The Bees

The story line is fresh and fast paced. The descriptions are vivid. Laline Paul effortlessly takes you on an adventure to a different world. Must read for aspiring writers. This how it's done. The story is from the perspective of the bees and its clean she sid her research. She paints a beautiful picture of the journey of the bees and what their values could be.

Amazing tale unlike anything I would have expected. A story that both transports you from anything remotely human and yet focuses on some signature themes of literature. It's clear the author did serious research to create this world and it is an outstanding and entertaining work.

Arrived in great shape. Strange but educative reading derived from a highly active, anthropomorphic imagination as to what goes on in a been hive. Was recommended by a neighbor who actually keeps bees. "Characterizations" is a better word than "characters" as used in the above describe the characters box.

A true delight to read! If you have ever wondered what bees think and do in there lives, read this book!!!!
We must all do what we can to save and protect the world's bees!!!!! A change is coming and we must ensure it is a positive change.

This fascinating and creative story takes us inside the hive, where we learn the various ways of bees. It describes the culture of the bee hive in all its beautiful complexity. The story line keeps us interested and moving forward. Who knew that was how bees lived?

The title stung me to read it! Then chapter after chapter made me want to forage and return to enjoy the pure sweet honey of a storyline! I have and will treasure this book for years to come. Thank you Miss Paul!

I absolutely loved this book. It isn't normally the genre of novel I would go for, but it was suggested to me by a friend and I was pleasantly surprised. It was darker than I expected, a bees life is not one to be envied. The way Laline Paul describes the hive, the lifestyle, the emotions...no detail is missed. It's an easy read, I got sucked in and plowed through half the book on my day off. Highly recommend it.

fascinating account of hierarchical organization suffused with human emotions and external stressors. Clever. I agree with the review that compares this to the Hunger Games. The book was well written, but more interesting is the mind who would even conceive of such a scenario. Well worth the read.

One of the most beautiful books I have ever read. The imagination that it took to write this story & the depth is astounding. I hope I won't have to.wait too long too read something else by her.

This book had me entranced from the very beginning. I didn't expect to enjoy it this much or to be clinging to every word, desperate to know the outcome. It's been awhile since I cheered this hard for a character.

This clever author describes the complicated society of honey bees within a whimsical story understood by humans. I enjoyed the difference and Interactions between characters, especially the wonder of Flora.

In the tradition of Watership Down this is a tail told from the perspective of the Hive and in particular one unique worker bee. But to The Hive unique is aberration and aberration Must Die! Will The Hive survive if its Secrets come to light?

This is a fable with a message about how important our actions can be to preserve the health of bees, and therefore our own. The message is subtle however, the story is compelling because it touches on every aspect of social, political, and economic struggle existing within a highly structured civilization. Great read.

Surprisingly awesome. I had to go research bees because it was crazy how well the author tied animal behavior into personified characters. A bee's life is so different from ours. I appreciated the behavior of the bees sticking true to what bees actually do (in a very fantasy sort of way).

Having just entered into the world of beekeeping, I was pleased to see the factual nature of this book. As much as possible, this gives a picture of the life and culture of the honey bee, but humanized so we can relate.

As a beekeeper, I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful anthropomorphism of bee behavior and life within a colony. Although a work of fiction, Laline Paul clearly demonstrates significant knowledge of how bees live. For example, she absolutely nailed how bees deal with a large intruder, such as a mouse. The book was suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my chair wondering what was going to happen to little Flora 717 next.
Fully recognizing that "The Bees" is a novel and not a text book on beekeeping, I do have a few minor observations. The author made no mention of the greatest threat facing honey bees today - the varroa mite which reached the U.S. in the late 1980s. The author portrays the hierarchical social structure of the colony as being a rigid caste system with little mobility. In fact, although worker bees (females which make up 90% of the hive) do indeed perform the menial tasks described in the book, they change roles based on their age. For example, they begin life as nursery workers, cycle through the other jobs as they mature, and finish their short lives as foragers. Laying workers, such as Flora 717, do occasionally exist in hives that are under stress, but since their eggs are unfertilized, the eggs can only hatch into drones, never a queen as portrayed in the novel. The novel ends on a somewhat hopeful note, but alas, the grim reality is that very few swarms survive in nature. An appendix briefly outlining true bee behavior would have been useful to those folks not familiar with honey bees.
I highly recommend "The Bees" as summer reading to readers of all ages and possessing all levels of knowledge of pollinators.

Beautifully done! I was so intrigued from the moment I began reading through the eyes of Flora and diving into the next chapters, capturing the inner workings of a bee hive! The unique story pulled me in until I finished. :-)

Delightful read - clever plot that describes the world of honey bees thru the eyes of a female worker bee. I learned a lot about the life of these wonderful creatures and thoroughly enjoyed this book that was recommended reading to me by a beekeeper!

