I normally *really* hate vampire stories. However, one day a couple summers ago I was out of books to read, and out of recommendations as to what might be good. I hadn't read Sunshine before then, because it was a vampire story, and I normally don't like those, but needing a book, I figured, since I generally enjoy Robin McKinley's works, I'd give this one a shot.

I'm really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It was an easy, fun read that involved vampires without being a stereotypical vampire romance. I've re-read it several times.

That being said, there are a few things that I rather didn't like:

As for Sunshine herself, I really neither love nor hate her - I just can't identify with her at all. Since the book is told from her point of view, we get to read her thoughts on just about everything. That in itself I have no problem with, but there are times where the pacing of a scene gets bogged down because of all the monologuing going on in Sunshine's head. As result, it felt to me like some of the scenes - for example, where she (*spoiler*) takes down a vampire with an ordinary table knife - didn't really have the energetic, active sort of feel they should have. I also feel like maybe all the mentions of baking and baked goods could have been toned down a bit - yes, she's a baker, but do we really need to hear all the steps that go into making half a dozen different things? It's things like that that really slow the story down in spots.

I also wish we had seen more of Con; he was an interesting character and McKinley doesn't give a whole lot of information about him.

All in all, though, it was an enjoyable book, and I'd recommend it. ( )

vampires, good, evil, fantasy, families, LRC, KS4 ( )

Sunshine is not really a vampire story - it is a Robin McKinley story about a young woman with magic who has to fight vampires. It is told in first person by the woman, Rae Seddon, aka Sunshine, but the voice is, to me, unmistakably McKinley's. This isn't so much a criticism as an observation. All this means that if you like McKinley's voice, I think you'll like this book. But maybe not. Because, I'll be honest, there's stuff to love in it, but there are some really clunky moments that grated on my nerves. There's good and bad in this book and some readers will like it a lot, and some will be less impressed. Me? I'm somewhere in the middle.

http://archthinking.blogspot.com/2009... ( )

Surprised (perhaps because I thought I was 'over' vampires for a while) to find that I ‘very much liked’ or even possibly ‘loved’ this story. I enjoyed the slower pace of this story and the level of detail with which it was told. I felt I got a real sense of who the main characters were and what their lives were like (especially Sunshine, and her job as a baker in a café), and I got to watch her process the experiences she was going through, rather than rush from one to the other for the sake of an overly convoluted plot!!

Sunshine was a likeable main character who really grew on me, and it was good (from a writing point of view) to see that the trauma she goes though has real consequences, and isn't just shrugged off with the next exciting action sequence. ( )

Robin McKinley is a master at balancing detail with broad plot strokes, creating a world that is achingly familiar yet entirely foreign, like a marvelously complete and exciting dream. Sunshine is a character that readers will want to be; who wouldn’t want to be the creator of such marvelous things as the Caramel Cataclysm and Killer Zebras, have a kindly tattooed biker boyfriend, and draw strength from the sun? The world and the characters are the strength of this book.
This is not to say the plot is weak. The plot is largely internal; it primarily deals with Sunshine’s struggle to define herself as her place in the world changes and the buried secrets of her heritage surface. There is a villain and there are characters who may be villains, and these details intertwine with McKinley’s unfolding description of the world. The climax, in which Sunshine and Con defeat Con’s vampire enemy, a bad vampire in a world where there is only one possibly good vampire, has more to do with Sunshine dealing with her own internal struggle than with any kung fu moves or general thrilling actions. McKinley’s strength is creating an interesting world and characters, rather than weaving a tight-knit story. The sum of Sunshine seems to leave the door open for a sequel, and readers used to paranormal series may be frustrated by the loose ends and possibilities that remain after the book is finished. However, other readers may enjoy that there is such fertile fodder for further imagining. Sunshine will occupy the mind long after it has been set down. ( )