I’m not going to lie, I definitely picked this book up because of how awesome the cover art is (it’s covered in bees….why wouldn’t I want to read it?). But, once I actually read the inside of the book jacket I realized that upon reading this book, I would get to live the life of a bee for a few days, and I was all in (cool cover art or not).
The Bees begins with Flora 717, a sanitation bee and our heroine of the story, biting and smashing her way out of her incubation cell in her hive. She is hairy, ugly, and extremely different than all other sanitation bees. Thus, her journey begins a little differently than most. Flora 717 is faithful to her Queen and hive, but is very strong and intelligent; she quickly becomes a crucial member of the foraging kin when food shortages occur. As she rises higher in the kin-system of the hive, Flora 717 begins to learn that not everything is as it seems and that the hive may be falling apart (literally).
Laline Paull’s novel is filled with hierarchy details that will make you feel as if you’ve stepped back into medieval times (but with bees, of course). The Queen of Flora 717’ s hive is almost God-like, bees repeat chants of “Accept, Obey, and Serve” , have devotion time, and pray to her to forgive any sins that may have committed. There are Drones (male bees) that treat certain kin-sisters like objects and ask them to clean them after they have foraged for nectar. Although Paull definitely keeps the real world/human nature close by, her writing will take you into the life of Flora 717, and make you feel everything she feels— from the vibrations in her antennae, to the pain and anguish she felt when she flew too far from the hive and could no longer smell the sweet scent of the Queen. She even goes into detail about the honeycomb-like flooring of the hive….it’s like you really are living the life of a bee.
So, cool cover art or not….you should definitely give this book a try. If you enjoy lots of imaginative details, you’ll enjoy Laline Paull’s small world of bees (you’d be surprised at how similar if may be to our own world!).
P.S. The Bees is now out in paperback!
Comments are closed.