Review Detail

What I Loved:
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 an 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 actually 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.

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