I've read two books by McKinley before and they were very different from each other, but mostly fantasies. Rae, is known by all as Sunshine because she likes to soak up the sun. Sunshine is a baker and I loved all the talk about baked goods (after all, I bake too!), she's 25 and in a relationship, she's know by the whole town and she likes her privacy. One night, to escape a fight with her mother, she decides to go out to the old family house out in the lake. There, she's abducted by a group of vampires and meets Cam. They are both held prisoner and manage to escape together. One thing I need to mention is that Sunshine rambles. A lot. She starts talking about one thing and then rambles about something else, on and on. I found it sometimes useful, but often aggravating.
The vampire lore in Sunshine adopts some of the usual aspects such as burning in the sun, being able to do compulsion and and of course needing blood. However, the vampires in this post-vampire-wars look like death, they are completely silent, they stink and mostly kill all their victims.
Cam is different in the sense that he doesn't eat Sunshine and instead they help each other to escape and even bigger evil. Cam tries really hard to make himself a little less threatening and inhuman so it's easier for Sunshine to be around him. The form a pact and then later an unexpected bond.
Needless to say, the world building is intricate and quite amazing. There are all sorts of "Others", like fey, weres, wizards, witches, goblins, and a lot of rules and politics that regulate what they can do or cannot do. Even two types of police, one for humans and one for the "Others". The writing was very imaginative, this world has new words, new technology, new beings. I loved it!
The ending is a bit open ended and it makes me wonder if McKinley had other books set in this world in mind.
Overall
I really enjoyed Sunshine. For the life of me, I don't understand why McKinley didn't turn this amazing world into a series. There is so much potential to it, including the sort of open ending and the strong connection between Sunshine and Con. I'm sure a lot of reviewers over the years had said the same: *more pretty please*This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea