Sunshine

I've already written a review of another one of Robin McKinley's books, Deerskin. I loved that book, it was psychological, metaphorical, immediate, disgusting, cathartic and very introspective. Logically, I expected something similar from Sunshine. The premise seemed to promise that as well; A vampire and a human are locked together in a room. He hides in the shadows, she moves with the spot of sunlight falling through the window. But as night falls... I expected a tense, intense, slow thriller. Will she die? Will she convince the vampire to let her live? Who locked them in this room together and why? I looked forward to that story.

It wasn't that. It was that for like, the first chapter, and then it became something entirely different. In a sense, it isn't really fair to resent a story for not being what you wanted it to be. Sunshine isn't bad, it just really isn't my jam. Action-adventure urban fantasy isn't really my favorite to begin with, but when it's a monster mash like this... I'm never really a fan of the types of books that mix all the traditional monsters. Vampires and werewolves still works, but when you start adding demons and pixies and sorcerers... I don't know, it works for comedies (though, maybe this was more intended as a comedy?), but if you want your story to be scary, it's too unfocused. The creepiness of each monster doesn't add up and becomes greater than its parts, they each just kind of lose what makes them uniquely frightening, in my opinion. Few people are actually scared of vampires or werewolves, we tend to be scared of what they represent, our primal animalistic side, a toxic love... The underlying themes that suffuse a good monster story. And you can't properly build those themes when you mash your monsters together. I also didn't really like the main character's narration that much. Sunshine is very snarky, but either she, or Robin McKinley isn't quite funny enough to pull it off. Again, in my opinion.

Anyway, I tried to meet it where it's at. Hell, I finished it. But it wasn't what I was looking for, and I am still kind of sad I didn't get the gloomy, introspective, slow-paced vampire thriller I was hoping to read.

I have this compulsion to finish a book once I start it, or at least give it a decent chance to prove itself.

I read a whole 27 pages of Sunshine before I tossed it aside, quite literally.

This book was recommended to me by a friend with the words: "The writing's a bit different, but it's so nice and lyrical."

'Lyrical' is the right description, with words out of context simply for the sake of it, run-on sentences and bizarre tangents.

It read like a sequel, except it isn't; sometimes leaving hints and teasers about how the book's world is different is great. Sometimes, it just doesn't work. McKinley appears to start explaining about the Others and all these different species, except she she just throws in names of a bunch of other creatures but only elaborates on vampires.

I'm sure there would be more explanations further in the book, but for three pages this went on, listing but not explaining, just babbling about creatures with tangents thrown in to disrupt any flow she had going.

As I haven't read that much of the book I realise I'm not totally qualified to review; however, the parts of the book about the bakery worked. If it didn't contain the paranormal I think McKinley's style would have worked for me. Unfortunately, that's her genre.

Well, that was quite a bit of fun. Definitely a switch from earlier works of McKinley's I've read, both in general tone and concept, though it was a pleasure to see that her writing is still very solid. In this novel especially she shows an impressive range, swinging from sublime to profane and back again. Reviews I've seen keep calling it "Buffyesque", and that's an apt comparison; Buffy fans will definitely see echos of Buffy and Angel in Sunshine and Constantine, and Whedon's influence in the deaths of several vampire characters throughout the story. However, McKinley gives it all her own unique take as well, and the end result is something entirely her own.

The story's not without its problems. As a narrator, Sunshine does have a habit of going on and on with explanatory backstory when you really want her to just get on with it and tell you what's going to happen next. There's also at least a mild level of "oh for fuck's sake" as we get introduced to Sunshine's powers and exactly why she's capable of taking out vampires, and the obligatory whining of "but I don't WANT TO" when she starts cluing in that she may be humanity's last hope. The tone switch into the profane in one particular scene--anyone who's read the novel will know where I mean--is quite jarring, since it's not like McKinley's usual style at all.

But I was quite willing to forgive the book these issues, just because the story is quite solid, and McKinley's writing continues to please. And as every single person I've heard comment on the book has said, it'll do quite a bit to make you crave some cinnamon rolls. Four stars.