Team Human [Hardcover]

My sister recommended this book as we are both huge fans of Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon Lexicon trilogy. I read the first chapter on Justine Larbalestier's blog and was hooked.

Team Human co-written by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan is a very unique vampire book. It pokes fun at all the books and movies that have come before, but in an endearing way (somewhat like Enchanted the movie did for fairy tales). We are introduced to a fun protagonist, Mel, whose best friend, Cathy, falls in love with a vampire. Mel is completely against this union, but other sinister happenings come to light with their other friend Anna and her missing father. While this book pays homage to all things vampire, it is not only that-- it is a complete novel in its own right.

I laughed so hard through the first few chapters-- and I don't normally do that. Mel is such a fun character-- and yet, she is also flawed, and has to come to an understanding by the end. This makes it a good YA book. I loved the character of Kit, and that of the police vampire woman Camilla. Some of the plot lines were obvious, but I welcomed these twists and enjoyed reading every page.

Terrifically funny, moving, and enlightening YA novel. A must read for vampire lover and hater alike.

First Impressions: It is no big secret that I can't stand the more modernized vampires, like the kind you can find in Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I read all of the books when they were released and I wasn't impressed by the writing or the vampires. My kinds of vampires are the ones that Anne Rice came up with. I love me some hardcore, gritty, dirty monsters. I'm totally not into sparkle-like-a-fairy vampires. You get my point. Team Human is a parody of vampires, not Twilight in particular, but it might as well be. If you have ever questioned why humans are so fascinated with vampires or why a human would be attracted to a vampire, this is the book for you. Not everyone loves parodies, so I have a feeling some people will love and some people will hate this book. I personally think that parodies are hilarious if they are written by the right author. Team Human has two amazing, hilarious authors that have already proven themselves to be worthy of tackling a vampire parody. Needless to say, I had extremely high hopes for this novel.

First 50 Pages: I think you have to have a sense of humor to read this book. Right away I noticed that the writing style is humorous, sarcastic, and has some hilarious one-liners. I have no idea which author worked on what part of the story because everything flowed together so nice. I was a little bit worried, like I am with all books that have multiple authors, that the writing would seem stilted or that it wouldn't be in sync. Not only is the writing fantastic but the whole book is so incredibly creative and fresh. It is completely unique in every way even though I found some parts to be a little predictable. Who cares? This book is so, so funny! Oh, and it has a ton of drama llamas, so just be prepared for that.

Characters & Plot: The plot line and characters in Team Human are so quirky, flawed, and once again, very funny. The setting is New Whitby, a town with an overload of vampires, but not everyone who lives in New Whitby loves their vampire neighbors, especially not Mel. She hates them. Mel is basically a vampire racist, or whatever you would call it. She thinks they are disgusting and she can't understand why a human would want to be a vampire or love a vampire. When Mel's best friend, Cathy, falls in love with an extremely shifty and up-to-no-good vampire named Francis, Mel has to smack some sense into her friend before it is too late. There are tons of side plot-lines that are weaved into this story as well that make this book that much more interesting and entertaining.

Mel is a character that took some time to grow on me. Her personality is very sensible and old-school. Like I said, she is basically a vampire racist and she isn't afraid to show it. Mel can come across as being very pushy and judgmental, but she has her reasons. I think many people are either going to love or hate Mel because of her personality, but she is totally awesome to me. Mel says all of the things that I think when I'm reading some of the vampire books that are out right now.

Cathy has a one-track mind: to be with Francis no matter what the cost, even if it is her humanity. I never was able to see what Cathy saw in Francis, which is kind of the point of the whole story. He isn't anything special and he is a very underdeveloped character (I think this was done on purpose). Cathy knows fully well what she would have to deal with by being with Francis and she isn't going to let anyone, including Mel, talk her out of it. Cathy reminded me of Bella Swan, basically.

Even the vampires themselves in Team Human are very unique. They are of course, very much out of the proverbial closet, but they do have some more traditional traits. For one, sunlight will kill them, so if they want to go out during the day, they have to put on a sort of Hazmat suit so they don't die. This makes it very easy to identify who is a vampire in New Whitby. Another kind of unique attribute to this story was the introduction of zombies. When a human wants to make the transition into being a vampire, something that everyone in Team Human has the opportunity to do, they have a 10% chance of the transition going horribly wrong and becoming a zombie. Somehow the inclusion of some zombie lore didn't really surprise me even though it delighted me, because Justine co-wrote a book that featured zombies. It was just an added perk that I really loved!

Final Thoughts: Team Human was such a fun and hilarious book! It was borderline goofy, but it was so well written and I loved how both authors took on all of the vampire stereotypes that have bothered me for years. I think fans of vampires and people who hate vampires will both be able to enjoy this one, as long as they have a sliver of a sense of humor. I'm pretty sure this is a stand-alone novel, but I would love to see Justine and Sarah pair up again. They make a great team!

When Mel's best friend, Cathy, starts falling in love with the new vampire at school it's up to her to nip that romance in the bud. Vampires might be an everyday--or night--part of life, they stick to their part of New Whitby and the humans stick to theirs. Cathy shouldn't be roaming around at night looking for her crush and Mel's got enough on her plate already. The school's principal, their friend Anna's mom, has been acting weird ever since her husband left them for a vamp. For Anna's sake Mel's going to get to the bottom of the weirdness. But getting tangled up in the romantic affairs of friends, avoiding one of her own, and a little bit of 'B and E' just seem to be par for the course when you're TEAM HUMAN.

Truth be told I didn't want to like this book and in the end found the one issue I really had over-shadowed all of what I did like. As funny and odd and somewhat parody-ish as it is it has one glaringly tough obstacle to overcome. I really didn't like Mel, as I dislike all protagonists who think they know better than their friends/parents/etc. In a weird way she's essentially racist which bothered me. She's also rude to everyone and almost a bully to Francis (the vampire). I honestly wondered why she had any friends at all when she was so snarky all the time.

The saving grace of the book was the mystery element and humor. If you like quirky set-ups and first person narratives it's told in an amusing way. Without going into spoilers I feel like I can't say too much regarding the plot. Astute readers will likely guess the outcome long before it happens. The secondary characters are enjoyable and odd. I couldn't help but adore Kit and relate a lot to both Cathy and Anna. I was exceptionally pleased that (and I do feel this both should and shouldn't be noted) Mel is ABC and not the usual caucasian heroine common in this genre. I want more racial diversity in my fiction (all genres) and kudos to Larbalestier, Brennan, and HarperTeen for making it happen!

Overall, it's a funny, weird tale, that's just the sort of read to enjoy on an afternoon poolside or huddled in the library behind a fortress of books. ;) Flawed to be truthful but not without some likability.