Team Human by Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 372pgs

The Story

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?

The Review

A big thanks to Allen & Unwin for sending me a review copy of this book!

I didn't go into this book with any expectations other than already being a fan of Sarah Rees Brennan's writing and having the small idea that this was going to be a spoof of the vampire genre, which will always be fine by me. You know, the light-hearted sort of spoof book that will made you laugh at certain points and take other things seriously. In this case, it was definitely a fun book and I can see why so many readers enjoyed reading it in one sitting, though it was also the type of book I wouldn't go say 'Wow, this was brilliant'. To be honest with you, I didn't take this book very seriously at all, but it still remained an alright read for me in the end.

The premise of the storyline did put me off quite a bit. First off, the book was really different but in an interesting kind of way. Some examples include, vampires are out in society - which are most common in storylines - and are known to the world, then there's humans who can apply for licenses to transition into vampires, and finally, there's also a slight chance that a transition can go wrong for a human and they can either die or become a zombie . . . so like I said before, this book was pretty interesting. However, the problem I had with the majority of book was the predictable side of things. I don't mind guessing halfway through a book about what's going to happen and other whatnot, or even guessing with how things are going to end, but I found everything just too predictable. I wasn't exactly surprise with how the book was tied up, which was another pity on my part. But again, it still was an okay read.

As for some other problems, as much as I hate to say it, it was the characters also. Ah, the characters. The supporting ones didn't have a great affect on me and I found that they didn't have any personality in them, which was rather hard to win me over with this book. I mean, I love to love the supporting characters, you know? They are part of the fun and all. But honestly the best thing in this entire book would have to be the main character, Mel, whom was the only character I actually liked and partially cared about. Mel was funny. Check. Mel was spunky. Check. Mel was stubborn. Check. Mel was kickass. Check. Mel was totally against the idea of her friend dating a vampire (think of Jessica from Twilight and her finding out about Edward and the Bella's vampire/human situation). Check. Yeah . . . Mel was a ball full of fun. She wasn't perfect - that was clear in this book - but I liked her which was the important thing here.

Look, when it comes down to it, TEAM HUMAN is either going to win you or lose you from the beginning, so I would still recommend giving this book a chance to see where you will end up. It might not have been my favourite vampire book as of yet, but it was a good and an entertaining one, especially for a quick read.

The Rating

3 1/2 / 5 stars