(review by Deanna) My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was awful. Wait, no, it was actually good but I'm mad about it. Robin McKinley 
creates a fascinating world - set in modern America but with a grungy, paranormal twist on reality. She discloses the world primarily through extended rambling by the main character. The bright side of the rambling is that the heroine has a distinctive voice that remains consistent throughout the book. The other side is that it's rambling, and a lot of it. Through all this random thoughtfulness on the character's part, we learn a tantalizing amount about their world, but it raises more questions than it answers. So much is left unanswered at the end of the book that it is only worth the trouble to slog through all the rambling if the book is the setup for a multi-book series. However, the author is adamant that there is no sequel and probably there won't ever be. Well, that's just wrong. The is a promise of romance, but no romance, and implications of hidden identities, but no answers. For a stand-alone novel, I found it unsatisfying. It leaves so much open that it just feels sloppy.If you find many unanswered questions to be tantalizingly mysterious, you would be much better able to enjoy the interesting world in Sunshine than I was.
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