 |
| Image Credit: Goodreads |
I did a semi-live
blog of Team Human
on Facebook recently, but I'll recap the gist here: Team Human is the Twilight antidote I
didn't know I needed. For starters, the title. For seconds, the tagline: Friends Don't Let Friends Date Vampires.
For thirds, this line: "A vampire who wants to go to high school?... That
is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
I enjoyed it for
Mel's snark and for the perhaps-racist vampires (200 years of life doesn't
prove you're not a bigot), but mostly for the way it wrestles with the question
of how to deal with a friend making bad decisions when there's nothing you can
do to stop them. Consent and self-determination are addressed extensively here –
huge after Twilight's "I
like to watch you sleep" bullshit – and in her attempts to save her best
friend, Mel doesn't handle everything gracefully. Mel and her two female
friends, Cathy and Anna, all react in different – and believable ways – to Mr.
Handsome Vampire's presence in their school. And the eyeroll treatment that
teen girl + mysterious vampire receives is hilarious.
 |
| Image Credit: Amazon |
In contrast to Team Human, Claudia Gray's Evernight is the Twilight inversion that
let me down. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Bianca has just
transferred with her teacher parents to a boarding school which helps vampires
readjust to humanity's ever changing concept of "normal." Although this time it's a vampire school with
a few humans in it, instead of the other way around, and Bianca – not her love
interest Lucas – is the vampire, all the Twilight nonsense of "But it's
for your own good!" carries on with a charming side of "You shouldn't
trust anyone (except me)." At one point a side character, Raquel, tidily
ticks off the warning flags for why Bianca should run from Lucas as far and
fast as she can: starting fights, insisting that he is "protecting"
her from non-threats, attempting to isolate her from support networks and loved
ones. These are all real signs and
elements of abusive relationships. I was excited –
a vampire book addressing what healthy relationships are? Two in a row? Hooray!
Aaaaaand then
Gray blithely handwaves away all of this as "He was just trying to protect me!"
Needless to say, I will not be reading any more of the Evernight series.
No comments:
Post a Comment