Friends Definitely Let Friends Read - 'Team Human' by Sarah Rees Brennan and Justine Larbalestier

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Holly Black’s clever twist on the typical vampire idealism with her fantastic fantasy ‘The Coldest Girl inCold Town’. This week, I wanted to review to review ‘Team Human’ by Sarah Rees Brennan and Justine Larbalestier, another YA vampire variation, before the little voice in the back of my head chimed in. “Too similar Frankie, too, too similar.” No, I answered the voice, I want my readers to keep Holly Black in mind when they read this, I want them to share my experience of echoes and the spotting of key differences and similarities, creating the same fascinating comparing experience that happened to me. The voice in the back of my head shrugged and sulked, but it said okay, so here goes.
                ‘Team Human’ is another book I really stumbled into in an odd sort of way, and was rather perplexed by. The first point of it that really got me twisting my hair round my fingers in confusion was that vampires in this book are not all that great (at least to the narrator Mel). In every fantasy I have read, the fantasy characters, although always an ‘other’ to the human, and usually dangerous, are glamorous, fixated upon, and above all, longed for (even if it’s a creepy, maybe-yes-maybe-no way). In ‘Team Human’, vampires appear far more like bored individuals, an aging population with nothing particularly vicious about them, barring a few exceptions. The removal of this danger from the vampires is partly just the perspective of the narrative, but, more than that, it really is a tribute to the two authors’ writing in that they make a relatively heavy thematic point in a pretty comedic fashion. The idea of ‘who is the real monster’ is not a new notion (remember Cold Town, remember the last letter which ponders whether the monster is inside all humans?) but in Team Human, instead of the monster in humans, we really see the human in the vampires.
                Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a book simply built out of parody and knitted together with happy co-operation and smiles – it, like most vampire novels, holds unto its gritty violence and a good amount of threat, but I really enjoyed the other side of this novel more. Whilst Holly Black’s earth of vampires trembled and shuddered with shadows bursting from corners, and the ever-creeping feeling of a time bomb inside the narrator ticked on, the world of ‘Team Human’ is described to be a kind of “Las Vegas”, and a lot less exciting than people seem to believe. More than anything, in this world, it is not the crisis of vampires they deal with, but the after effects, not the immediate appearance, but the prejudice and relations between humans and vampires that follows. Whilst I do prefer the thrilling terror of the Cold Town environment, I was fascinated by the rebuilt society that’s established in Sarah Rees Brennan and Justine Larbalestier’s novel.
                However, although I could nit-pick for quite a while on this book for its characters, I will channel my hesitant feelings into one form and that form is the character of Cathy. At first I mistook my misgivings for personal distaste (which I will admit, I am occasionally prone to), but by a third of the way through I began to believe Cathy as a character less and less. She became vaguer and vaguer, until a sudden character break of shouting, which seemed to fade all too fast. But I am torn even now for a final decision on my irritation with this, in regards to whether Cathy is simply written like this, or whether this static nature is a deliberate point of Mel’s perspective. I do hope for the latter, and it would make some form of sense, but fear the former may simply be the explanations (Occam’s razor and all that).
                Overall, I did really enjoy ‘Team Human’, demonstrated, more than anything, in the fact that I didn’t put it down (I read it in roughly two and a half hours). It probably isn’t one of the more technically ‘worthy’ novels I tend to review, but it’s exploration of a human side was something that I really haven’t come across in most kinds of fantasy, and something that keeps me a little conflicted even now.

Note to all: Hey all! I’m so very sorry for the lack of review last week, I have been having a horrible time with work and illness, and, unfortunately, I just couldn’t get around to the laptop or the reading. I shall continue next week as normal!

Getting A Little Chilly With ‘The Coldest Girl In Coldtown’ by Holly Black

If there is one thing that YA seems to be doing amazingly well with right now, it is fantasy. Think of Twilight (try, I know, I don’t really want to do it either), but think of the ludicrous success that came from it. I’ve always thought fantasy was a pretty brilliant genre, and loved it whilst growing up, so I thought I would publicise a far better fantasy vampire novel (it’s okay, this will erase Twilight from your brain) and that is ‘The Coldest Girl In Coldtown’ by Holly Black.
                Oddly enough, when I first learnt about this book, I was having it read to me in a Foyles in Leicester Square, by Holly Black herself, with my over excited best friend next to me, gazing in awe. Originally, I barely knew Holly Black’s name, except that she wrote the Spiderwick Chronicles, which my little sister religiously believed, and Tithe, which my friend adored. It was from her reading of the chapter from ‘The Coldest Girl in Coldtown’ that my interest pricked a little, and from finally getting time to get around to reading it, I am sure as hell glad that I did. The book’s heroine, Tana, after waking up to discover that a house party she believed she embarrassed herself at has had far worse results for everyone else, sets on a journey with her ex and a stray vampire to a Coldtown, a place in which Vampires and those who are ‘Cold’ (pre-vampire) are annexed in order to protect citizens. That is the briefest summary I can give with little spoiler, but I cannot emphasise enough how this does not do the book justice.
                One of the things I liked most about this book is its integration of the vampire world to the real-world, and this, in corporation with Holly Black’s understanding of the late teenage ‘alternative’ grouping, creates a really brilliant, funny, and more than anything believable story. Something that is always seems forgotten in fantasy fiction, particularly in YA, you want your reader to want to, or at least be able to imagine themselves as, a part of your fantasy world. My personal opinion is that if you create some kind of universe that the reader can’t even remotely place themselves into, you need to go back and rethink a few details. I was really immersed in the setting of this book; I could see the Coldtown, and smell the fresh-spilled blood that seemed to lurk around every corner, and I kept wondering, staring down at my Docs, if, in the event of a serious vampire crisis, they’d have thick soles enough to kick a vampire in the teeth. This may just be my over-imaginativeness talking, but the detail set this book in such a good stead that even if the characters hadn’t been as good as they were, I still would have likely loved it.
                The characters, however, were the filling in a rather good version of almond sweet pastry, as they seemed to create the story, rather than the reverse. Call me crazy, but I’m never a big fan of plots dragging characters along with it like they got tied to a run away, Mary Poppins, merry-go-round horse. They functioned in really clever synchronisation, not allowing the story or its premise overwhelm them at any point, creating really intimately, well sculpted relationships between the characters as well. I have to admit the relationship of Winter and Midnight (two totally adorable children of the night who get just a little out of control) was almost flawless in the honest sense of devotion is portrayed, and I think, for me, it even rivalled the relationship of Tana and her sister Pearl. The story itself relies a lot on the concept of protection, family or friends, and the lure of selfishness, and so these relationships really hold well to the book.
                Overall, I really thought this booked risked be simply an antithesis to Twilight, but it was so, SO much more. It was gripping, funny and truly tragic at points but I have to be honest, I wouldn’t ever change that ending for the world. If you want to pick this book  up, I highly recommend following the Answerly ‘Let’s Read’, done by the fabulous Kristina Horner, which I link here. Enjoy all!

Quick personal note: You may notice that whilst I normally post on Fridays (because nothing says let’s kick of the weekend like a book review) this is a Thursday post as I am going to Kita-Con in Birmingham this weekend, but all will return to normal next week. See you all then J