A Review of Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

What do cinnamon rolls have to do with vampires? Plenty, according to Robin McKinley's spectacular fantasy Sunshine.

Sunshine, whose name is really Rae, but whom everyone has referred to as "Sunshine" since she was about seven, works at her stepfather's coffee house. She bakes fantastic cinnamon rolls and fabulous desserts. Her biological father may have been a sorcerer and was definitely part of a respected family of magic-handlers. Her father's magical heritage has no bearing on Sunshine's life until she is captured by a terrifying pack of vampires. She escapes the pack with the assistance of an unusual vampire named Constantine, and the taboo bond forged by their unique escape draws them both into all sorts of trouble.

Sunshine is a fantasy where the unusual seems ordinary. Most of this is due to the genius way the book begins. For the first ten pages or so, Robin McKinley goes on, in the first person voice of Sunshine, about Charlie and his coffee house, getting up at four in the morning every day except Monday to bake cinnamon rolls, and the weekly Seddon family movie night. Then Sunshine mentions the Voodoo Wars and the readers realize that the book actually takes place in a fantasy world where the coffee houses and movie nights are very similar to real life, but nothing else is.

Sunshine is an ideal guide to the world of New Arcadia. She begins the story as a solid, ordinary person, so the readers get a great idea of what is normal in this world and what is not. For example, it is completely normal for one of the coffee house regulars to turn into an orange, fortune-telling demon lizard every so often, but absolutely beyond odd that a human might rescue a vampire. When Sunshine freaks out about an event, the readers freak out, exactly as they should. They won't want to put down Sunshine's earth-shaking journey of discovery, not even to sleep.

In Sunshine, Robin McKinley creates a rich fantasy world that is a joy to visit. No one in their right mind would want to live there, what with the real threat of vampires and all. By the end of the book, the readers want to hop on a tour bus and go buy Sunshine's cinnamon rolls. This is not a good book to read while on a diet for that reason. Robin McKinley's fictional world is so real that the readers can smell the brownies baking through the words on the page. I know I finished this book craving chocolate and wondering what it would be like to meet somebody who is part demon like several of the detailed side characters.

Sunshine leaves the right questions unanswered at the end. The reader never finds out what happened to Sunshine's father, for example. This isn't done in a The-Author-Forgot-About-This-Part-Of-The-Plot way, but in a We-Might-Hear-The-Answer-In-A-Sequel way. The ending is a realistic sort of messy. The readers don't know for sure that Sunshine will be ok. She will probably recover from the drastic events of the climax, but maybe not, and that's the way life goes, even in New Arcadia.

I have loved everything I've ever read by Robin McKinley. Sunshine is no exception. Go out and read it!