Sunshine is one of those books that takes place in an alternate, contemporary reality - much like the Charlaine Harris and Laurell Hamilton books. There are Vampires and shape shifters, demons and magicians. This book differs from those in that it doesn't take a fun, lighthearted approach. The main character is named Rae, or Sunshine to her friends. She works in her step-father's coffee shop as a baker and she is definitely lower-middle class. Her friends are all from this sphere being employed in various blue-collar jobs. Rae is a bit antisocial and one night when she can't take it any more she goes for a drive in her crappy car to the lake where she vacationed as a child. Alone, in the dark, she is abducted by vampires. Some plot is afoot she realizes b/c the vamps don't kill her, rather they take her to a house and chain her to a wall in a room with another vampire. For the next 2 days Rae gets to know this vampire and when she remembers long ago magical abilities that frees her she takes the vampire with her. This begins the major conflict in the story between the abductor vamps and Rae. It seems by remembering her forgotten abilities she has made herself very desirable by the bad guys. What follows is a small part mystery- in discovering her past, small part romance- in her developing relationship with this vampire, small part literature - with Mckinley's excellent writing style, adventure, fantasy, and horror - creepy vamps.
Mckinley does a good job of writing this atmosphere in a realistic manner - she's not making us feel sorry for the economic situations, nor is she idealizing it. It is what it is, and tells us about it. This approach makes the story come alive and is very easy to become involved in. There was a variety of characters - normal, ugly, old, fat, bald, plain. They all had their own personalities and relevance to the life of Rae and the developing story. Most importantly, the vampires aren't idealized hotties - they're living-dead things, they look alien to the rest of humanity, a marked difference to most paranormal type books out there.
What I liked: Everything. I'm not usually a fan of "literature" elements in my genre fiction (introspection, metaphor, much description), but I hope I got across above that this is really only marginally genre-ish. The description is evocative and relevant-in the sense that the author isn't going on and on about things the reader doesn't really give a flip about-the historical elements are parceled throughout the book as necessary to further the overall story. The characters were all realistic; no one was over the top or completely outside the realm of possibility. You felt you could know people like that. They all had the perfect ratio of reveal-mystery so that our imaginations had enough to see the character just as we might want them to be. The story developed at a good pace and while I could tell what the ultimate outcome would be I was happy just going along for the ride.
What could be improved: Author could write a sequel! :)
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