Because I avoid reading book covers, I did not know when I picked up Robin McKinley's Sunshine that it was, at heart, a vampire romance novel. If I had known, I think I would have shunned the book. I'm glad I didn't.

Sunshine takes place in a world much like our own, except that it is populated by "Others," basically vampires, ghouls, and so on. But the novel's conceit is that most of the world carries on just fine. Sure, werewolves may prowl the streets at night, but somebody's got to deliver the newspapers. Sunshine's protagonist (whose nickname is Sunshine) is a down-to-earth girl who has devoted her life to a bakery run by her generous stepfather. One day, however, she makes the mistake of walking by herself by a lake, and gets captured by vampires. The rest of the book concerns her various adventures with vampires, police, and cinammon rolls.

The single most appealing part of Sunshine is Sunshine. She's warm, sensible, and gabby, with one of the most charming narrative voices I have ever read. It's true that she (and thus the novel) sometimes seem to ramble, but even during her many tangents her very attractive character shines through. By the end of the book, I wanted to ask her out. (Alas, she has the coolest boyfriend of all time--not to mention a vampire buddy. Thank goodness she doesn't hold a candle up to my girlfriend.)

Sunshine's subtle charisma almost masks the fact that not much happens in the book. A surprising amount of time is taken up by her work at the bakery. When significant events do happen, she will talk about them for a chapter or more. And there's a lot of (often funny) conversation.

But I guess that's also part of her character. She admittedly lives in a world filled with strangeness. But she is clearly determined to live out an ordinary life. The result is a novel with an interesting mixture of mundane and fantastic. (The beginning, for instance, starts by describing Sunshine's bakery routine, and only gradually reveals that Others walk around too.) It's a testament to McKinley's powers as a writer that, by the end, the mundane and the fantastic are equally interesting.

That being said, Sunshine is never a particularly gripping novel. But it does feature some personable, sharply drawn characters, and a wonderful setting that is simultaneously weird and very familiar. And for those of you who have a thing for pale men with pointy teeth (as one of the blurbs amusingly describes them): yes, there is a bit of quasi-vampire sex. Just so you know.

Copyright © 2005 Steven Wu