Sunshine

Title:	Sunshine
Author:	Robin McKinley
Genre:	Fantasy
Ranking:	Very Good
Binding:	paperback
LibraryThing:	Title:Sunshine ISBN:0-515-13881-9 (Add Book)
Type:	Owned
Read:	2009-07-20 2007-08-27 2007-04-18

There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it's unwise to walk. But there hadn't been any trouble out at the lake for years, and Sunshine just needed a spot where she could be alone with her thoughts. Vampires never entered her mind. Until they found her...

Review

I just finished reading "Sunshine" by Robin McKinley. Now, I'd rate this author as a good tale-spinner, but I don't like vampires. I especially don't like sexy "vampires are just misunderstood bad boys" kind of vampire, and from reading descriptions of this book, I thought that's what it would be like, so I didn't bother with it for years. But then someone said that I'd probably like it. So this week I read it.

I'm not quite sure what I think. On the plus side, I was very absorbed, it was un-put-downable. I really wanted to find out what happened next, how on earth our heroine was going to survive. Another plus was, the vampires were really evil, and what's more, really alien and creepy. I did like how the heroine just kept on wishing it would all go away and leave her to her cinnamon rolls. It wasn't a grand fantasy Good Versus Evol; it was "OMG I'm gonna die!" lurching from one crisis to the next, which felt much more realistic.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I actually want to read it again. There weren't bits that I savoured (unlike, say, certain scenes in "The Blue Sword" which I love going back to), and there was an awful lot of ick in there.

(Originally on my livejournal)

Re-Read

I re-read this to see if it's still as good on the second read. It was bit slow to start with, but I got into it, and it captured me all over again, even though I knew what was going to happen. So, yay, this is good!

Re-Read (2009)

Another re-read, and it still holds up. A lot better than Dead Until Dark.

One aspect that niggled a bit at me was that one particular worry (in amidst her tons and tons of legitimate worries) didn't actually have any evidence for it; only her own speculation, and yet she kept on worrying about it. I guess it was all part and parcel of the huge stress she was under, though; you can't exactly expect to be calmly logical when you keep on thinking you're going to die.

I wish there was a sequel; I want to know what Sunshine does next. But I'm certain there won't be a sequel; it feels like a standalone novel, really. It's enough to almost prompt me to write fanfic for it, though. Except that I don't have a feel for what is likely to happen next.