Reviews with content warning for Gore - Sunshine

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

twoweeeeks's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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toopunkrockforshul's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Probably one of the most unique vampire books I have read. The worldbuilding was so rich and layered, and really played with a lot of the expectations and typical lore I had from other books. Definitely a book I will be thinking about for a long while.

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kateceratops's review

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adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Rich worldbuilding - the vampires are very alien, and other forms of magic are explored. Compelling protagonist with an interesting perspective and

very cool magic

. Plot meanders a bit, especially in the middle.

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meganpbell's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

On one hand, I can see the influence of this unique urban fantasy in books like Twilight or Legends & Lattes even. The unlikely combination of gory, sensual vampire horror, cozy community coffeeshop baking, and wry and funny narrator is a winning one in a lot of ways if a little tonally unexpected. On the other, it’s also so slowly and awkwardly paced, full of info dumps that make it harder to immerse yourself in the story, and feels incomplete narratively.

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lanid's review

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lighthearted

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

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vickybuka's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The world building is fractured and hard to follow. Characters are constantly being given surprise backgrounds that should have been mentioned earlier in the story.

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clevermird's review

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I was really excited for this book - I've loved McKinley's other work and vampires are a fascination of mine. The cover quote by a well-respected author declaring it "pretty much perfect" built even more hype. But sadly, this book didn't really live up to my hopes.

Rae "Sunshine" Seddon thinks of herself as quite ordinary - just a baker trying to help keep the coffeehouse run by her chaotic but mostly-loving family afloat. But when she decides that she needs some space and takes an impromptu trip to an isolated lake, she finds herself captured by a group of vampires and destined to be the next meal of one of them. Only he seems to have no interest in eating her. Together, they plot to escape the other bloodsuckers and that's when things really start to get weird for Sunshine.

There was a few things this book did right. As former back-of-house staff myself, I liked the way the coffeehouse's staff and customers were described. The dynamics and interactions rang true to me. Additionally, the way the world and Sunshine's character slowly spun out over the book was very satisfying and kept me engaged much more than the plot of the book itself did.The book begins with what I assumed to be "our world, but with vampires" and the ordinary girl our protagonist claims to be, but gradually shows us that things aren't quite what they appear. And as always, McKinley's protagonist has a very relatable, down-to-earth voice that's easy to read.

However, this book desperately needed editing down. Close to a quarter of the 400 pages could probably have been cut without sacrificing much plot and the story often bogs down in long info dumps and repetitive musings from Sunshine. The plot meanders, several interesting characters (such as Sunshine's boyfriend) are underutilized, and the ending ultimately wasn't very satisfying.

Overall, a promising story held back by taking way too long to get to the point. Read it if the premise suits you or if you're a fan of McKinley's other work, but don't expect a masterpiece.

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