A few days ago I finished Robin McKinley's latest novel, Sunshine, which had been languishing on my shelf since December. It's a vampire novel, but it's strange in a very McKinley way (unlike Pete Hautman's Sweetblood, which is strange in an entirely different way). I wouldn't have expected McKinley to write a vampire novel, but if she were to do so, she'd write one like this, as of course she did. No, that sentence doesn't really make sense, but what I mean is that despite being a completely different genre from everything else that I've read of hers, it's very much her style.
Sunshine is about a world where vampires and demons and other magical creatures actually exist, and where having Other
blood is illegal (though only vampires are really pursued). The heroine, Sunshine, is captured by a vampire gang but manages to escape with the help of another vampire who was also being held captive. This leads to all sorts of adventures, of course, but Sunshine is never quite sure how much she can trust her vampire ally. In some ways I think the story would work better as a movie (not that I trust that a movie version would do the book justice), because I just don't have the horror of vampires that I really should. Sunshine is terrified of them, but all I think is Yay, Constantine!
On the other hand, Robin McKinley does a good job of not losing sight of the fact that vampires and humans are natural enemies and that Sunshine is absolutely insane to help this one.
I don't need to tell you it's an excellent book, because everything by Robin McKinley is excellent. My only complaint is that the ending leaves so many unanswered questions. Most of all, what happens next? McKinley isn't promising a sequel, but I'm crossing my fingers hard!
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