Review - Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal/Humor
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: July 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-0062089649
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC through Amazon Vine
Rating: 4/5 stars


This is a stand alone parody novel that pokes fun at a teenage girl’s obsession with vampires. It was cute and funny and all in all much better than I expected.

Mel and Cathy live in New Whitby, a town founded by vampires. When a cute vampire shows up at their high school (in a biohazard suit to protect him from the sun), Cathy who is obsessed with all things historical falls immediately in love. Mel is determined to protect Cathy from her love-sickness. Additionally Mel has a friend named Anna whosse dd recently ran away with a vampire women under mysterious circumstances and Mel is trying to help Anna figure out what really happened.

Mel is a funny character who is constantly trying to help her friends out but neglects to notice when she herself is being unreasonable. She truly believes she is doing the best she can to protect her friends...even if they don’t always want her protection and love. She is spunky, full of fun, and feisty. All in all a very fun character to read about.

Cathy is smart, a bit of a dreamer, and loves history. So when the vampire Francis shows up at high school, Cathy is thrilled to meet a very handsome walking bit of history.

Anna is deeply disturbed by her father running away with a vampire woman. Now Anna’s mom is acting really strange and Anna enlists Mel’s help to figure out whether Anna’s father’s disappearance is tied in with some other odd goings on happening at the high school.

This book is hilarious at times. I was seriously laughing my butt off when Francis showed up in a biohazard suit to do a picnic on the beach. But surprisingly, the book wasn’t all silliness. There is a very heartfelt story here that deals with friendship, protecting those you love, and loving your friends enough to let them make their own decisions despite what you believe is right.

The plot is well done. There are lots of little mysterious things going on that end up tying together nicely in the end. This book is probably best described as a paranormal sit-com with a good dose of mystery. Oh and I should mention there are zombies here as well, so you know, every book is better with zombies :-)

I ended up enjoying the story way more than I thought I would. It’s a fun, light read. It is a parody, but it’s a parody that also provides a heartfelt and intriguing story. The book is well written and everything is tied up nicely at the end.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It is a cute, fun, and heartfelt parody on all of those paranormal books where the girls fall head over heels with vamps. It had me laughing out loud a number of times. I enjoyed the likable characters; especially Mel who was so determined to help out her friends. Recommended to those who enjoy paranormal humor/drama. Not a lot of action here, but it was a good mystery.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Zombie Reading Challenge
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge