Reviews

The Hive by Barry Lyga, Morgan Baden

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fabzatron's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed several of Barry Lyga's books as a teenager so I was pleasantly surprised to have won this book as a Goodreads giveaway. I wasn't sure if I'd still be into Lyga's writing given that I'm now an adult and don't often read YA anymore, but I actually enjoyed this book quite a bit.

The Hive is a Black Mirror-esque thriller wherein social media is used to like or condemn someone's post; if someone posts something unpopular enough, they are subject to Hive Justice. James Charles would absolutely have been stoned to death. The concept was definitely intriguing and I found myself pretty sucked into this book once I started it. This book is action packed, perhaps a little predictable but still kept me interested until the end.

My main gripe with this book is none of the characters are particularly interesting. The only one I much cared for was Tish, and she is at best a side character. Cassie, despite being a main character, never really seems to get any development. She's angry that her dad is dead and super good at coding and that's pretty much all there is to know about her, which really makes it hard to empathize with her.

Overall I'd say this is a worthwhile read, the concept and social commentary are interesting even though The Hive falls a little flat in some places.

Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

britterization's review against another edition

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2.0

In the near future, an app called BLINQ tracks all social media usage and amalgamates posts from a number of platforms. On BLINQ, you can vote to condemn a person for their social media output – if a person’s condemns to likes ratio gets out of balance, they’ll find themself condemned in real life. For example, a person who ignominiously dumps their partner on Facebook might find themself getting physically dumped in the trash. The punishment is designed to fit the crime. Called the Hive, its something our lead Cassie loved to participate in – until all of a sudden, it wasn’t. After a racy tweet, Cassie finds herself the target of the Hive, but her punishment is more severe than all that have come before it: death.

This was a fast paced, enjoyable dystopia which was a good change of pace from my normal fare of fantasy. I think teens are going to love it. Aside from a few horrendous decisions, our lead Cassie is likable, smart (ostensibly, anyway) and her experiences navigating a new high school will resonate with teens. As Cassie spends most of the book running for her life, it will definitely appeal to thriller fans or those that need their books to be very plot based. I read the book in a day or two even though I had a good idea of how it was going to play out. Little attention is given to the supporting characters, though the book did also present a few chapters from Cassie’s mom’s perspective, which I loved. The authors did a great job portraying a somewhat fraught mother-daughter relationship. There’s though-provoking, if heavy handed, social commentary to be found as well, and I think this book will stick with some readers long after they've turned the last page.

Ultimately, though, the book had what I’m going to call the “Scythe” problem: the premise just wasn’t believable. The Hive was certainly believable – its basically a physical manifestation of the shame that we’re willing to dole out to strangers online (if you’d like a great non-fiction read on the topic, try So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson ). Did I for one second think that the first person to get the death penalty would be a teenage girl who tweeted something offensive? I did not. I had trouble getting over that.

TLDR: If you liked The Maze Runner, Divergent or yes, Scythe, you should definitely check out this thrilling dystopia.
Lots of teens will love this one, but it didn’t do it for me – 2 stars. It was ok.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for the eARC which I received in exchange for an unbiased review. The Hive will be released on 03 September but you can put your copy on hold today!

spamel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

savsdayz's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative tense fast-paced

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

4.0

jessica_anita_reads's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

amandainpa's review against another edition

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2.0

The premise of this book is very timely in this age of doxxing and mob mentality. The hive rules social media and delivers swift justice based on the opinions of the majority. The punishments can range from small things like being publicly humiliated to death.

I found this novel interesting and appreciated it for what it was but I can't say that I particularly enjoyed it. The president in this book was too similar to the current president and I hate when politics are brought into books, especially when authors use their books to vent their love or frustrations for certain figures (whether I agree with them or not). I have also realized that I am not particularly fond of books that focus on "social issues"...when fiction collides with reality I find myself thrown out of the story and my enjoyment wanes.

Overall, this just wasn't the book for me. I think some people would enjoy the story but I wasn't one of them.

I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.