Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

I read this over Christmas, being biased from the moment I picked it up because it was written by one of my favorite authors. I started to worry about 80 pages into the book when I felt I could take or leave the book and not be concerned about what happened; I just wasn't very into the book like I had been with other McKinley books. I didn't like the main character, Sunshine. At all. I was bored with her, I disliked being "in her head", and she didn't "do" anything - things just "happened" to her. She discovers her powers, but they seem like something she has no control over. I usually like McKinley's female characters because of their spunk - Sunshine was just a self-centered brat.

The book picked up a bit when we got to know one of the vampires. I was intrigued by the character development of the vampires, even though I was disturbed that I wasn't supposed to like them. I would have liked to see more of Constantine. He had strength of character, going against what most other vampires' natures are. He did things on purpose. He was...interesting.

I think one of the things that bothered me was that it felt a lot like a retelling of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I rather enjoy McKinley's retelling of fairy tales. But I didn't like Buffy in the original, and I liked it even less in this retelling. I advised Wayne against reading this one. Which is sad, because he likes Robin McKinley books. :)

P.S. I found this in the "youth fiction" section, but there was a part that I myself skipped. A little too much detail in one part for my taste....which was unexpected for a McKinley book. Plus all the violence....