Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #8: Fang Girl

Fang Girl

Author: Helen Keeble
Pages: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Gifted
Recommended by: Jenni of Alluring Reads

Description from Goodreads:
Things That Are Destroying Jane Greene’s Undead Social Life Before It Can Even Begin:

1) A twelve-year-old brother who’s convinced she’s a zombie.
2) Parents who are begging her to turn them into vampires.
3) The pet goldfish she accidentally turns instead.
4) Weird superpowers that let her rip the heads off of every other vampire she meets.(Sounds cool, but it doesn’t win you many friends.)
5) A psychotic vampire creator who’s using her to carry out a plan for world domination.

And finally:
6) A seriously ripped vampire hunter who either wants to stake her or make out with her. Not sure which.

Being an undead, eternally pasty fifteen-year-old isn’t quite the sexy, brooding, angst-fest Jane always imagined....

Helen Keeble’s riotous debut novel combines the humor of Vladimir Tod with Ally Carter’s spot-on teen voice. With a one-of-a-kind vampire mythology and an irresistibly relatable undead heroine, this uproarious page-turner will leave readers bloodthirsty for more.

First Sentence: "Just because I like vampires doesn't mean I'm stupid."

Review:

Fang Girl came very highly recommended from both Jenni and Giselle, and I have been dying to read it, though with the caveat that I come back to life as a vampire and have eternal life to spend on reading all the books ever. Anyway, Jenni, not convinced my dying plan was all that sound, purchased me a copy, because she's just the best ever. So then I read it, as you can see. Fang Girl is precisely what I hoped it would be: a light, hilarious read, the perfect snack to break up the depressing fare I generally read.

Vampires have been done to death, in just about every way possible. You would think it wouldn't be possible to put a fun, new spin on them anymore, without totally going insane with the mythology. Well, Keeble shows that there's still room for innovation. Her vampire mythos is definitely my favorite aspect of the novel. They've got some awesome powers, like being able to see through the eyes of other vampires in their bloodline, and some serious flaws, like being incredibly OCD. Keeble does a great job of balancing humor and an actual, convincing plot.

Reading Fang Girl, I couldn't help but think of another parody of vampire fiction I read, The Reformed Vampire Support Group. That one came out first, but unlike Jinks' novel, Keeble's is actually funny. Where TRVSG thought detailed description of guinea pig meals were the height of humor, Keeble leaves the guinea pigs alive and has vampires running around like demented Cinderellas, picking up paper clips from the road instead of lentils from the ashes.

The characters are all properly quirky, and likable, even most of the evil ones. Jane herself is awesome, very smart and always trying to make the best out of every situation. However, I feel like the secondary characters really stole the show. Jane's family are delightful and incredibly supportive (*cough* unlike most YA families *cough*), totally excepting their daughter, vampire or no. Plus, they're all hilarious, especially the mom with a penchant for research and Zack, her brother, and his obsession with all things steampunk. Speaking of the mom's research, there's Jane's childe vampire, Brains, a goldfish turned in one of Mum's experiments. Brains is as awesome as he sounds. I also love Sarah, who's sweet and helpless on the outside, but a badass, evil genius on the inside. If this were a movie, she would be Chloe Moretz, which is just how intense she is.

Just so you know, the stress on romance in the blurb with the sixth point about the ripped vampire hunter? It's seriously exaggerated. While he does exist and does have cheese grater abs, there's really not much romance in this book. Fang Girl has enough hints at it to appease those who like a couple to ship, but little enough actual romantic drama to keep those sick of all the romance in YA very happy. Really, all there is to the romance is a couple of comments on the kids being attracted to one another and some jokes. I'm glad about that, because the book would have needed to be longer to really sell the romance.

Keeble has a real talent for humorous writing, and I'm so excited to see what she'll do as she gets even more practiced with it. I'm very excited to check out her second book, No Angel, which comes out later this year.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"I totally did not need to add eternal love to my towering stack of problems. Sure, it was likely to all come out okay in the end, but there were bound to be misunderstandings and fights and long brooding fits punctuated by fiery glances. And I'd probably find myself gazing longingly at him when I should be scanning the rooftops for paper-clip-wielding maniacs."

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Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons, selected by Lisa V. I'm looking forward to it, even though the prequel turned out not be very good... By all accounts the original trilogy is much better, like with Star Wars.

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out THIS FORM with a book suggestion! For more details, check this post.