For all of her life Kami has spoken to a voice inside her head. Perhaps Jared isn’t as well-adjusted as imaginary friends should be, and he might tend to make Kami a bit of an outcast in her small town home of Sorry-in-the-Vale; but he is there whenever she needs someone. Better still, in a family where she sometimes feels like a fifth wheel, Jared makes Kami feel as though she belongs.

He is also real. But things are happening in Sorry-in-the-Vale; something is screaming in the woods outside Kami’s house late at night, the mysterious Lynburns are returning to their ancestral home and, as the school’s investigative reporter, Kami wants to get to the bottom of all of the town’s dark secrets. Her imaginary friend coming to life is just another strange event in a long line of them.

At times like these, I feel that I should be able to just say that I love this book and people should feel it strongly enough that they would innately understand that the book had touched me morally, emotionally, empathically, intensely. And yes, it has. But to quantify, Unspoken is a swirling conglomeration of all of those things that Sarah Rees Brennan does so well; humour, empathy, love that may be deep but isn’t necessarily unconditional, family and heartbreak. But better. Her story-telling, pacing, build-up and conclusion have all evolved to a whole new level in Unspoken.

I have said before that I love the way that Brennan writes families; in this book, I loved the way she wrote romance. Like any teenage girl Kami’s not really sure what she wants; but she’s pretty sure that a boy who can get in her head is not it. The bond between Kami and Jared is powerful but, when they both realise that the person in their head is real, it becomes tenuous. Rather than Kami and Jared using their link as proof that they are meant to be together, which would be so easy to do; they head down the more rocky and realistic path of wondering whether they can trust one another. Jared is hot-headed, inclined to lash out when he’s stressed; and in his whole life, Kami has been the only one to continually stand by him. When she’s in his life as flesh and blood, there’s every chance that she’ll find out what he’s really like and turn her back. As for Kami; she’s used to being the one that isn’t anything special. When Jared was in her head it was different; but everything may change now that he’s in her day-to-day life.

The dynamic between Jared and Kami works really well. His temper was something that I didn’t like; but I did like that Kami never gave in to him. As much as he might sulk or rage at her, she would hold her ground. She behaves the same way around all of the people in the novel. Her response to someone telling her to stay away from an investigation because it’s dangerous is to say: “What an interesting thought…Thank you for sharing it with me. Let me share a thought with you: Actually, I can walk myself to class. And I can also handle myself so I’ll be doing what I want.” We’re used to reading books in which males characters don’t have to apologise for the dangerous situations they get into; it’s refreshing to see the same thing happen for a female character even if it’s not always so subtle.

Jared’s violent streak is one of the only things that let Unspoken down. While I’m not squeamish about violence, I do need my protagonists to have a good reason for any damage they inflict on the people around them. As someone who hits people hard enough to draw blood when he hasn’t been provoked, Jared is not a character I can empathise with. Hopefully he will develop as the trilogy progresses.

The characters and plot pull together to give Unspoken an atmosphere of haunting beauty. While it is funny as hell and probably should not be read whilst eating or on public transport; it also has emotional and moral integrity. The next book in this trilogy will be out in August 2013; and until it finishes The Lynburn Legacy will be the series I’m waiting for. Unspoken left me yearning for more.

Unspoken – Sarah Rees Brennan

Simon and Schuster (September 11, 2012)

ISBN: 9780857078070

‘Friends don’t let friends date vampires.’

Mel and Cathy couldn’t be more different, but they have been best friends for years. Cathy is sweet, loves books and is fascinated by vampires while Mel can be ornery, likes solving other people’s problems and feels that vampires are best kept at a distance. Despite their differences, they have only ever fought once; at least before the vampire shows up.

Francis Duvarney is a vampire with a million questions who enrols in Craunston High. He is old-fashioned and chivalrous; but Mel soon suspects that he has ulterior motives, especially where Cathy is concerned.

When she decides to solve this problem, as she has so often solved others, questions begin to pile up and she ends up finding a lot of things she hadn’t expected. Among them, a boy named Kit who can make her laugh, and has the most unusual family background she has encountered.

There is a lot to love about this self-aware, satirical novel. For me, it starts with the authors. I have adored Sarah Rees Brennan’s writing from before I even knew her as Sarah Rees Brennan. She has a fantastic blog that captures so much of her humour and passion for – well, everything, that I really think the people who don’t know about it are missing out on life. Justine Larbalestier caught and held my attention with her amazing book, Liar. Two pages in and I already knew that it would trump sleep that night. Their characters have such strong voices that it’s impossible not to listen.

Team Human is no exception. Mel’s voice is distinctive and unforgettable. She is something that Young Adult sadly lacks; a funny, witty girl who values laughter more than drama. As I mentioned earlier, she can be inclined to irritability, but even that she will turn to humour rather than sulking. Once Mel meets Kit, she only gets better. With Kit she has a kindred spirit, someone to appreciate her humour and to bounce it off of. He is still his own person though; slightly strange and while he admires her he doesn’t think that she is always right.

Something that Brennan and Larbalestier do consistently is write minorities. Whether it be ethnicity, gender or sexuality, they try to not only include them but also to give them starring roles. All of the thought that they’ve put in to the nature of discrimination really helps them out in Team Human. Humans and vampires are not legally segregated; but there is a space between them that neither party seems willing to breech. Vampires have narrow ideas of what humans are, and humans have narrower ideas about vampires. The novel is too friendly to ever get preachy, but tolerance is lauded.

Unlike Brennan’s Demon’s Lexicon and Larbalestier’s Liar, Team Human was slow to get into. Character development began straight away, and there was humour from the start right through to the end; but the plotline didn’t pick up until a several chapters in. If I had been able to love Cathy as much as Mel does, I would have enjoyed the slow start. Cathy and Francis were the only burr in the side of this otherwise incredible book. They lacked the vivacity of Mel and her other friends. Cathy’s conversations with Mel never fizzed and sparkled like Kit’s did. I found myself wondering why Mel was friends with Cathy in the first place. Ironically, I think that Cathy was deliberately written this way. To be in love with a vampire, she had to love stagnation; and Cathy does not change.

Fortunately, all of the other supporting characters were gems. Kit’s mother, Camille, and her friends and neighbours deserve their own book. Mel’s sister, too, stands out for me more than she should, given the small part she plays. In fact, all of the families were brilliantly thought out and written; they each had their own brand of crazy and their own way of loving and protecting each other.

Team Human juxtaposes the choices – human or vampire – in such a way as to make either of them valid options depending on each individual. Some readers have classed it as a parody making gentle fun of the new vampire genre out there, but it goes beyond that. The novel offers Kit’s very human attractiveness against the lure of the forbidden vampire in a manner that is far too self-aware to be regarded as anything less than satire. By the end of it though, I have to say that I’m Team Human all the way.

Team Human – Sarah Rees Brennan and Justine Larbalestier

Allen & Unwin (July 3, 2012)

ISBN: 9781742378398