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A review by rigel
The Hive by Barry Lyga, Morgan Baden
3.0
This book wasn't the best book I've ever read, nor the worst book I ever read. Very middle-of-the-road.
Here's a quick summation of what exactly The Hive is: it's a program that is essentially SJW justice on steroids. As in, "I don't like your opinion so that gives me the right to assault/murder you."
And that's exactly what this book is all about. Set in a near future where you a persecuted for having a difference in opinion, for complaining that your life sucks, or just for having a different sense of humor from the general population. All us dark-humored folks would probably be dead in this world. Just saying.
The "joke" that got Cassie into trouble in the first place? Here it is (she's talking about a the newborn grandson of the President that's all wrinkly and blotchy and people think the baby is ugly because it's not as if all newborns look like that right?): Too bad the abortion didn't take #betterlucknextbaby
Now,I'm not offended by this joke. I'm pro-choice. My issue, though, was throughout the entire book the main characters acted as if this were the funniest "joke" to ever grace the planet. It just isn't funny from a humor standpoint. Hell...it's not even a joke. It's just a post that makes fun of a newborn for looking like a newborn. Also she's kinda saying that the world would be better off from an aesthetic standpoint if the kid had been aborted which is just in poor taste because common, are you really that superficial?
Fair warning: if you don't like to read from an unlikable character's point of view, avoid this book like the plague. I have nothing against reading an unlikable character, but Cassie... oh boy she's just a raging bitch. I had a really hard time forcing myself through this book because all she did was act like an entitled brat that could do no harm. She admits she likes to tear down other people because, I quote, "It feels damn good.". She hates her mother for no apparent reason (and her mom is wonderful btw, like she's supportive and wants the best for her daughter but isn't too pushy about it). She's a straight up bitch to all the women in her life but as soon a a boy comes along she acts all meek and sweet. When she's on the run from Hive Justice, she blames everyone BUT herself for the shit she got herself into; she blames the girls she was hanging out with for "goading her into making the post" although she was the one to come up with, type, and post the, um, "joke" (she actually wanted to post the "joke" before all the other girls so they wouldn't go viral instead of her), and she blames her mother for... well I don't know but she somehow blames her mother for the situation she's in as well.
Now onto the little things that bothered me:
1. Mom Rachel is a classics professor at, wait for it, Microsoft/Buzzfeed University. That's right. That just made me laugh because honestly WTF.
2. Cassie considers compliments to be "microaggressions". Bitch, give me a break.
3. The authors seemed to consider study groups to be cheating??
4. Cassie is so dumb sometimes like holy shit she straight up texts her locations to girl when she's on the run, which both get raided, and then she blames the guy who's been helping her out all along.
5. About a quarter of this book is dedicated to this one plot to take down the government and The Hive, but they never use it. Seriously, this book could have been 100 pages shorter.
And now for the part you all knew was coming: the neuroscience rant. First off, can I just ask why authors don't take five minutes to go to google and do some quick research into the neuroscience they want to use/mention in their books? And why do they always inevitably write "Oh well no one really knows how this part/mechanism of the brain works."? There are three major branches of science dedicated solely to the brain: neuroscience (my personal favourite, if you couldn't tell), cognitive science, and psychology. "Brain science" is way more evolved than you may think.We know A LOT about what's going on up there. It only takes a few clicks, and so will you. Effort, people. Effort.
Anyway, in the book, a detective tells mom Rachel that "no one really knows how human memory works or why memories degrade" (while psychologically torturing her by the way, so be prepared for some of that in the book). False. We know exactly how memories form and degrade. Memories form through a (complicated) process called Long-Term Potentiation (LTP). Ever heard "Neurons that fire together wire together"? That's what memory my dudes. And how do they degrade, well, when you don't use the neural pathway dedicated to a certain memory, it essentially dies (not the whole neuron btw, just the synapses or receptors et autres). There. Simple. Google is a great tool, you guys.
