Sunshine

By Robin McKinley

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Average Rating: (See all 4 reviews) Format: Paperback, 405 pages Published In: United States, December 2004 Quantity Available: 294 Ships within 6-10 days In her first novel for adults, the Newbery Medalist and bestselling author pens an exciting, beautifully written, erotic addition to the popular vampire genre. "A gripping, funny, page-turning, pretty much perfect work of magical literature."--Neil Gaiman. From The Publisher: Unfortunately, she wasn't alone. She never heard them coming. Of course you don't, when they're vampires. Publisher: Jove Books ISBN: 0515138819 EAN: 9780515138818 Dimensions: 17.45 x 10.62 x 2.84 centimeters (0.20 kg)

McKinley is a great writer, and some of her stuff is fantastic, but this is easily her masterpiece.

Sunshine is an humble baker, a genius with chocolate and flour. She lives in a world ravaged by war - a war fought against the inhuman `others'. The others are demons, werewolves, and especially vampires. These others stalk through the novel, teasingly out of sight, haunting the pages with their almost-presence. It's pure gold.

Anyway, Sunshine gets into a spot of bother with the local insanely evil vampire gang, and this colours the rest of her actions in the novel. Without trying to spoil it to much, Constantine the Vampire is written with sympathetic skill, but you never ever forget the fact that he's an enemy who's happily drink the human race dry as a bone if he could do so safely.

Read this book. It's absolutely FANTASIC. You'll never so much as think about Antia Blake ever again.

A standalone dark fantasy by Robin McKinley, it follows the story of Sunshine, a rather ordinary young woman who is quite happy enough with her hectic, ordinary life working at a family-run restaurant as the chief baker. However, seeking quiet and solitude one night, she drives to a nearby lake despite knowing that there are several ‘bad spots’ around there, which attract supernatural creatures. And sure enough, she finds herself kidnapped by vampires and offered up as a kind of sacrifice to another vampire; however the situation may not be at all what it seems to be and neither is Sunshine herself.

This is a fantastic contemporary fantasy novel, full of sass and humour, as well as wonderful world-building and plausible re-constructions of the mythos surrounding vampires and other supernatural creatures. The characters, whether human or otherwise, are all charismatic, realistic and interact believably, which is something that is quite lacking in many vampire stories; the language used is wonderfully evocative while still having a beautifully irreverent, contemporary style, which helps to flesh out Sunshine very well, who also acts as narrator. The plot is also very well structured and well-executed, with a nice mix of action, mystery and a touch of romance. A very enjoyable, very fun dark fantasy, and probably one of the finest examples of this sub-genre out there.

I'm a big fan of R.McKinley's "Deerskin", a beautifully written, intelligent fantasy/romance, so when I'd learned McKinley had written a vampire romance I just had to buy it!! This is a fabulous book with a fully realised, feisty character named Sunshine. Set in a world where Vampires, Demons and Werewolves live side by side with humans, Sunshine must use her wits and a little magic to stay alive. When one night she is kidnapped by vampires and shackled to the ballroom wall of an abandoned mansion, Sunshine is shocked to discover that she is dinner for a Master Vampire. Yet, when this vampire chooses to talk to Sunshine rather than eat her, Sunshine learns that there are good and bad vampires and that this vampire (good) needs her help.

McKinley does a fabulous job weaving magic with realism and a good amount of research on vampiric lore; however, she chose stream of conciousness as her narrative device. This technique is tricky - for although Sunshine is an intelligent and feisty character (who would much prefer to be working in her step-father's bakery making her famous cinamon rolls than to be fighting vampires), her internal monlogue can be at times protracted and, well, just plain boring! Nevertheless, the story is fairly fast paced, intriguingly clever (Sunshine is the antithesis of night and, incidentally, vampires - who are, of course, allergic to daylight). There is a hint of romance and some not too subtle eroticism (Male vampires can sustain an erection far longer than their human counterparts, for example)...but the encounters are all too brief and unfulfilling, making you want to race out and buy a trashy vampire romance...

The novel ends with a promise of more to come...there are plenty of unanswered questions and plenty of unexplored, magical territory, but McKinley has promised nothing as far as a sequal goes. Indeed, McKinley is a believer in author as medium: if the story comes to her, she'll write it...so far, the sequal hasn't communicated with her.

Read this NOW!! it is an absolutely excellent book. Sunshine is kidnapped by vampires and is the temptation for another but when she rediscovers her magic, which she has buried because it didn't fit into her normal life where she is a baker at her stepfather's cafe, She is able to save not only herself but a sort of good vampire because you can't really get good vampires. Back at home she hopes life will go back to normal but no luck there. there is a hint of romance and I like that this is set in an alternate universe where there have been vampires and demons living amongst us since the beginning. I'm dying for the sequel and this book has been religiously passed around all my friends.