''Team Human'' is a

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

novel co-written by

Justine Larbalestier Justine Larbalestier ( ; born 23 September 1967) is an Australian writer of young adult fiction best known for her 2009 novel, '' Liar''. Personal life Larbalestier was born and raised in Sydney. She now alternates residence between Sydney and ...

and

Sarah Rees Brennan Sarah Rees Brennan (born 21 September 1983) is an Irish fantasy novelist. Her books are bestsellers in both the UK and USA. Rees Brennan's first novel, The Demon's Lexicon (2009), was longlisted for the 2010 Carnegie Medal. Her fantasy novel ...

. It was published in 2012 by

Allen and Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

in Australia and by Harper Teen, a division of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

in the US. The book came out of the authors' shared love of vampire stories, and is both parody and celebration of the genre. The book is dedicated to a long list of authors who have written in the genre, including

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire literature, vampire romance series ''Twilight (novel series), Twilight'', which has sold over 160 million ...

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of Gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Bible fiction. She is best known for writing ''The Vampire Chronicles''. She later adapted t ...

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...

, and Larbalestier's husband

Scott Westerfeld Scott David Westerfeld (born May 5, 1963) is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of the ''Uglies series, Uglies'' and the ''Leviathan (Westerfeld novel), Leviathan'' series. Early life Westerfeld was born in Dal ...

Plot

''Team Human'' is set in the town of New Whitby, Maine, the origin of America's compact with vampires and a place that sees them living side-by-side in relative harmony. When a century-old vampire joins their high school class, Mel is horrified when her best friend Cathy falls for him. Afraid that Cathy might be considering becoming a vampire herself, Mel starts on a quest to show Cathy how dangerous the undead really are, which means braving the vampire district and solving a mystery. As the book's tagline states, "friends don't let friends date vampires."

Development

Larbalestier and Brennan met four years before the book was published, through mutual friends in a New York cafe. They became fast friends, and chatted online frequently, since Brennan resides in Ireland and Larbalestier splits her time between New York and Australia. Inspiration for the book struck after they talked about the film

New Moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

. They wrote the characters with vampire tropes in mind, describing the vampire love interest Francis as "if Edward Cullen and Ashley from Gone with the Wind had a baby." Despite the satire, they describe the book as being at its heart one about friendship, the real message being "friends don't let friends go."

Reception

Critical reception for ''Team Human'' has been positive. Publishers Weekly praised the authors' ability to poke affectionate fun at vampire tropes while creating a memorable story, calling it "part Nancy Drew with vampires, part thoughtful and provocative story about assumptions." They named it in their list of Best Summer Books of 2012. Kirkus gave the book a starred review and named it as a Best of 2012, noting that it's perfect for both lovers and loathers of the vampire genre.

References

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External links

Book Trailer

Book Webpage
Young adult fantasy novels 2012 Australian novels Novels set in Maine HarperCollins books