Sunshine by Robin McKinley Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Sunshine
Book Review: Best McKinley book yet!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am definatelly a fan of McKinley's books. However, how many different ways can you hear the same fairy tales retold? Sunshine was an original. I know, I know, the actually story idea has been used before......innocent girl captured by vampires and then teaming up with one to fight the bad guys. But McKinley has always thrown in twists to the old story ideas.
Sunshine is probably the best heroines in my vampire book experiences. She is an average girl with a passion for cooking and everything sunlight related. Then after traveling out to her nearby lake she is captured by an (of course) silent group of vampires.
They take her through the forest to a deserted old mansion, here we meet our other main character, Constantine. Constantine is a vampire who has been captured by his foe Bo. (pardon the rhyme!) After two days of captivity and discovering that Con isn't all that bad Sunshine taps into her almost forgotten magic legacy and helps Con escape.
This is all of a spoiler I am going to write because I recommend you read the book yourself. If you don't really feel the need to read this particular vamp book but are still looking for one, I would suggest either any Amellia Atwater-Rhodes books or the Last Vampire series by none other then Christopher Pike. One of my other favorites is Silvers Kiss by Annette Curtis Klaus.
Good luck in your readings and watch your neck!!
Book Review: Best book I've read all year!
Summary: 5 Stars
Rae "Sunshine" Seddon lead a normal but happy life as a baker in a coffeehouse until one night she gets kidnaped by vampires. She's held captive as a perspective meal for another vampire captive but he refuses to kill her. In her attempts to escape, Sunshine discovers more about herself and her past than she ever wanted to know and she's afraid she may loose her normal life forever.Robin McKinley is my favorite author and when I found out she was writing a book about one of my favorite subjects (vampires) I was ecstatic. But I didn't even have a clue this book would be so good. I'm not exaggerating a bit when I say that out of the eighty or so books I've read this year, this one is my favorite. McKinley has created a very interesting and original world that's equally fantasy and horror. The main character was also really great. She managed to be strong with out being one of those overly tough female characters that seem to be so popular in vampire books these days. I also really loved the not quite romance between the main characters. Anyway, this book is well worth the hardcover price so go get it now.
Book Review: Best of the best
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read (and enjoyed) all of Robin McKinley's work and consider her one of a select group of authors who writes consistently excellent, high quality fantasy - and this book is my favorite of hers. Thank you, Robin McKinley, for writing "Sunshine" - it has become part of an elite group of books, comfort food for the inner me, that I find myself reading again and again (and please, please write a sequel!!!). I love the first person narrative (my personal favorite), the background exposition (depths that are sweet, rich and dark; wonderful characters with such interesting stories that you ache to know more) and the fact that Sunshine is NOT perfect - her occasional bitchiness, periods of absolute denial (not just a river in Egypt), irrational behavior and "why me" angst ring true to the bone and are part of what makes this book so terrific - I am UP TO HERE with perfect heroines/heroes! Additionally, I rate this book as top of the heap in the vampire genre to date (neck and neck with Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series) - and that is saying something as I have read just about every decent (or even half-way decent) vampire book and/or series available, from Bram Stoker's Dracula to Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series and Charlaine Harris's Stookie Stackhouse series. A+++ for originality, a unique vision and a fresh and delightful twist on the vampire theme.
P.S. I noticed some reviewers did not like this book because they thought it was derivative of Charlaine Harris's work - I thought that was extremely funny since Ms. Harris's books have been reviewed by some readers as being derivative of Ms. Hamilton's books, and Ms. Hamilton's books were criticized by some readers as being derivative of Ms. Rice's books, and Ms. Rice's books - well, you get the idea. I think of the criticism "derivative" as meaning a work that is a low-rent version of the original, copied without any spark of originality or creativity - having read "Sunshine" and almost all of the books written by both Ms. Harris and Ms. Hamilton, I can say with some authority that although certain elements are shared, each of these writers has brought her own unique and disparate vision to bear and I feel "derivative" is not valid as a negative criticism for any of them. How many versions of the Cinderella story are there? How many series and books are based on an unknown hero fighting a dark force, a la Tolkien (can you say "Star Wars"?), and weren't Tolkien's works derived from existing myths? Are the plays of William Shakespeare no good because he lifted plots and story lines from the works of other authors (for example, "The Enamored Diana" by Gaspar Gil Polo (1564), an acknowledged source for "The Two Gentlemen of Verona")? My point being that it is not just the material, it is what you do with it. Authors, painters, songwriters, story tellers and other creative people have been sharing concepts and story ideas and stealing from one another since as far back as the human race can remember - and I'm all for it.
Book Review: Best read of the year
Summary: 5 Stars
I was amazed to read the reviews from people who didn't like this book. It is probably the best thing I have read in months. I had a difficult time putting it down; was almost late for work because I just couldn't get out the door.
I picked Sunshine up because it was a McKinley book, and about vampires, two immediate recommendations. And I was quickly surprised to find it was nothing like any McKinley book, or vampire tale, that I had read. This is a fresh and interesting take on an old theme, and I absolutely loved it. No romance, or pages of over-the-top sex. Nothing in this book is easily labeled or pigeonholed, from the hero Constantine, who certainly is no Lestat or Angel, to Sunshine, who doesn't even slightly resemble Buffy or Anita. I enjoyed being in the head of this quirky Queen of the Cinammon Rolls. I want more!
Book Review: Best since DEERSKIN!
Summary: 4 Stars
For the first time in several books, Robin McKinley completely captivated and enthralled me. Sunshine is a fascinating heroine, and the world McKinley created is quite possibly the best urban fantasy I've read since Emma Bull's WAR FOR THE OAKS. Sunshine goes for a drive and finds herself in the clutches of a bunch of vampires who leave her in a room with thier captive, Con, another vampire. This is the core of the story, and also perhaps an analogy. Sunshine draws her power and strength from sun light, while that same sun is killing Con. A life debt ties Sunshine and Con together and drives the rest of the book, from villains and secret government organizations to Sunshine's work, making cinnamon rolls.
If there is a drawback to this book it would be in its tendancy to be a bit floaty and disconnected, short on description and details and sketchy when it comes to links between events. This is a problem with a lot of YA fiction, so it isn't such a big deal.