Anyway, that's that. I really have nothing else to say about this book. Again, it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible.
Here's a quick summation of what exactly The Hive is: it's a program that is essentially SJW justice on steroids. As in, "I don't like your opinion so that gives me the right to assault/murder you."
And that's exactly what this book is all about. Set in a near future where you a persecuted for having a difference in opinion, for complaining that your life sucks, or just for having a different sense of humor from the general population. All us dark-humored folks would probably be dead in this world. Just saying.
The "joke" that got Cassie into trouble in the first place? Here it is (she's talking about a the newborn grandson of the President that's all wrinkly and blotchy and people think the baby is ugly because it's not as if all newborns look like that right?): Too bad the abortion didn't take #betterlucknextbaby
Now,I'm not offended by this joke. I'm pro-choice. My issue, though, was throughout the entire book the main characters acted as if this were the funniest "joke" to ever grace the planet. It just isn't funny from a humor standpoint. Hell...it's not even a joke. It's just a post that makes fun of a newborn for looking like a newborn. Also she's kinda saying that the world would be better off from an aesthetic standpoint if the kid had been aborted which is just in poor taste because common, are you really that superficial?
Fair warning: if you don't like to read from an unlikable character's point of view, avoid this book like the plague. I have nothing against reading an unlikable character, but Cassie... oh boy she's just a raging bitch. I had a really hard time forcing myself through this book because all she did was act like an entitled brat that could do no harm. She admits she likes to tear down other people because, I quote, "It feels damn good.". She hates her mother for no apparent reason (and her mom is wonderful btw, like she's supportive and wants the best for her daughter but isn't too pushy about it). She's a straight up bitch to all the women in her life but as soon a a boy comes along she acts all meek and sweet. When she's on the run from Hive Justice, she blames everyone BUT herself for the shit she got herself into; she blames the girls she was hanging out with for "goading her into making the post" although she was the one to come up with, type, and post the, um, "joke" (she actually wanted to post the "joke" before all the other girls so they wouldn't go viral instead of her), and she blames her mother for... well I don't know but she somehow blames her mother for the situation she's in as well.
Now onto the little things that bothered me:
1. Mom Rachel is a classics professor at, wait for it, Microsoft/Buzzfeed University. That's right. That just made me laugh because honestly WTF.
2. Cassie considers compliments to be "microaggressions". Bitch, give me a break.
3. The authors seemed to consider study groups to be cheating??
4. Cassie is so dumb sometimes like holy shit she straight up texts her locations to girl when she's on the run, which both get raided, and then she blames the guy who's been helping her out all along.
5. About a quarter of this book is dedicated to this one plot to take down the government and The Hive, but they never use it. Seriously, this book could have been 100 pages shorter.
And now for the part you all knew was coming: the neuroscience rant. First off, can I just ask why authors don't take five minutes to go to google and do some quick research into the neuroscience they want to use/mention in their books? And why do they always inevitably write "Oh well no one really knows how this part/mechanism of the brain works."? There are three major branches of science dedicated solely to the brain: neuroscience (my personal favourite, if you couldn't tell), cognitive science, and psychology. "Brain science" is way more evolved than you may think.We know A LOT about what's going on up there. It only takes a few clicks, and so will you. Effort, people. Effort.
Anyway, in the book, a detective tells mom Rachel that "no one really knows how human memory works or why memories degrade" (while psychologically torturing her by the way, so be prepared for some of that in the book). False. We know exactly how memories form and degrade. Memories form through a (complicated) process called Long-Term Potentiation (LTP). Ever heard "Neurons that fire together wire together"? That's what memory my dudes. And how do they degrade, well, when you don't use the neural pathway dedicated to a certain memory, it essentially dies (not the whole neuron btw, just the synapses or receptors et autres). There. Simple. Google is a great tool, you guys.
Anyway, that's that. I really have nothing else to say about this book. Again, it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible.