Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Bees by Laline Paull

9 reviews

rhiannonhoward's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Police brutality, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Slavery, Body horror, Child death, Grief, and Murder

cheye13's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This was so dry and so long and for what?

It's over 500 pages to explain the fall of a beehive after the human caretaker passes away.

I really should've dnf'd quite early because I truly hated the writing style, but I had to know the point of the story. And it sucked. I was really hoping for some less direct commentary or some layers of meaning, but it was all so dry. What itched the most was the dystopian tone; I couldn't tell if it was condemning bees behavior as a metaphor for human society or if the story stopped at face value because the society was bees. Ultimately a failure of commentary if it was intended at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Sexism, and Classism

Moderate: Police brutality and Religious bigotry

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

all content warnings in context of a bee society, which may be enough distance for some

davbat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Gripping and an emotional read- but also quite odd and not very satisfying. Glad I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Sexual harassment

All the characters are bees and there's bee racism.

albie95's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

laurajordensharris's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Vomit, Murder, and Classism

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Child death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

gheron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror and Terminal illness

Minor: Gore

adventuryn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The book is described as a mix of The Hunger Games and The Handmaid's Tale, but with bees and while I've not read either, from what I have heard and seen that would be accurate.  The story itself was engaging and very well written.  However, while it is well written and engaging, describing insect society in a manner that you would a human society gets rather grim, incredibly fast.  

The depictions of violence and death are, from what I am aware, accurate to bee activity and societal structure.  There is a queen, who lays eggs.  There are drones (male bees), that are only really in the hive for mating purposes.  Wasps kill and eat bees when they are able to get access to them.  Bees are beautiful, complex creatures with highly detailed lives and roles.  They can also be terrifying when viewed through the eyes of a fellow bee.

If you go into it expecting there to be graphic depictions of death from the perspective of the creatures going through it, you will likely be better prepared for the plot than I was.  There is also a repeated theme of psychological manipulation that I wasn't expecting, but is in line with what I know of how bees operate with certain scent markers.

Overall, it was well written to evoke a visceral response from the reader.  However, you also have to be in a very particular headspace in order to read this and not have a negative response.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Grief

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

judereadsalot's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

At times, I forgot I was reading about bees. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this one but it was very enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Police brutality, and Pregnancy