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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Overall, I really enjoyed this audiobook. The story follows Flora 717, a bee born outside of what is normal for a bee of her "station". Flora 717 is born a sanitation worker bee, which is the lowest job/station within the hive yet Flora 717 has abilities abnormal for a station worker, she can speak unlike other Floras, she can make flow, which feeds the Queen's babies, and is able to forage (fly and gather food for the hive). I found myself rooting for Flora throughout the story - I'm still unsure if it was because she was the "underdog" of the story or because of the underlined racism, sexism, and class-ism issues the bees represent but then this then also becomes a problem for me. All is all, I enjoyed the story.
I took a bit of a risk with this one, picking it up only because the characters were bees, but I didn't get stung! It was only later that I found out the critics have been buzzing about The Bees. Ok, enough of that. The Bees was a great read. I was worried that the novelty of the story taking place in a bee hive would mean that the story would be weak, since I've encountered too much novelty=lack of story in previous books. The Bees, however, didn't have that problem. I was engaged completely in the story and interested in Flora 717's life. Flora was a sympathetic character for the most part, but she was also the only part of The Bees that bothered me a bit. At times it seemed like she was a bit too perfect. She could do it all. Paull does an excellent job representing bee behavior as a culture and, although I am not an expert on bees, painted a fairly accurate picture of hive dynamics even though anthropomorphized. Flora is the exception to this, which was necessary to the story, but did become a bit tiring. Overall, it was a unique and interesting. It should be noted that my review may be a bit biased, since I am fond of bees and liked the setting enough that it may color my view of the actual story.
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of the most immersive stories from a very unique perspective.
It's not that this was a bad book, it's just there are some slow parts and the book is a bit too long for a story about bees. I enjoyed it for the most part but had a lot of trouble finishing it.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
informative
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:
Complicated
Conflicted. This was really interesting at times, really predictable other times. Contains one of my pet peeves, the attitude of pregnancy=the most meaningful thing ever to a woman.