Sunshine in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Oct 04, 2011 Lorena rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

A refreshing change from the usual vampire/paranormal novels out there. This is a much darker and edgier vision, and very well-written. I'm sorry this is a stand-alone, because there's certainly much more to explore at the end of the story. Be forewarned: this book will leave you with a near-obsessive desire to get your hands on some fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls. I recommend reading in the vicinity of a Cinnabon or having an emergency stash of Pillsbury rolls in your fridge, just to tide you o ...more

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Aug 30, 2007 Jamie Collins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: vampires, fantasy-urban, favorites

This is one of my favorite vampire books, and is responsible for my search for other quality books in the not-quite-horror genre. It's long and meandering, so it helps if you really like McKinley's writing. On re-reads I usually skim the middle section, but I love the beginning and the end. ...more

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Jul 14, 2010 Kimberly rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormalfiction

Sunshine is another book I reread as part of an Old Book/New Book challenge. Sunshine came out in 2003, at the very beginning or slightly before the current craze for vampire novels. So as I reread it, I asked myself whether, if the book came out today, it would have a chance of standing out from the crowd. If I read it, not already being a McKinley fan, would it still impress me, and would I remember it as distinct from the (teeming masses of) other novels in the genre? And, having spent the la Sunshine is another book I reread as part of an Old Book/New Book challenge. Sunshine came out in 2003, at the very beginning or slightly before the current craze for vampire novels. So as I reread it, I asked myself whether, if the book came out today, it would have a chance of standing out from the crowd. If I read it, not already being a McKinley fan, would it still impress me, and would I remember it as distinct from the (teeming masses of) other novels in the genre? And, having spent the last few evenings lost in McKinley's world, the answer to all of these is a definite yes. Sunshine may be a love(?) story between a human and a vampire, but it's also a novel of self-discovery, with a distinctive voice, rich world-building, and a race of vampires who never lose their alien nature or their bite.

Sunshine is narrated by the titular character, who makes pastries at the coffee shop her stepfather owns. I found her to be a refreshing heroine, a narrator with a self-deprecating sense of humor who, even in a world peopled by magic-users and inhuman Others, stays remarkably down to earth. Sunshine loves baking cinnamon rolls, basking in the sun, and devouring cheesy supernatural novels. She seems like the kind of person you could invite over for videos and cheesecake (bonus: she'd probably bake it!), and have a great old time. On the surface, she doesn't seem like the sort of person who could first save a vampire, then find herself embroiled in a vampiric war, but there is more to Sunshine than first appears.

Although Sunshine is a vampire novel, McKinley has drawn a world peopled by all sorts of supernatural races, with its own laws, history, and system of magic. I found the world-building quite original, but if I have one complaint with this novel, well, there is an awful lot of info-dumping. Fortunately, McKinley's writing is so elegant and Sunshine's perspective so engaging that it doesn't feel like info-dumping when they provide us with detailed background to this magical world. For this reason, I really wish there would be a sequel to Sunshine, since McKinley clearly went to great effort planning out how her world works. Those who care less about such details, or about the lyrical writing, might wish the plot moved along more swiftly than it does.

As I noted in the intro, vampire novels are everywhere these days, particularly those featuring a male vampire and a female human (I personally find it troubling how rarely the roles are reversed--but that's a discussion for another time). Constantine, Con for short, is not the kind of vampire you typically find in such stories. He isn't beautiful and rich. He doesn't have a tragic history, nor suffer any angst, that we can see at least. Although Con has decided to embrace a different lifestyle than most of his kind, not killing humans, he isn't necessarily all chummy-wummy with them, either. In general, he is a taciturn sort, and to be truthful he is more of a catalyst than the entire focus of the story. I actually liked reading about a vampire not defined by his hotness, appreciated the lack of hand-wringing, and especially liked that his main source of worry was, well, not getting killed . . .

In my opinion, Sunshine rewards its readers with its distinctive voice, original world-building, and different take on vampires, all of which come across even more strongly the second time around.

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Jan 06, 2009 Jennifer Provost rated it it was amazing

This book weaves together the magical and the mundane so deftly it's hard to distinguish between the two. In Sunshine's world, the paranormal is so common it's normal, so when she encounter's some vampire's she's really not all that surprised. What's interesting is that the vampire's aren't described as tall, dark, handsome & fanged - they're repulsively inhuman. And yet this is also a love story, with some weirdly romantic passages. We learn that inhuman doesn't necessarily mean not a person, ...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Andrea rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, youngadult, dystopia

I liked a lot of the ideas in this book. The everyday-ness of what is essentially a different world with a different history was pretty refreshing, but sometimes the randomly changed words for things made it hard for me to follow. I liked the magic and the vampires and Others and the supportive, powerful older women characters. I even liked the main character, even though I had trouble following her inner monologues sometimes. But I had a hard time understanding what was happening a lot of the t ...more

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