I heard a review of Sunshine on NPR, saying it was a good airplane book. I had a flight and nothing to read, so I picked it up. n
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The book starts out well. McKinley draws the reader into what seems like a normal world that’s just a little off, and it gradually gets stranger and stranger. When the first REALLY BAD THING happens, you are hooked. n
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Unfortunately, that’s when the book loses steam. McKinley has this annoying habit of breaking up conversations between the characters with explanatory background paragraphs. This can be a useful device when used sparingly, but for McKinley it is the rule. Whenever two characters get together you can expect a short conversation to be spread out over a half dozen pages. Snore. Continuity and pace are destroyed. Yes, I appreciate that this is a detailed alternate world, and McKinley has fleshed it all out in her mind. But sometimes an author should let the back story remain back story and just give the reader enough information to glean the rest by the flow of the front story. n
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And speaking of characters, the BIG BAD VILLAIN is entirely flat. He’s out there lurking through the whole book, and we know he’s BAD. REALLY BAD. PURE EVIL. And really uninteresting. We know he hates the good vampire. We never find out why, and the heroine seems uninterested as well. The good vampire is also flat. Once McKinley has drilled into our heads for the 100th time that good vampires are impossibly unusual, his character doesn’t change. Nor do we learn why he’s decided to be good. For McKinley, it’s enough to establish who is wearing the white and black hats, then let them duke it out (with lots of stinky, gooey blood).n
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The book raises many questions that it never answers. That’s fine, I don’t mind a little mystery, even after the end. But by then the pace has become so tedious that I’m no longer even curious. What happened to Dad? Grandma? Why does the super bad SOF agent just spring up out of nowhere in the last 100 pages, with no explanation of her motivation? But McKinley doesn’t concern herself with this. As long as the reader knows which side the characters are on, we can slog on.n
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Characters come and go for no apparent reason. Some are featured early, and then are just ignored. Others pop up later, and then are forgotten. Since this is told as a first person narrative, it makes the heroine appear self absorbed, and thus less likable. The conclusion is that the author doesn’t care about the secondary characters, so they remain cardboard cutouts. n
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Part of the reason the story fails is that nobody we care about ever gets hurt. I should rephrase that, because McKinley never develops a character enough for us to actually care about. But the bodies that pile up at an ever faster pace are anonymous. So there’s no sense that any named character is ever in any real danger. No danger means no suspense. No suspense means rather dull vampire novel. n
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The shame here is that McKinley has created a rich setting for a great story. But a great story needs great characters, and there are none here. Two approaches would have vastly improved this novel. Either trim off 100 pages of unneeded detail and give the novel some much needed pace, or add 100 pages of character development and give the novel some much needed depth. As it stands, it is frustratingly in the middle.n

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the book is not really about the event of Sunshine being taken by the vampire but more of the aftermath. it is dragged out a lot. we read about her emotions and life style more than anything else. shes sounds totally traumatized and is unable to connect with anyone she used to love. the scenes that involve her family or boyfriend or even friends are very short and written as if the author doesn’t want us thinking about themn
the language was nasty too. i actually got this book from my high school library. Imagine that.. and they are questioning The Chocolate War? they should take a look at this book.n
if it had been a bit shorter and the unimportant stuff left out i would have liked it. Sunshine’s depression and emotional thoughts get a bit boring.

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As a choco-holic I had no problem relating to this book; it was awesome! I think those who rated this book poorly simply can’t appreciate the writing style. Its understandable because even as heavy a reader as I am Mrs. Mckinley had me re-reading a few pages. But, at least for me, that is part of the appeal: actually having to concentrate on what is on the page. Once you get past the nuances of the style though the plot is terrific: its a classic man vs nature and man vs himself (or herself) under some very odd circumstances. Overall I found Sunshine very enjoyable and throughly developed.

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I was really looking forward to this book. I don’t read vampire books that often, but with all of the praise and recommendations for this book, I decided to check it out. n
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I thought that the story line, the basic plot, was actually kind of interesting. I’m into books that are fanciful, yet still believable. I didn’t believe this book. It didn’t draw me in. It didn’t help that the main character went by Sunshine. I mean SUNSHINE? Come on. n
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And all of her insufferable MONOLOGUING. In the middle of going through a terrifying abduction by vampires, she goes on and on about her brothers and the stupid bakery. All about her past ALL the time. I’m just kind of like, OKAY, that’s great.. What’s happening NOW? I found myself skipping entire paragraphs and pages just to get to what was happening in the present.n
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Also, I don’t know if it’s just me, but her writing style was hard for me to follow. I suppose it’s a way of expressing the character’s train of erratic thought, but it made me weary and just downright frustrated with the whole novel. It’s also a little difficult to read a book with whole page paragraphs. n
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In my opinion, don’t waste your time on this one.

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Let me be frank; I am already a solid fan of Robin McKinley. Her Damarian novels, “The Blue Sword” and “The Hero and the Crown” are already perennial re-readers of mine, and along with “Spindle’s End” as well as “Beauty”, have already captivated me with their strong heroines, their satisfying yet not quite predictable endings, and - most of all - McKinley’s graceful, slightly poetic and totally readable prose. n
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Well, Sunshine may have beat them all. It may be pure serendipity, but it hit several strong chords for me. I spent at least 5 years out of my life as a baker and cook, and the coffeehouse at the center of the novel, as well as the heroine Rae’s role as the baker, was familiar and realistic. And I have always been interested in various renditions of non-traditional vampires. Another dead-center hit.n
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The narrative is beautifully balanced between the introspective and descriptive portions and the action scenes. It is a story which plays out a beautifully believable emotional drama, against the backdrop of a convincing alternate reality. And it is beautifully written.n
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This is - as are all of McKinley’s stories - the story of a heroine who keeps her head and shows great courage in a strange and challenging situation. It is not a simple story, and it is loaded with complicated and interesting - and convincing - characters. n
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Rae, or Sunshine, the heroine, discovers little by little that not only is she herself not quite who she thought, but that she is also surrounded by other people who are not who she thought either… She finds, or remembers, skills she did not know she (or anyone) had. Her austere but beloved landlady becomes more of a friend than expected, her buddies and customers turn out to be interested in more than her Cinnamon Rolls As Big As Your Head, and her father becomes more than just an unhappy memory. n
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All in all, this is a wonderfully captivating and satisfying read. I can already tell that I will return to it more than once.n
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