Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Ever since I was a little girl I have loved vampires.  I have no idea why.  I do not think I ever read anything about them and yet they were in my mind often.  I once wrote over 300 handwritten pages about a vampire heroine and then threw them away.  I never really sought out vampire books even. Someone offered me a Charlaine Harris and I read it but it was not “my” vampires.  I read Twilight and all faith in vampires was lost.  I read Dracula and The Historian and then I felt somewhat restored, but Stephenie Meyer continued to conquer the world.  If I had found Sunshine before Twilight I would have been happier. Why didn’t Rae take the world by storm?  Was it really the fact that Con doesn’t glitter or was it simply the fact that she was a bit too old a protagonist for it to be “really” YA?  We need more of these vampires is all I have to say!

Rae “Sunshine” Seddon was born Raven Blaise, but she has lived to the age of 25 without that having her family’s magic handling legacy take too much effect.  The she goes out to the lake and is taken by vampires, but with the magic her grandmother began to train her in years ago she escapes with a fellow prisoner, who just happens to be a “good” vampire.  At first this world seems familiar but it is a modern place where magic exists on the surface.  It is crafted with detail and grounded in familiarity.  Rae is human and her struggles are both grand and filled with small efforts.  I can see where people would want sequels but I can also see how this is the story and the rest is there.  You don’t know if Rae will marry Mel or have the first human vampire romance, but you know that they will fight for what is good and you hope that they will succeed.

Previously blogged: July 21, 2009

Pegasus by Robin McKinley

Robin McKinley you are a cruel cruel hell goddess.  A lifetime of stand alone books, Hero and Sword being the only ones truly tied, used to lull us into complacency to make the agony all the more bitter at the finish of Pegasus.  I follow your blog; I knew that there was a sequel, a number 2 not yet out, and yet I somehow FORGOT and as was getting near the end was wondering “How is she going to finish… Oh Crap!”  I nearly crumpled right there.  So yes obviously I loved it.  Okay the humans and the pegasi have had an alliance for a very long time, and they become bound to each other especially in the royal family.  One minor issue – they can’t talk to each other.  Okay yes they have complicated hand signs which don’t work the same cross species and they have magician Speakers who don’t necessarily do their jobs well or even as well as they could but that is the only option until on Sylvi’s 12th birthday when she is to bound to Ebon, they can talk before the ceremony even happens.  This should be an event for celebration except certain magicians are against it, violently so and they see her as the enemy.  Four years pass and they still don’t know why the have this connection or why it scares the magicians…  Once again you will be amazed by McKinley’s ability to drop you into a world and immerse you in such a way that you can easily catch onto not one but two cultures and begin to understand bits of a language nothing like our own.  Once again McKinley shows us a beautiful relationship that crosses the expected borders.  Just as Beauty realizes that Beast is just like her, thus Sylvi realizes that Ebon and the other pegasi are not so different as humans might think.  Maybe I read into it to much, whenever I see conflict in the world I think about the fact that both sides are so similar but they pretend the others are demons except in this case they respect the pegasi but that is all.  My suspicion is that book 2 will be more action, but McKinley does tend to surprise.  Obviously I kept going with interruptions.  Now to hop back to Sunshine and Dragonhaven and try to hold my life together…

Chalice by Robin McKinley

I got out of order I was so in the habit of just picking up the next book on the shelf.  Oops!  Once I was started it didn’t really seem to make sense to stop.  Another Beast?  Mirasol has been made Chalice but the land itself is still struggling and no one is exactly sure of the new Master who was/is a priest of Fire.  The human he was before is well remembered but it is hard when he bears no resemblance and cannot even remember what his name then was.  The struggle here bears some riding around the borders but there is also more of a struggle of politics, who to trust, what to believe and what is right and good for the land.  Of course I loved it.  I thought this world was particularly fun because it is I think the most from scratch (though I love her other worlds equally if not more).  As always epically beautiful.  And now… crap do I go back to Sunshine or go on to Pegasus?

Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley

Okay I’m not going to ramble… I have entirely too much to do.  So much that it is not physically possible and prioritizing shall commence but if I don’t do this it will nag at me because no offense to the world but my personal happiness is more important to me than my Master’s (A sentiment I think Rosie would approve of).  Already rambling awesome.  The story starts out following Katriona who is going to attend the new princess’s name day.  She is the first female heir in a very long time and an evil fairy has been waiting for her.  Rosie is no Disney princess that is for sure.  Oh yes she talks to animals, but that is not a very princess like thing to do.  She has golden curls but she hates them and cuts them off.  Her singing voice is beautiful but she can’t carry a tune.  Her skin is flawless but she isn’t beautiful.  She loves her life and pities the princess when rumors of her come through. The ending is a nice surprise.  There are wonderful details like the carved spindle ends and references to legends Rosie loves like oh Beauty and the Beast and this place called Damar.  Alright bye!

Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley

In the author’s notes McKinley talks about how she had always loved the story of Beauty and the Beast but that after Beauty she felt that her telling of that tale was done.  When I read The Blue Sword immediately after Beauty I found myself drawing parallels between the two love stories, in both cases the girl is not quite willingly or unwillingly taken away from what she knows by a man who does it even though he does not wish to hurt her.  In both cases the love develops without either young heroine really noticing because they are struggling to find their place in this new world they have been thrust into.  I may be wrong but the more I read the more I feel that at the core of all of these stories are relationships, friendships and romances, that cross boundaries even when I think of stories like Dragonhaven (that I have yet to revisit on this trip) because that is a story of love that crosses species.  Eh I’ll explore that in this paper I will hopefully write sooner rather than later.  I’ll get back to Rose Daughter.

Yes, Robin McKinley told the story already but it makes me think of the oral storytelling where even when told by the same speaker a story is never the same twice.  I might have mentioned before reading a blog post in which McKinley discusses if she were to write another novel of Damar how different it would be from the originals because of the change in herself.  I think you can see much of the same idea comparing her Beauty to Rose Daughter.  Honour’s (Honour is Beauty #1′s given name.  I feel this might make certain parts of my analysis confusing.  I don’t suppose Thing 1 and Thing 2 is appropriate for academic writing) family had Ger and her father still remembered some work while Beauty’s family set out with nothing but a place to land.  Beauty’s stay with Beast though in some ways shorter I think took much more from her.  Oh and the endings!  I don’t want to say too much but the first is a much fluffier happily ever after while the second, the second has much more depth and weight and is no less happy but no cherry on top.  There are other differences of course, magic is uncommon in the first book and common in the second.  One beauty begins not and the other does.  There are also the similarities, the core thread is still there but in the second it is so much more developed.  I can’t seem to not babble lately.  So I will bid you farewell and dive into Spindle’s End.

The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley

I’ve always loved the idea of Robin Hood, but I always seemed to find qualms with some part of the versions.  I think now that even some of the best seemed like caricatures.  I think that is why I loved so much the film version this past summer because it was so much more (It also gets extra points for being part of my first date with Ben).  McKinley breathes life and depth into the outlaws.  Marian, Little John, Robin, Cecil, Alan and many of the others are beautifully round characters with odd quirks and flaws.  Here is a Robin that does not choose his fate and has no great skill with a bow, but there is something within him that is more.  Once again love is not simple or easy here.  Right and wrong are a hard line to walk.   I won’t go into detail but I loved the ending so many times when Richard shows up things get way too tidily happily ever after; this is perfect.  So many moments were perfect like when you learn Cecil’s history I literally near tears laughed for over a minute at the genius of it.  I’m not going to do a real summary because honestly we all know the basics and though McKinley does fill it with surprises I don’t want to spoil any of them.  One of the things that truly impressed me was that she did make so much of it new and fresh but it is still close enough to the familiar that I never found myself confused (Ex: I’ve recently been watching some of the recent Merlin TV series and though I love things that build off of legends there are enough changes that I get a head ache trying to keep it straight and figure out where they are going.) McKinley keeps it flowing naturally throughout.  Argh this is why I will never be a real reviewer but I’m okay with that.  I wish someone had pointed me to this forever ago.