#125 Book Review: Team Human

Team Human
Release Date: July 1st 2012
Author: Justine Larbalestier | Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Source: Publisher for Review
Format: Paperback
Where to Buy:  Fishpond | Booktopia | Dymocks
More Info: Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads:

Mel and Cathy and Anna have passed vampires on the street, and sat near them in cinemas, but they don’t know any. Vampires stick to their own kind, and Mel and her friends hang out with other humans—until a vampire boy in a bizarre sun-proof suit shows up at school and captures Cathy’s heart.

Mel is horrified. Can she convince Cathy that life with a vampire is no life at all? Should she? And then all her assumptions about vampires are turned on their head when she meets Kit, a boy who makes her laugh—a boy with a very unusual family history.

Will Mel’s staunch anti-vampire stance jeopardise her closest friendships? And where does Kit fit in? In the end, who will choose... Team Human?

Cover:

Love it! I love how the models each represent a character in the book. The Asian girl in the cover represents Mel, the 'pale' guy is Francis the Vampire and the other girl is probably Cathy, Mel's best friend!

Story:

Team Vampire or…..Team Human?

Welcome to New Whitby, a beautiful city where humans co-exist with vampires. Vampires are cool, humans are cool but vampires live in an area called Shade and humans don't mingle there. So, when an old-fashioned GORGEOUS vampire called Francis shows up at Mel's high school and completely captures Cathy's heart, Mel knows that she must try and prevent Cathy from dating Francis. After all, friends don't let friends date vampires....right?

Team Human is a very fun and enjoyable read! The books I've been reading so far about vampires always picture vampires as gorgeous, insanely handsome and utterly charming or scary characters. But the vampires in this book? Old-fashioned, still gorgeous (I guess?) and also scary sometimes. Despite the fact that I have yet to read Larbalestier's or Brennan's books, their combination of writing in this book is great! One moment it's so funny I laughed so hard and one moment it's serious and quite scary, but nothing too serious! The idea that vampires can't laugh makes me laugh! The ending of the book pleases me and I love how it wraps up the whole book!

Characters:

Mel is ABC (no, she's not alphabet letters, she's American-Born-Chinese) and she rocks! Reading the book from her perspective was hilarious and funny! I love how she is very protective of her best friends and the way she is (sort of) against vampires. She is TEAM HUMAN! And her newfound relationship with Kit is sweet and cute. Kit is a human but he lives among vampires so that is definitely strange, but Mel can't help falling for this cute guy who can make her laugh and smile all the time! 

Francis is such an old-fashioned vampire! He speaks in the 18th century way (sort of like Mr. Darcy) and this makes Cathy absolutely enamored by him. I can't blame Cathy but I think she's a bit too enamored by Francis! The characters are all fun and hilarious and I really enjoyed reading about them!

Overall:
Are you Team Vampire.....or Team Human? No matter which team you choose, Team Human will give you a new insight into a world where humans and vampires co-exist together. If you're a human and you want to be a vampire? No worries, get a license and a vampire you will be! The combination of Larbalestier and Brennan's writing creates a fun, hilarious and enjoyable book and I must say, I AM TEAM HUMANPIRE! (That's a very bad combination of the word 'Human' and 'Vampire') 

4 Forget-Me-Not flowers for Team Human!

 Thank you Allen & Unwin for the review copy!

Check out the book trailer!