Author: Laline Paull
Genre: Fantasy
Series: No
Brief Summary:
Strict social class structure, laws governing breeding and childbirth, patriarchal superiority, prejudice, and entitlement-all make up the society where Flora 717 lives. By birth, she is part of the lowest class in her society, the sanitation workers. The story has all the makings of another Handmaid's Tale, and yet there is one very important difference. This is no ordinary dystopian society; the story of Flora 717 takes place in a hive and our main heroine is a bee.
Despite Flora's lowly birth, she rises in the ranks of the hive in history-making ways. None of her kin (class) has ever been anything other than a sanitation worker. They are conditioned from birth to serve, accept, and obey. Flora does none of these well and soon draws the attention of her betters. Against convention, she is first given work in the nursery and then as a forager for the hive. Along the way, she accumulates both her share of enemies and friends in very unexpected places. Her story will change the hive forever.
Here is what Goodreads has to say:
My take:The Handmaid's Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut.
Born into the lowest class of her society, Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, only fit to clean her orchard hive. Living to accept, obey and serve, she is prepared to sacrifice everything for her beloved holy mother, the Queen. Yet Flora has talents that are not typical of her kin. And while mutant bees are usually instantly destroyed, Flora is reassigned to feed the newborns, before becoming a forager, collecting pollen on the wing. Then she finds her way into the Queen's inner sanctum, where she discovers secrets both sublime and ominous. Enemies roam everywhere, from the fearsome fertility police to the high priestesses who jealously guard the Hive Mind. But Flora cannot help but break the most sacred law of all, and her instinct to serve is overshadowed by a desire, as overwhelming as it is forbidden...
Laline Paull's chilling yet ultimately triumphant novel creates a luminous world both alien and uncannily familiar. Thrilling and imaginative, The Bees is the story of a heroine who changes her destiny and her world.
In full disclosure, I did not expect to like this book. I mean, come on, a whole book about talking bees?!! What was I thinking?! And then, I began to read and this book blew me away. They say never judge a book by its cover (or title in this case) and boy, is that saying absolutely correct. Once you get swept up in Flora's tale, she is no longer 'just' a bee, and the world is no longer 'just' a beehive. You actually forget all of that; the story is that good. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about dystopian societies. I promise, it will not disappoint.
