Team Human review + discussion

Hi guys I'm back with a book review! So I read the book "Team Human", co-written by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan. Yes - this was the book kindly given to me free of charge by the Children's Bookstore of Beecroft! This post is 100% my opinion, and there may be some spoilers in this review.



Synopsis: Mel's best friend, Cathy, is falling in love with a vampire. However Mel is furious as vampires are extremely dangerous. Mel tries to separate them for Cathy's own good, and along the way, finds out the truth about her friend, Anne's, father.

Opinion: I was a little skeptical at first because there was much potential for this book to be "another trashy vampire story". I was pleased to say it was very much the opposite.

Firstly, the characters are well mostly rounded. The protagonist, Mel, is a delight to read about. She is sarcastic, and unafraid of speaking her mind. She has her faults of butting in to her friends' businesses but she means the best. Her friend, Cathy, feels a little like the stereotypical girl-falling-in-love, bordering-but-just-missing Mary Sue, however her character is better developed towards the end of the book. Francis was also like this, though the interaction between Mel and Francis amuses me to no end. Anne and Ty were excellent as side characters, with Ty being an awesome fanboy xD Kit was also interesting as the love interest of Mel and a human raised by vampires

The storyline itself could have fallen into the pit of teen trashiness, however instead, it is an on-the-toes, mystery/fantasy/scifi/romance combo. Although I guessed what had happened to Anne's dad quite a bit before it happened; it was nevertheless a fresh read - a book not so much centred on the forbidden romance of vampires as it was one of friendship and understanding. (And yes, some romance!) 

There was another aspect in the book that was memorable - the diversity of the characters. Several characters in the book have been mentioned to be gay/lesbian/etc but the amazing and awesome thing was that they were not labelled as such, but rather just passed on as "(Female name) and (Female name)" or "(male name) and (male name)". Like it's just another relationship (which it should be!!) The characters were also all of different ethnicity, which many authors forget/struggle with. The protagonist is Chinese, and one of her close friends is African-American. Most novels have characters of these races as passing side characters. So both of these factors I was very pleased and impressed with. 

Overall, I enjoyed the novel. I would wholeheartedly recommend it!

8.5/10

I'm also reading Evernight and a few other vampire novels. :D Evernight's kinda on the trashy vampire novel side... sadly...

Till next time!

No comments:

Post a Comment