Sunshine

When I picked this up, I was expecting a vampire novel. I was not expecting a sci-fi novel. In fact, I think the novel is somehow equal parts Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Philip K. Dick, and Kevin Brockmeier, though don't ask me how she managed it. I think genre fiction is risky enough, because it's too easy to get trapped by the formulas and cliches of the genres, but mixing genres is downright dangerous. It's a bit like alchemy; even when you don't blow things all to hell, you're more often than not left with just a lump of lead. McKinley, however, has turned up gold.

What we have here is more than just an unique vampire narrative that plays on (and sometimes undoes) the old traditions of vampire novels while spicing up the story with the show more inventive elements of alternate-universe sci-fi (she never lets the sci-fi take over, which was a stroke of genius). Such a novel would be terrific in its own right just for the creativity involved. But McKinley takes it step further by actually caring about her prose, and she frequently slips in delicious sentences and even whole passages that belong among the best in either genre--she is downright literary in her attention to language, almost a kind of Anthony Burgess with a Gothic cyberpunk mentality, and it made the novel not only exhilarating but also eloquent.

So McKinley has accomplished a rare thing indeed: she's managed to write a book I'd recommend to sci-fi/fantasy fans, to speculative fiction fans, to vampire fans, and to snobbish readers of "literature" alike. This was my first McKinley novel, but I'm definitely reading more. show less

Before I say anything else, can I just say that I was actually having dreams about this book throughout the entire time that I was reading it? I literally dreamed about things going on in this book, that's how much I got sucked into it. It was seriously on my mind ALL throughout the day and--apparently--during my nights as well. Probably because it was sexy without being pretentious and obnoxious. And it didn't make me want to eat a bullet just to stop the pain from reading SUCH bad writing I swear it was torture. I'm seriously going to make a petition to make things like Toilet literal torture devices in prisons and the like.

But to get back on track~

There's a considerable amount to love about this book. While most of the popular YA show more literature out there today has made me overly cautious of approaching anything that even whispers or insinuates the presence of 'vampires' in it, this was a risk I was willing to take because I knew the author. Robin McKinley is the author of one of the books I would stake my life on as being the most influential to me even up until today. Her work touched my heart and very being at a young age, and was able to do so again when I read it recently. I still stand by that work till the day I die. So I was willing to forsake the immense repulsion I have for all things 'vampire' and give her book a shot--because I trusted her. Lo and behold... I made the right choice.

Sunshine is fan-TASTIC.

It takes what is a normal existence and almost stuns you with how literally and seriously it takes itself when anything supernatural is finally thrown into the mix. In fact, I found myself shocked on a couple of levels when the main character's plain as day, average life was literally disrupted by vampires at all. In most of the crap you read today, you expect it to happen. Much of the bullcrap you read tries too flippin' hard to pretend it's taking this magic business seriously. I feel like a grown woman who is being spoken to by some elder making funny hand gestures and going, "Oooooohhhhhh~~~!" trying to impersonate a ghost and telling me I should believe they're the honest-to-God real thing.

Yeah. Right.

It doesn't work, and it doesn't go over well. It makes you feel like you're wasting your time and that you're being made a fool of. The asininity and pretentiousness of some of these 'books' written today will make any sane human being cautious about the supernaturally inclined stories that come out today. But Sunshine doesn't feel like it's trying to bullshit you. You read it and it surprises you every time a bit more magic is added into the mix because it reads like a completely normal story in every other respect. That's why I love it so much! When there's magic thrown into it, it's actual magic and not some smoke-and-mirrors act that means diddlysquat in the end. You read about vampires, and they treat those buggers with some actual weight and respect for their potential. In fact, if there's one thing that Sunshine did right, it's respecting the supernatural creatures that are spoken about within it. There is a real admiration I've always had for Robin McKinley and her ability to give meaning to things that other writers so often don't care to distinguish or even acknowledge. She does the very same here, and the effect is marvelous. Instead of reading about glitter-caked turds, I get an honest-to-God vampire that can kill me.

