- Mass Market Paperback: 405 pages
- Publisher: Jove Books; Reprint edition (4 Dec 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0515138819
- ISBN-13: 978-0515138818
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.6 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 768,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
NEIL GAIMAN
'Astonishing...a perfect work of magical literature'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
'Buffyesque baker Rae 'Sunshine' Seddon meets Count Dracula's hunky Byronic cousin in Newbery Award winner McKinley's first adult-and-then-some romp'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Rae Seddon, nicknamed 'Sunshine' is as normal a girl as you'll ever see. She works at her stepfather's coffee shop making cinnamon rolls; she has her own house, a nice old landlady, a boyfriend named Mel and a very annoying mother. Seems like your typical twenty-something woman, right? Wrong. After a particularly tiring day, Rae, wanting to escape from her life a bit, drives over to 'the lake'. There, she is captured by a band of vampires and offered as food to yet another one... the mysterious Constantine, who, as she soon discovers is also a prisoner. Fearing for her life, Sunshine discovers a whole new side of herself. With that she makes a strange friend, and attracts the wrath of the evil master vampire, `Bo', who sent his goons out to capture her. She has to fight him, with the uneasy help of Constantine, if she is ever to regain her old life back.
I have mixed feelings about this one. I know a good piece of literature when I see it. And "Sunshine" is superb, a truly well written book, a masterpiece of its genre. Ms McKinley idealized a world and described it with such vivid detail we can actually imagine ourselves living in it. Sunshine is a believable character. Even Constantine, as different as he might be from most of the vampires that appear in fiction today, is believable. This book also has an amazing character development, not to mention a story that while not original in its essence, is told in a very peculiar and interesting manner.
That said, I couldn't get into it as well as I would like. It took me almost a week to finish it. I'd say the first part (the book is divided in four) is not very appealing; this is probably the book's only weakness, as the first chapters are very important; if these chapters fail to capture the reader's attention, he or she might never pick up the book again. I thought the first part of this book, up until the scene of the lake very boring and too descriptive. Don't get me wrong; when the action takes place in a parallel world, you have to do some description... just try not to spend too much time on cinnamon rolls. Still, after those first few boring pages the book was fantastic. A little too descriptive at times, but fantastic nonetheless. I can agree wholeheartedly with the praise on the cover that says that "Sunshine" is 'Pretty much perfect'. A worthy read, fundamental for lovers of contemporary fantasy.
I have mixed feelings about this one. I know a good piece of literature when I see it. And "Sunshine" is superb, a truly well written book, a masterpiece of its genre. Ms McKinley idealized a world and described it with such vivid detail we can actually imagine ourselves living in it. Sunshine is a believable character. Even Constantine, as different as he might be from most of the vampires that appear in fiction today, is believable. This book also has an amazing character development, not to mention a story that while not original in its essence, is told in a very peculiar and interesting manner.
That said, I couldn't get into it as well as I would like. It took me almost a week to finish it. I'd say the first part (the book is divided in four) is not very appealing; this is probably the book's only weakness, as the first chapters are very important; if these chapters fail to capture the reader's attention, he or she might never pick up the book again. I thought the first part of this book, up until the scene of the lake very boring and too descriptive. Don't get me wrong; when the action takes place in a parallel world, you have to do some description... just try not to spend too much time on cinnamon rolls. Still, after those first few boring pages the book was fantastic. A little too descriptive at times, but fantastic nonetheless. I can agree wholeheartedly with the praise on the cover that says that "Sunshine" is 'Pretty much perfect'. A worthy read, fundamental for lovers of contemporary fantasy.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
...and it made me look for more of her books. (I was SO disappointed to find that most of them were in the children's section -- until I started reading them.) As I'm interested in vampire literature, I actually took a risk and bought Sunshine instead of trying the library first: no regrets on the uncharacteristic extravagance. It doesn't follow the usual traits of the genre in lacking the pseudo-Victorian melodrama, the almost overblown and harrowing sense of angst (one often feels that the authors were writing their works by candlelight dressed all in Gothic black) that the main characters undergo, and the (excessive) focus on the erotic thrill of involvement with The Undead, etc. Instead the book is redolent of baking and... well, sunshine. It is not without violence -- after all, it is a book which involves vampires and other creatures -- but it doesn't glory in the blood and guts. And it doesn't rely on them, which is an achievement in this sort of book. I don't even consider it an extravagance anymore because I will read it again and again, keep it in my collection of books, jealously guard it against dilatory borrowers, and buy a new copy when it falls apart. I'm half-hoping that McKinley will write more about Rae or Con, but I'm almost afraid that it might be too much of a good thing.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've been a fan of Robin McKinley since I read her earlier books, a few years back. I was really looking forward to this book, especially as it's been a while since her last book was published - and this book was recommended by Neil Gaiman - I wasn't disappointed.
Sunshine is the baker at her family coffeehouse and an ordinary person in a world that is much like our own, apart the magic, and the fall-out from the Wars between the humans and the Others - vampires, demons, and the like. But a decision not to join her family for a night watching films, instead having some solitude at the lake nearby her home town has consequences when she is captured by vampires, and forced to accept that she is not as ordinary as she would like to be. For one thing, no normal person who help another vampire to escape...
People have compared the book to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or the Anita Blake books. There are some similarities to BTVS, especially when Sunshine accepts that she is not an ordinary person, but I feel the comparison with Anita Blake is completely wrong - Sunshine doesn't want her role as a fighter against the "dark forces" of the Others, unlike Anita Blake.
In some ways, this is a version of the story of Beauty and the Beast, and Robin McKinley has created a truly believeable, real, reluctant heroine and a world that seems very real.
There are quite a few things left unresolved at the end of the book - I really hope Robin McKinley writes a sequel!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A fully realised universe and an immersive plot
In a world where magic exists and monsters are an accepted reality Sunshine is a perfectly normal baker working at her step-father's cafe with a full but essentially mundane life. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Rose
Amazing!
My favourite book ever and by far superior to the rest of the vampire fiction out there. Since twilight flooded the market it seems everyone's writing vampy romance but this book... Read more
Published 29 days ago by Kitty cat 17
A hard slog
This is one of the very few books I have ever not finished I got about 40% of the way through before I gave up the will to live. Read more
Published 5 months ago by drewood
When It's cold outside, I've got the month of May...
This book about magic is grounded in reality. The characters work hard, just get by financially and have wonderfully complex & real relationships. Read more
Published 7 months ago by WitchyWoo
My Favourite Urban Fantasy
Sunshine is an Urban Fantasy that focuses on Rae (AKA Sunshine), a pastry chef/baker for a family run café. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Eden
The Ultimate Comfort re-read
I don't normally review books, usually because everyone has already said what you were going to say, but given as how much I love this book that didn't feel fair to the author who... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Sarah Leicester
Shocked so many people have highly rated it !
I actually cannot believe im the only one whos given this book a 1 star. I only realised how bad this book was until i finished it, and i believe thats because i needed to get to... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Rebekah
Disappointing!
When I picked up this book, I must admit from the reviews on the back of it I was expecting something entirely different, with more vampires, action and romance. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Fantasy Fan
So much more than a vampire book
Sunshine felt like an old friend recounting her truly remarkable story to me. She went into too much detail at times on an adult theme (being slightly prudish I found this a... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Rose Bud
wow, that was boring!
I hate to say this but this is the worst book I've read in ages. 2 stars may have actually been generous - it only got them because part 1 of the book (it has no chapters, it is... Read more
Published 20 months ago by E. L. Joseph
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