My Vampire Vs. Your Werewolf

Versus #1

by Paul Tobin

Gabe and Hayden have a vampire.Joon and Tradd have a werewolf.And they're going to fight.After modern society pushed monsters into hiding, the Crafters Guild was An organization of humans and other creatures intent on creating community amongst these exiled beings and combating the decline in monster mental health. Their solution? A no-holds-barred clash of the titans, where two monsters can fight it out with no limits. With young coaches like Gabe, Hayden, Joon, and Tradd to guide them, the monsters must prepare for a battle that will test their strengths, smarts, and special abilities. But it's just a friendly competition-nothing could possibly go wrong…right?My Vampire vs. Your Werewolf is the first in an epic horror series from bestselling author Paul Tobin featuring all your favorite monsters--from mummies and ghosts, to dragons and zombies, and witches and warlocks--daring to answer the Who would win in a fight?

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy

272 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2024

About the author

Paul Tobin is the Eisner-award winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Bandette, Colder, and many other comic books and graphic series.

Bandette, drawn by Colleen Coover, was awarded the Eisner Award for Best Digital Series in 2013, 2016, and 2017; and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award for Graphic Literature in 2016. His original graphic novel I Was the Cat was nominated for an Eisner in 2015.

The Genius Factor: How to Capture an Invisible Cat , first in his five-book series of middle-grade books, came out in 2016 from Bloomsbury Kids. It was followed in 2017 by How To Outsmart A billion Robot Bees , and How To Tame A Human Tornado in March 2018.

Reviews

[mikael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly have so many questions. This book is an absolute stumper to me. Let’s start with what I liked

-the writing style is genuinely great.
-for a book about a Kaiju-style city-destroying fight, I appreciate that about half the book was dedicated to the fight itself.
-good morals! The kids are very pleasant to each other and have good, relatable goals.

Now we get to the juicy part.

These children are NINE??? This is just wholly unbelievable to me, because I have no idea who this was written for; it’s certainly not nine years olds, save for the ones like me who had ridiculously high reading levels. So…. Why are they so young? They’re traveling across the globe all alone, doing the most dangerous things imaginable with no lore explanation as to why they’re allowed to. Not only this, but the characters mention meeting their opponents A YEAR BEFORE THE STORY. Eight years old, traipsing into god knows where with deadly monsters that they are basically confirmed to be unable to control. They talk like adults. There are even more adult concepts mentioned like getting drinks together, in a middle grade book. You know what I was doing at 9? Crushing up berries and hissing at people on the playground. This book left me just baffled at who it was made for.

I just could not get past that, but a kid probably could, if they can get past the weirdly high vocabulary for this book. I did enjoy it when I wasn’t horrified about the fate of these literal tiny children.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

In MY VAMPIRE VS. YOUR WEREWOLF, monsters have been banned from freely roaming through society, but this is causing their mental health to suffer. The Crafters Guild, run by a collection of humans and other supernatural creatures, has taken on responsibility for keeping creature/monster morale high and preserving their culture by sanctioning battles between these creatures in a way that allows safety for rest of the world. Two pairs of young Trainers are excited to seek out monsters to train and bring to battle under the Guild’s watchful eyes. Gabe and Hayden journey to Wales to unearth long buried Count Dursten, while Joon and Trad locate werewolf Redd in his specially crafted forest environment in Detroit. They each convince their monster to engage in the epic battle. When the time comes for the pairs to bring their monsters to the competition, what could go wrong—and who will come out on top?
Told through alternating points of view, the fantasy world is well-developed and filled with fantastical creatures and moments of humor, too. The monsters, while wild and violent by nature, are written in a way that gives readers some insight into their softer sides and motivation. When it’s time for the battle between the classic werewolf/vampire duo, it will be hard for readers to decide who they’d like to see emerge as the victor!

[Barb (Boxermommyreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really sure I know how I feel about this book. Being middle grade it was a fairly quick read, and it features my two favorite supernatural entities so it should have been something I loved. However, that didn't turn out to be quite the case.

So, we have two sets of youngest who are all no older than ten. Two are teamed together to locate a vampire and the other two, a werewolf. The book starts with the kids finding their creatures and explains a bit about how they use medallions to control them. Once located, they are moved to another location where they plan to have their monsters battle each other. I will say that once the battle started, the book picked up and it actually encompassed the last 1/3 of the book so if you like action, there is plenty of that. The team that wins the battle gets to keep their medallions and when you collect three, you earn the wish of your choice. These wishes are mentioned periodically and some of the kids have very concrete desires, but I don't know that they were fleshed out enough.

I had three major issues with this book. First of all, the author portrayed these kids at 10 going on 40. They did things way beyond an average 10-year-olds capacity and I had to keep reminding myself of their ages. Second, the author style of writing also didn't fit a MG book. He used words and concepts I just couldn't see a middle-grader understanding. And finally, there wasn't enough backstory, and it took me at least the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the book to figure out what was going on.

The action and the fact that we have a creepy vampire, and a fun werewolf named Redd really saved this one in the end. I don't know if I will continue the series but for the most part, I am glad I gave this one a chance and it was a fun buddy read.

[Bexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two groups of kids find magical medallions that give them control of a vampire and a werewolf. What's the best thing to do then? Have them fight each other in a Versus Battle. This sounds like a great idea, and they prep their monsters with whatever information they can about the other group of kids. Except, a storm picks up, and the referees/judges have to flee to higher ground, and the helicopters that are supposed to monitor the fight have to land for safety, and so the Werewolf and Vampire go a littleeeee bit rogue.

The kids use their smarts to help each other out, and the "true winner" is announced. The kids are then given the opportunity for a new battle and the teaser for book 2. This is a great concept for kids' book and has a lot of fun and lore included. The long held debate of which is better, Vampire or Werewolf, "FINALLY" gets answered in this book.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun and incredibly exciting read! Who hasn’t wanted to train up a vampire or werewolf so they’re ready for an epic monster battle? (Just me? Really!?)

Starting off with a quick pace and rotating through the POVs of our monster trainers, My Vampire vs. Your Werewolf is a delightful and humorous take on the monster genre, and shows amazing potential with the world Paul Tobin has built!

I will say I wish I saw more of a training sequence/that the trainers were more active in training up their monsters but this was such a fun read and definitely hints at more to come! Be sure to get yourself a copy of this book. It’s the perfect addition for your spooky season!

[Brittany Glance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe this one wasn’t for me. I can tell you that a lot of people are going to find this book very enjoyable. Paul has a great writing style and easy to read writing. For some reason this one wasn’t particularly my cup of tea, and that’s 100% okay! I love Paul Tobin’s Plants Vz Zombies books they are absolutely amazing so I know that someone out there is going to love My Vampire VS Your Werewolf! I can’t wait to see what else this author will release in the future!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

[Calinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Vampire vs Your Werewolf is a promising start to a new series. This book feels like Pokemon meets Universal Monsters. Children (of all ages) can find something to love in its fun characters, exciting setting, and action-packed narrative.

[Julia Pika · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF, I feel like this book would have been better in graphic novel format.