Book Review -- Sunshine

Another of the books I received in the Box o' Books was Robin McKinley's Sunshine. I had read a number of great reviews, one of my favorite authors mentioned it on her blog, and some online acquaintances mentioned it on some message boards. So I wanted to read it. Then I realized the author also wrote Deerskin, a book I'd read years ago with mixed feelings.

(Published October 2008 by Berkley Publishing Group - Paperback Edition - 405 pages) Genre is Horror with sub-genres of fantasy/science fiction, paranormal romance, adventure, urban fantasy, and occult fiction. Yeah, it's been tagged with a little bit of everything. It's not really horror but it's not quite science fiction either, and it's only kind of a love story -- yet it's all three. I understand this is her first novel for "adults."

Rae, nicknamed Sunshine by her stepfather, is the baker at her family’s coffeehouse. She’s happy getting up at 4 am to make cinnamon rolls for the breakfast rush, and dealing with people and food all day. But one evening she needed somewhere she could be alone for a little while, and there hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years.

She never thought of vampires.

Until they found her.

I really hesitated to start this book. Deerskin was a particularly dark story for a young adult book, and perhaps I was too young to appreciate it at the time, but I was pleasantly surprised by Sunshine. The book was a well paced first person narrative and pulled me right along.

Unfortunately, narrative is the key word for a good part of the book. The author tells, in a rather passive voice, the story leaving very little showing, even in the action scenes. Half the suspense of reading this book is letting the story unfold and meander at the narrator's own pace.

My main problem was the large exposition dumps. I was constantly thrown out of the flow of the story and I'm not sure that all that information was necessary. Sunshine's first person voice was difficult to sympathize with. (Which is hard for me to say because I love first person point-of-view.) She came across somewhat childish for a woman in her mid to late twenties and a bit whiny. The secondary characters were never fleshed out. Mel's a great example. Here's this intriguing guy, a bit of a bad-boy but also a cook, and you know he's got something going on, but what? The vampires are loathsome creatures that don't share a lot with humans other than looking basically human. And Con's head is one I'd love to get inside of.

Sunshine's universe, is at once familiar, yet different enough to be confusing on occasion. Sunshine uses terminology familiar to her world while giving minimal explanation to the reader. I came away with the feeling the author assumed the reader had a brain therefore didn't hand all the information on a platter. It was a rather refreshing experience.

I suspect this is a story that becomes richer with each re-read. I find myself in the curious position of having liked Sunshine in spite of itself. So, perhaps, I will re-read Deerskin and pick up some more of McKinley's novels.