A review by haxxunne
Bee Speaker by Adrian Tchaikovsky

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

High flying science fiction

—

Cricket has a very big problem on his hands: a strange little man, white as a corpse, has been shot, and he thinks he knows who the killer is. The dead strangers’ friends, as alien to Cricket as they can be, want him to take them to his monastery, the Apiary, so that they can consult with the hidden intelligence there, Bees. Accusing the wrong faction in Cricket’s post-technological world will only bring down violence on the Apiary, but who else could it be but the violent Griffins, a clan of strongmen who tithe the countryside to their hearts’ content? Before long, Cricket will see the very big problem go beyond anyone’s control when the Factory, where the uncanny but familiar Dogs are made, take on everyone else in a fight for control of the future.

This is high flying science fiction that is both science-y and fictional. Don’t worry that it’s the third book in the series, as the action starts from the first chapter and doesn’t let go. The only fly in this ointment, however, are the huge infodumps which I’m sure I haven’t read before in Tchaikovsky’s other books, or if they were there, they were more subtle; here, they derail the narration for a bit and tbh if you skip them, who’s gonna know? Told from plural voices across the landscape, echoing the secret narrator that sits at the very centre of the book, this is a spare but rounded novel that transports you directly into a very plausible future based on our tyre fire of a present.