Me gusta.
It's books like these that make me glad that I still can step into the Fantasy section of books today and know I'll be reading something amazing; a book that doesn't treat me like a kid and doesn't treat me like I'm a spineless twat who needs a pathetic excuse for a love interest to satisfy me or justify my existence.

The only thing I will say that bothered me was the apparent ease with which Sunshine flirted with the danger line of having a boyfriend and yet holding a sexual interest in the other main character. (No spoilers, no harm.) At the very least, Robin McKinley didn't try to BS me into thinking this was at all 'romantic.' Tell me plain up that it's for the sex, and I can handle this a bit better. But if it became an actual 'love' interest, I'd flip my lid and toss some tables. I'm still not happy with the 'cheating on your boyfriend' implications involved. In fact, it still leaves a very bitter tang in my mouth whenever I talk about it, and makes me grumpy just thinking about it. But well, compared to the rest of the books out there, it could definitely have been worse. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was hoping Robin McKinley would rise above that, but considering no actual lines were crossed and it was mostly just fanservice, I can tentatively step aside and let it pass. Very. Tentatively.

Still, overall Sunshine was a fantastic read and definitely one I'm buying the first chance I get. It's a fantastic piece of work for any Robin McKinley fans and should be an absolute buy, as far as I'm concerned. Fantasy fans might also enjoy this one, and I'm sure it'll even appeal to the shallower fans who adore Toilet and worship it as the best thing since contraception. Oops? Did I cross a line? Not sorry.

For anyone who'd like a more serious and respectful version of the vampire BS running rampant in this world today, definitely pick this book up at least to give it a shot. It's a good read and has enough action and twisting turns to keep you entertained. And the fanservice is literally fantastic, no matter what borders it crosses for me personally. So have a go at it! I doubt you'll regret it. show less

I was not at all interested in vampire novels, or urban fantasy novels, or paranormal-romantic novels, etc. I was taking a class on the topic of classic monsters (vampires, werewolves, etc) and had to read one of these types of novels. I checked out a bunch of them from the library and one by one was either bored or disgusted by page 3. I checked out more. Same thing. Repeat. And repeat again. I was so frustrated, and then I got this book in my hands. I was captivated immediately, from page 1. I liked the way the main female human character talked, I liked how she thought, I liked the way she spoke about her job and the customers and her co-workers (which are not just ramblings or descriptions - everything is important to the plot and show more means something (even cinnamon, if you use your brain). When things begin to happen with the vampires, there's such suspense! It was so easy to feel her fear and her shock. It was so easy to visualize everything. I truly couldn't predict what would happen next. It was delightful to learn that some of the things she spoke of as facts in the beginning weren't actually true.

The main vampire himself was so compelling. I liked him so much! I can't put my finger on it, on why I was so attracted to him, but he is written beautifully and subtly. There is so much emotion there but he's always described as monotone and stony-faced. It's magical to realize that there is so much under the surface. He is afraid, worried, surprised, nervous, and unsettled just as the main female human character. While she expresses it in action, words, and thought, he expresses it ... in some sort of feeling that comes across not in action or words or thoughts. I have never run into any character like him. He is not handsome, flirty, possessive, etc. like all the other vampires in books and on tv, and the female character never comes to think of him as attractive and never loses her fear or revulsion. There are subtle connections, oppositions, parallels, and what-have-you between the two characters and every time I re-read this book, I find more. This is not a story that is written so much as it is woven together, in the most beautiful way.

I fell in love with this book. It nearly broke my heart several times. It was beautiful, utterly beautiful, and I never wanted it to end. When it did end, it was painful. There's so much more there to be written, but the ending is perfect nonetheless - it wasn't a cop out with a tidy summing up, no unrealistic dramatic shift in storyline, no sap, no surprise ... it was just like the rest of the novel, subtle and beautiful with so much emotion packed into one tiny sentence, one tiny gesture. That it doesn't end with a solid "And they lived happily ever after" is a sign of maturity and fits in with the realism of the rest of the plot. It in no way signals that a sequel is needed. It stands on its own.

This is an extremely romantic book in all meanings of the word "romantic." It's written with class, yet it's not ponderous or bogged down with extraneous details. It's not cheapened with gratuitous sex or endless dwelling on lust, which is so refreshing. It's not shallow, it's not filled in with multiple subplots or distracting side-stories. It's unlike any other book I've read, and most importantly, unlike any other vampire story or paranormal romance (which pale in comparison). I can't praise this book enough. I can't recommend it enough. I shudder to think that it took me this long to discover such a jewel. What if I had never found it? I can't imagine, in hindsight, now living without it in my life. Yes, it was that good, and I now own several copies.

If you like formulaic story-telling, need a neat wrap-up to know when the tale is over, don't like realistic characters, settings, or backgrounds in your paranormal stuff, hate ambiguity and having to use your brain while reading, and have no interest in truly brilliant writing, then pass this one by and go for all the other books on the shelves. show less

Weird and wonderful. I've started this easily half a dozen times, and always stalled out in the ballroom - I don't think I ever got as far as Sunshine giving Con water, before. This time, for whatever reason, I just kept going. McKinley's take on vampires is fascinating - not at all like Dracula, either Bram Stoker's or the movie versions. Con manages, briefly, to pass as human, but mostly he (the most sympathetic vampire) is truly strange - the others are even more so. The storyline is an odd mixture - the slow realization of powers and developing them is very YA style, but the book also contains rather explicit sex (a bit more, and more explicit, than I'm comfortable with, actually). It also skirted the edges of being truly show more depressing, as Sunshine realizes just how much she and her world have changed - but never quite fell over the edge, at least for me. The world is fascinating - not quite certain if it's post-apocalyptic or a slightly alternate Earth (is this our world's future, or have they always been aware of magic there?). In any case, it's a place, and people, I'd love to revisit, if the Story Council should happen to grant Robin another story there...until then, I guess I'll just have to reread it from time to time. show less

Yes, another vampire novel. Maybe even another vampire romance. However this one is so far beyond the "good vampires are sparkly" that it is in a class by itself. Vampires are not "clean" or really nice. You may meet one that seems nice and honorable, but you know that how he defines moral may not agree with your definition.

The world that McKinley created fascinated me. I think everything fit in logically and the bits and pieces that she threw in made the world more concrete. Besides my absolute favorite lines in the book ("We really like librarians. They tend to have tidy minds."), I think the book can be summed up with this one: What we can do, we must do: we must use what we are given, and we must use it the best we can, however much show more or little help we have for the task.

If you only want a quick fix of vampire fiction, this probably isn't going to be your cup of tea. It requires that you read it and absorb the world. If on the other hand you want a well-written fantasy that happens to have vampire in it, this book should interest you. show less

