Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

Release Date: July 3rd, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: ARC
Age Group: Young Adult


Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn't mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It's up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity.

I’ve been slowly dipping my toes back in the vampire genre and I was really intrigued by the premise of Team Human. Vampires and humans co-exist in the world, but our narrator isn’t in love with one of the undead, in fact she is pretty much against them. When her best friend falls in love with a vampire, as far as Mel is concerned, it’s the worst thing that could possibly happen.

Mel is a pretty awesome character. She’s opinionated, so funny, and fiercely loyal to and protective of her friends. I liked her right from the start and I really enjoyed seeing everything unfold from her point of view. The vampires here are pretty typical. They can’t go out in the daylight and they drink human blood, but they also try to co-exist with humans peacefully. There is even a vampire police force. So cool. One thing that sets them apart, though, is if the transition to vampire doesn’t work some people turn into zombies. Shuffling, mumbling, and decaying zombies. A Terrible side effect of trying to become a vampire, but a seriously cool aspect to the story.

This book isn’t really action packed, which I was concerned about when I first started read, because I wasn’t sure how it would hold my attention. The thing is, before I realized it, I’d read a hundred pages and it had felt like twenty. It’s so well written and full of so much humor, I just kept flipping the pages to find out what was going to happen next. The mystery that drives the story is a good one, and while I pretty much had it pieced together before it was solved on the page, I still wanted to see how the characters solved it and what the ramifications would be.

As far as I know, this is a standalone, and it works perfectly that way. Everything is wrapped up nicely and the mystery has a satisfying end. If you are someone who loves the vampire genre, someone who doesn’t really care much for it, or someone who is trying to get back into it, I think this book is perfect. It’s just a cool book that was so much fun to read, whether you’re Team Human or Team Vampire :0)