.
Fortunately, the book becomes interesting again as Rae decides that Con should escape with her. At first, he asks her if she's insane, but once she finds a way for him to travel in daylight without burning to death, he agrees. So they escape Bo together.
From here, the book becomes more complicated as Rae tries to resume her normal life, but the circumstances won't allow it. She has a scar that won't heal, trouble dealing with SOF (Special officers employed by the government to deal with vampires, demons, weres, etc.), and of course neither Bo nor Con have forgotten her either. Many of the people she deals with aren't what they seem at first and her own heritage could be more complicated than it first appears.
Personally, my favorite aspect of the book was the relationship between Rae and Con. It takes a while for them to trust each other and Rae can never forget that he's a vampire. It doesn't turn into the goopy tru wuv mess that so many other human-vampire relationships turn into. Con doesn't prance around in frilly shirts and offer to sex Rae up. Rae doesn't turn into a limpet whose life revolves around her vampire boyfriend. Their bond starts awkward, stays awkward, but gets stronger as time and experience mold them both. By the time they confront Bo together, you can see them fighting together in a believable manner.
As for the other subplot involving the SOF, it was entertaining, but a lot of it was rather predictable from many members of the SOF not being completely human themselves to having an evil boss that tried to expose Rae's secrets. Luckily, it didn't detract from the story too much.
Another thing I liked about the latter parts of Sunshine was the pacing. The pacing dragged a bit in Part 1, but it stops dragging in Parts 2 and 3 and the book wraps up in 348 pages. It was one of those books where being relatively short was a good thing. It didn't need to be any longer. I read this book in two sittings and enjoyed them both, despite the bumps along the way.
As for the ending, it was an open ending, but not one that left too many loose ends. It could definitely work as a Sequel Hook, but it didn't leave me screaming at the book (unlike the end of The Deeds of Paksenarrion trilogy, but that's another rant for another book review). All in all, I found it satisfying.
Summary: Aside from a few bumps, this was a fun book to read as light reading. The characters were fun, the plot stayed tight, and it didn't follow all the stupid vampire cliches. I would rate it as an okay book overall.