Okay, so I seriously pondered over whether to give this book three stars or four. In the end, I DID enjoy it so I felt generous and gave it four, but it's not without its faults.Once, when I was a little kid, my parents bought me my favourite ice cream. There's actually only one kind of ice cream that I actually like and that's mint choc chip. Only they bought this MASSIVE bowl of it with a banana in it and extra chocolate sauce. I can only guess that they'd finally decided to slowly kill me via diabetes, cholesterol and blood-pressure, and be rid of my annoying, argumentative, five-year-old ways. I can promise that it almost worked and they were almost home free except they'd miscalculated one thing - my short attention span. Sure the show more ice cream was delicious and kept me entertained but there was just so much of it and the mint ice cream was just a little too much in ratio to the choc chip that I like and even the chocolate sauce couldn't entirely keep my concentration.Well, Sunshine is a bit like that. It's good. It's really good. It's a vampire novel so it's pretty much RIGHT up my alley too and so by definition I should have really enjoyed this book.There was really just the problem that there was too much useless narrative in ratio to the action and suspense. Sunshine would start babbling about some inane facet of life that had NOTHING to do with the story and doesn't really add anything to it. Now, if this was world building for a future novel I could have forgiven it, but I have heard, rather mournfully, that there will be no more to this series and that makes me very annoyed. Like when I lost interest in my mint choc chip ice cream at one interval and my evil parents had it whisked away by an annoyed waitress (I'll have my revenge one day!)So whilst I enjoyed much of the book, I found myself falling asleep a lot because it would launch into these long stories like my 80 year old grandma does when you ask her how her day was. Don't even get me started on how UNRESOLVED the end was. There were things I REALLY wanted to know. There were certain sexy scenes I REALLY wanted to read and there was information and intrigue that was left dangling! It's infuriating!One good praise I would like to make for Sunshine is the reversal in a genre of a practice that baffles me. I've complained before that often in YA books, swearing and sex between the main characters doesn't really happen.Yet rape and violence is often described and occurs, sometimes rather graphically.Well, in this book the main character has sex with her long time boyfriend and it's a sweet nonevent - these positive and healthy examples of sex are good! Can we have more caring and loving and healthy relationships displayed for our youth like this, please? There is one particular swearword I wished the book hadn't used (it starts with C and rhymes with bunt... figure it out.)I really hate that word. But the two mentions of dick are cool with me - except Robin Cockblocking McKinley is a cockblocking temptress of doom and if you have read this book then you'll know why I say this! Can someone explain to me why she is not continuing with Sunshine and Con? Please? Why? Why build all this world and have all this and cockblock us (Yes! That's exactly what you did!) only to leave us hanging? It's just rude. At this point I really wouldn't mind what would end out to be the literary equivalent of a pityfuck just to satisfy me and tie up all the freakin' loose ends!Finally, I say I enjoyed this book. I did. Like my ice cream, it was just the kind of thing I liked. Too bad there was so much of it and at times it became work just to get through it and finally finish it. Over all, it was a really good serving of mint choc chip ice cream with a huge serving of cockblock. I liked it, but I refuse to go on a date with Robin McKinley again unless she promises to put out. show less

A few years back, Neil Gaiman wrote a blog post suggesting a new book-sharing tradition, calling it 'All Hallow's Read'. A friend and I adopted it immediately afterwards, and so every October we swap some of our favorite spooky books.

This is the book I sent out this year, one of my favorite vampire novels... and I couldn't resist reading through it a second time to see if it lived up to my remembered hype. I was a bit worried during the first arc (which had the potential of being handled amazingly poorly)— but overall I'd have to say yes, yes it does.

I've long viewed Sunshine as an answer to Twilight, even though it was actually published a year before that much maligned bit of teen fiction hit the scene. Confession time: I actually show more enjoyed reading Twilight— it's over-dramatic and silly, completely fails to approach anything like a healthy relationship, and attaches tons of emotional weight to signifiers that actually mean very little— all things that jibe well with what I experienced as a teenager.

Sunshine, on the other hand, feels emotionally real in a lot of the areas modern paranormal romance feels fake— here we're presented a world where vampires slake their cruel hunger on mortals and humanity as a whole suffers for it, where scary things happen to our heroine and emotional trauma results, and the companionship that eventually develops feels natural.

There's a lot of things I feel this book does right, but I think that last point hits on the key one: the relationships between characters feel natural. Maybe comparing this book to paranormal romances is unfair, because romantic relationships really aren't the focus of this story— it's more about how the main character relates to herself, her friends, family, and past. The end result of exploring those relationships is a very vivid, strongly voiced character that I'm quite happy to have revisited.

And of course there's also vampires, magic, vows of undying loyalty, a visceral final battle, and the promise of a hard-won future. All excellent additions.

So yeah. I'm going to stay up tonight and tomorrow reading The Excorcist, which my friend sent me as her part of our book swap. I'm looking forward to being scared witless, but I hope that Sunshine finds a place in your heart like it's found in mine (nestled somewhere in the gristle between aorta and left ventricle).

Happy Halloween! show less