Sunshine

core novel 2003 Sunshine

Record

First published	2003
Original language	EN
Work type	novel
Canon status	core
Reader rating	3.84 (44,509 ratings, collected 2026-09-14)
Page count	405
First-edition ISBN	9780425191781

Synopsis

Set in an alternate world still recovering from the Voodoo Wars, a devastating conflict decades earlier between humans and supernatural beings collectively known as Others, the story follows Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, a baker at her stepfather's cafe who seeks out a quiet lakeside spot late one night to be alone. There she is abducted by a gang of vampires and left chained inside an abandoned mansion alongside a captive rival vampire named Constantine, whom her captors intend to use her as bait or sustenance against. Forced into uneasy, wary cooperation with the very creature she has every reason to fear, Sunshine must draw on resources and instincts she never knew she had, including a latent magical gift her ordinary life had never required her to use, simply to survive her first night of captivity, let alone whatever comes after.

Where it sits

• Universe: Sunshine
• Series: Sunshine (novel) core; position 1 of 1 in the series' recorded order
• Author: Robin McKinley

Awards (verified)

• Mythopoeic Award (Adult Literature), 2004: won; Confirmed directly via mythsoc.org's own 2004 Awards Winners' Remarks page, which quotes McKinley's own acceptance remarks.

Notes

• From the series record (Sunshine (novel)): A standalone contemporary-set vampire novel, registered per the single-work-by-LOTR-analogy convention. Confirmed separate continuity from Robin McKinley's other admitted universe, The Chronicles of Damar (a secondary-world high fantasy setting) -- no shared characters or setting.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Sunshine (novel)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_(McKinley_novel)
• The Mythopoeic Society: 2004 Awards Winners' Remarks

← Sunshine dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.