Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Robin McKinley hasn't written many books, but the books she has written have been good. She won the Newbery Medal for her The Hero and The Crown. I believe that I like her The Outlaws of Sherwood best. It is a re-telling of the story of Robin Hood and his band. It has been years since I read it, but I remember it as having lots of nitty-gritty detail on life in Sherwood Forest, and some memorable characters, and not just the ones in all the stories of Robin Hood.

I wasn't expecting Sunshine (New York: Berkley, 2003). I don't want to give away too much (although the book doesn't have a complicated plot) but let's put it this way -- Sunshine, the protagonist, spends a lot of the book dealing with vampires, and one vampire in particular. I guess I would categorize Sunshine as a book about a woman having a transforming experience. (She does not become a vampire herself -- that's not what I mean.) I wasn't expecting this emphasis on evil spirits (or persons) from McKinley. The closest I can remember in her writing is that there is a dark spirit of a dead dragon in the series including The Hero and the Crown.

McKinley, again, is great with details, and makes up a lot of them, concerning magic and a world threatened by vampires, also about baking (Sunshine bakes for an eatery.) I enjoyed the book, but I don't expect to read any more books about vampires for quite a while, and I didn't know I was going to when I started this one.