As a beekeeper, I was intrigued by the concept. The story really pulled me in, until workers laid female eggs. While of course liberties must be taken with honeybee society and biology for the sake of telling a good story, workers who can lay females are, for me, a liberty too far. The idea is too impossible; besides, if unfertilized workers could produce other females, there's no need for a fertilized queen. She becomes redundant, and the structure of the society as the author has imagined it is pointless. If the author was trying to convey an anti-authoritarian message, though, the attempt failed. Until this, I would have been pleased to give the book four to five stars.

In some ways this is a strange story, but intriguing none the less. I've never read anything like it. I read for long stretches of time until my brain tired. It caused me to google information about bees. This fictional interpretation of the life cycle of a hive is almost riveting, not knowing what the personified characters would do next. The ending is exactly as it should be, sweet.

Super book! One of those rare joys that makes one look at something in a new and unforgettable way - Like Watership Downs and rabbits this will forever change my view on bees. I have a new admiration and respect for these amazing beings.

The Handmaid's Tale meets Logan's Run meets Watership Down. Holy cow. The story exhausted me, in the most wonderful terrible way. Bees! Who has thought of what goes on in a bee hive? This author has, clearly. She weaves the classic dystopian story with feminist undertones and a cultist flavor. Moreover, the idea of a socialist utopia mixed with a dictatorship and, all, it becomes a multi-allegory. Yes, the whole story revolves around the life of one bee, a worker bee. At once astounding and intimate, loving, violent and sexual, it is unlike any other novel, but has flavors of both the familiar and the unfamiliar. It will entertain you, scare you, and make you think. This is no children's story but a broad massive intricate novel of what could be and, perhaps, what is or has been.

As a biologist, I enjoyed reading from the perspective of a bee. It was interesting and the author clearly did her homework on their behavior. The only con of the writing was that the author tended to repeat herself in her narrative which got a bit tedious after awhile. Overall a fun read.

What an incredible world Laline Paull creates in "The Bees." I was emotionally hooked from the first page by the immensity of Flora 717—her fortitude, her strength, her courage, her devotion to her world. For spending several days reading this amazing and emotional story, I was devoted to the success of the hive, of creatures who at best were a minor annoyance, at worst terrifying and painful creatures.
What respect that grew within me as the story moved forward, propelled by the force, energy and heart of Flora 717, initially a lowly member of the hive given her caste, who through force of will, strength of character, intelligence and love, shows us all the breadth and depth of life that makes up the bee hive, and so much about what it means to be a devoted loving mother and parent.
Easily the best novel about nature I have read. (I'm 61 years old.) An emotional, exhilarating, sad, honest, and stupendous ride through a year(?) in the life of bees.
Millions should read this book for exquisite glory and beauty that is nature, depicted by one teensy piece of it. 5+ stars.

Good fantasy book, as beekeeper I had to keep reminding myself it was a fantasy book because it was way off of reality of what actually happens inside a beehive but for a fantasy book it was pretty decent

I very much enjoyed reading this book—especially since my mom just became a beekeeper. It was interesting seeing the world from the perspective of a bee. In the future, I would recommend to the author to spend a little more time showing, rather than telling, within the story.

I really liked this story. However, I think that a more thorough understanding of a bee's life cycle is required to fully appreciate the book. I am, fortunately, a novice beekeeper. Obviously, the bees were humanized in order to tell the story properly. I couldn't help thinking during my reading that a movie version, if possible, would be a great medium for this tale.

This story line was unexpected. At the start I thought it was beginning to sound like a children's story but I was wrong. I found it fascinating from the perspective of a bee with a mind of her own, while still maintaining a duty to the colony.

I love this book!!! Super imaginative and so thought out!! If you like Water Ship Down and Animal Farm you may like this book although it's not as heavy as those stories. The author must really love bees as she really brought them to life. I really love Flora 717 and I would love to see the book turned into a movie. However, the story is not really for young children.

Very interesting and kept my attention. As a beekeeper it made me giggle a few times to think of my bees acting this way :) Some interesting tones and ideas when you look deeper into alternate meanings of the book, but still superb if you take it at face value.

How interersting to live the fictional life of a worker bee in a hive! The plot held plenty of adventure, cultural commentary and interest for me. The author's device of inserting humans at the beginning and end made this fantasy seem rather real. I was sorry to say good bye to Flora.

If you liked 'Watership Down' you will love this book. Flora is a Bee heroine that combines many aspects of Watership's cast of characters. The pace moves quickly and the combination of fantasy & apian science will never let you look at a Bee the same way again.