Chalice (Robin McKinley)

My life is in reverse now. I live ten minutes away from the sea. I vacation in the city. Ever since I moved, I haven't really been able to finish a new book (and I bought a lot of lovely titles with me). I'd start one but would almost always end up bookmarking it and leaving it somewhere else. Every book I've finished reading in November have all been rereads, and it was only during my short vacation in Manila that I was able to close the cover on a new title: Robin McKinley's Chalice, devoured in one sitting.

Chalice is an engaging fantasy, very quiet and descriptive. Dialogue is sparse, but what little there is shines with expression. It is a tale of Mirasol, plucked from her life as a beekeeper and named Chalice of the Willowlands. Being Chalice means being part of a Circle of honored individuals. As second in power only to the Master, it is her duty to bind their demesne. But their demesne has been broken with the deaths of the former Master and Chalice. With no one to guide her, Mirasol has to rely on her own knowledge and perseverance to meet her heavy task. She must stand by the new Master, an elemental priest called back from the Fire, now more elemental than human and together they struggle to keep their land whole despite dangers and threats from outside and within.

This is not a sweeping fantasy of dragons and magic. Instead, it is a subdued piece, a character study, a tale of strength and duty and healing. What I enjoyed most about it is Ms McKinley's subtlety, the lovely way that she draws on natural elements (in this case, bees and honey) to anchor her writing, the strong and blossoming friendship between Mirasol and her Master. She invites the readers to be part of Mirasol's journey, her fears and insecurities to her inevitable triumph. I felt that it buoyed me along, buoyed me enough to keep me from wanting to put it down. Chalice was truly the perfect fantasy in visit in the middle of my wet and grey December.

Sunshine (Robin McKinley)

Confession: this is not my book cover; this is. Obviously, I'm not a big fan of the YA cover. I have, however, become a fan of the book.

When I found out that this was the 2007 winner of the Mythopoeic Award, I was excited. My new goal is to read as much of the Mythopoeic winners as I can, especially since a number of them are already my favorites (Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Hand, Patricia McKillip, among others).

Sunshine bakes cinnamon rolls every four in the morning for her stepfather's quaint little diner. One night, she heads to the lake, gets abducted, and experiences what every Twilight fangirl dreams of: being shackled right next to a vampire.

Normally, I don't like characters like Sunshine. Most of them, I feel, are too conveniently dropped into a storyline with paranormal creatures and because of (surprise, surprise) some mystic power in their blood or some obscure prophecy, they are able to triumph over evil. Ho-hum. But while this may be true for Sunshine, Ms McKinley sets her apart through the observant tone her main character uses. Sunshine makes her days at the coffeehouse just come to life and it is this same eye for detail that allows her strange encounter with the vampire Constantine to remain on some grounded level of believability.

Sunshine is not quite romance, even if you have vampires and crimson ballgowns and a devoted human boyfriend. It's not quite science fiction either, even if you have a recently-concluded war with drastic effects and tech names for familiar things. There's a lot in Sunshine that makes you think you know where it's going, but it has surprised me in many (small and subtle) ways. I appreciated how the book deals with the morality of killing (a vampire, yes, but killing just the same) or the way that it leaves some loose ends that may (or may not) have anything to do with the main conflict.

But the ambiguity is not the sole reason that I feel that the book has two different personalities. As the story progresses, the reader will feel the change in Sunshine, but it's hard to pinpoint the exact passage when her tone changes. You do know that she still cares for the same things in the end, still wants her old life. But her voice--her storytelling--has moved on from its originally sharp and tongue-in-cheek effervescence into more deliberate, more mature shades. I suppose I loved that feeling, reading the last few pages of the book and letting Sunshine's realizations wash over me as well. Not really what I expected from another 'vampire novel.'