The Bees
By Laline Paull
Started: 2025
Finished: 2025
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...
💠Review
I absolutely adored this book. I think hive animals are so cool and to read a fictional book about bees...wow!
I loved Flora 717 and her struggle to serve her hive, her queen and her mother, while also struggling with herself. It really kept me on the edge of my seat, I felt so bad for Flora. I enjoyed learning about the rigid structure of the hive and how Flora navigated all sectors of it, although the Sages remained the most mysterious to me.
I was so sad when it ended(not that I was sad about the ending!), I wish there were more books that anthropomorphized bugs.