Sunshine

I really liked this story and was totally riveted--couldn't put it down. It is a different type of vampire story and it's written very well, but there is literally no ending! 20 years later and there is no ending to this book. This author never completed the thought and it's a total letdown. I'm still in mystery...

It was with some trepidation that I opened the covers of this latest book by Robin McKinley. As the author of one of my favorite and formative books (Beauty), McKinley has not always provided the sort of reading experience I have been looking for. Deerskin was a particularly dark sojourn into the nasty depths of Brothers Grimm, and although the storytelling was masterful & memorable, it has not ranked as a favorite novel. So a vampire tale by McKinley would be different, I knew. The surprise came, when it's a fantastic kind of new! With this book reviewers must endeavour please, not to give too much of the plot away. Half the suspense of reading the book is letting the story unfold and allowing the narrator to tell it in her own way & pace. Sunshine works as a cook at a small cafe in a seedy and forgotten suburb after a magical holocaust has come across the world, reshaping the landscape of America as we know it. She has an uneasy relationship with her mother, and finds herself having a closer acquaintance with a vampire than she had ever planned. The gradual unveiling must not be clouded, thus I shall write no more, leaving it to you, the reader, to discover. A story rich with ambiance, thick with texture taste and smell, menace hangs heavy in the air only to be washed away by the sharp sunlight and dizzying aroma of delicious cooking - all vividly imagined. I salivitated through this book! Without the hyperbole, McKinley proves again mastership of her craft, drawing readers on the adventure & into the world more solidly than ought to be possible. Having read a library copy, I will now purchase the book as it's one I would love to keep - I had better make that two, because I know I won't be able to resist lending this fantastic book to friends! Hoping there will be a sequel. kotori 2005

Whether or not you like this book (regardless of how many other McKinley books you've read) seems to depend on if you like her new style. This book is not written in McKinley's ephemeral, fairy-tale-like style that is prevalent in the majority of her other books; this is a new style to go with a new world. The world in this book is solid, it is THERE, and it feels so real that it can be difficult to come back to the real world once you've sunk into Sunshine's. One of the reasons for this, and one of the many reasons I enjoy this book so much, is the vast amount of detail that's written in, including fascinating tidbits about how the things that don't exist in our real world work - how different species of "demons" look and act, which ones can interbreed with humans and what happens when they do, which ones are all bad, and so on. Sunshine herself is a more solid character than McKinley's other heroines. She doesn't want to be the heroine, she doesn't want anything exciting to happen, and she doesn't go out of her way to make anything happen; she just wants to be left alone to bake cinnamon rolls in her little corner of the world. In some ways, this book reminds me of good science fiction writing; one of the most important aspects of good SF is the explanation of how the world works. In most other genres - including most fantasy - the reader already knows how things work, the laws of the universe and the species of animals or humans that will be included. The amount of explanation necessary in SF is so much more, because all of those things that are usually taken for granted are different and must be explained.

I resisted reading this book for many months, despite hearing glowing reviews from friends. Which was strange, since generally I like Robin McKinley's work, but I just couldn't imagine reading yet another vampire story. What could she do that hadn't already been done to death (pardon the pun) by other authors?But finally I gave in and bought the book, and was immediately amazed. McKinley has created a richly detailed alternate version of our world, where the survivors of the voodoo wars cling to the normal rhythms of life, in spite of the lingering threat from vampires and demons. The heroine Sunshine is immediately engaging and sympathetic. As she comes in to her powers, she is forced to face the dangers that others choose to ignore. The relationship with the vampire Con is particularly well done. There are none of the cliches here. Con isn't handsome, he's not an immediate love interest, and there's a clear sense that he is alien to Sunshine's world. And yet somehow he and Sunshine manage to form an alliance of necessity that grows into something more.I loved this world and these characters and was sad when the book ended. I truly hope she'll be inpsired to write a sequel someday.

I'm not generally interested in vampire tales. But this is McKinley, and I adore her writing. The only disappointment associated with this book is that it had to end. The tale is masterfully woven, deep and lush, with the kind of thoughtful story-telling that one just doesn't think of until one reads something written by McKinley and realizes how much more there is to a story. Like others, I would love a sequel, but I know McKinley receives her stories rather than writes them, and like her, we must all be patient and hopeful rather than demanding. One of the elements I love so much about McKinley's writing is she creates an our world/not our world in her stories. There are cars and mechanics and cinnamon rolls - just like our world - yet there are also a whole host of other kinds of creatures and items that exist matter-of-factly in her worlds that simply don't exist in ours. Yet when you read about them, there is no disconnect.As with any novel, "Sunshine" is not for everyone. It is well suited for those who enjoy beautiful writing, a fantastical plot and atmosphere, a good tale and a good (subtle) moral understory. That said, I feel a small bit of pity for anyone who doesn't read McKinley's novels and misses out on her extraordinary talent.

I should say from the start that I do believe Robin McKinley could rewrite the dictionary and it would be interesting, so I'm biased. I have good reason to be biased. McKinley's skills as a storyteller, as a writer, as a voice for her characters and her worlds is unparallelled. Sunshine is not a book about vampires. They are there and they are central to the story, but the book is so much more than that. The best part of the book is that afore mentioned voice. I am not usually a fan of first person storytelling, but Sunshine is full of wry wit and a self-deprecatingly quirky combination of realism, independence, and fancy. I applaud the author for going in a new (if slightly Buffyesque) direction. This book obviously isn't to everyone's taste, but the writing is still superb and I highly recommend it. If it helps, my personal list of Robin McKinley favourites is: The Hero & the Crown, The Blue Sword, Deerskin, and now in 4th place -- Sunshine.