cuteasamuntin 's review for:

The Bees by Laline Paull

5.0

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A tiny bit A Bug's Life, a little bit Watership Down, and a surprising amount The Handmaid's Tale (minus the ritual rape), I found The Bees to be legitimately compelling. The amount of scientific accuracy worked into a fictional piece, albeit significantly stretched, was pleasant, even as an afterthought. Orwellian in theme, the novel questions the rightness and necessity of uniformity, obedience, and custom. Additionally, the human race, class, and nationalistic parallels to the hive caste system and relations with the outside world is seamlessly written, rather than being pushed heavy-handedly onto the reader. The rarely-paired duo of communist tendencies and religious fanaticism are blended well into the triumphs and woes of the hive and the protagonist, Flora 717. Flora is a strongly identifiable character, and she is very easy to empathize with, despite the fact that she is a worker bee and the reader is, presumably, human. I found myself loathe to put the book down until I finished it, and was even tempted to read it again once I had.