The Bees – Laline Paull
Let’s start with the obvious: “The Bees” is weird, and not in the “hmm, interesting!” kind of way — more like “what the f-ck am I reading?” weird.
Imagine “Animal Farm” in a beehive with a dash of “Brave New World’s” caste systems, a sprinkle of “Game of Thrones” power plays, and all of it filtered through a lens that tries really hard to be high-concept but it never quite sticks.
The premise is undeniably creative. Flora 717, a sanitation worker bee born into the lowest caste of her hive, somehow breaks societal constraints and rises through the ranks, uncovering deep secrets of hive society along the way. There’s tension. There’s danger. There’s...needlepoint? All of this happens within hours/days of her birth. I know bees have a short lifespan, but really?
But concept isn’t everything. Execution matters. And this is where Laline Paull stumbles. The worldbuilding is so abstract it borders on incoherent. The caste system and role-specific language make the plot hard to follow, especially when there’s minimal scene setting to orient the reader. Having never lived in a beehive (as most of us haven’t), I needed more than sweeping metaphors and vaguely rendered hierarchies to stay grounded in the narrative.
No matter how much you love bees, or high-concept allegory, this will test your patience. The prose is thick with adjectives — descriptive, yes, but rarely in service of clarity or momentum. And the characters? Inconsistent at best. Sometimes the bees are just insects. Other times, they're petty courtiers or sexed-up political agents with hobbies and oddly human behaviors.
Orlagh Cassidy’s audiobook narration didn’t help. Her theatrical character voices — posh for some, gruff for others — may have been intended to reflect the hive’s rigid class structure, but they quickly veer into camp. Instead of elevating the material, the narration amplifies its absurdities.
I made it to 27%, well short of my 40% benchmark, before I realized I was laughing at the book, not with it. Continuing would’ve felt like a disservice to both myself and the author. There’s ambition here, and certainly an audience for this kind of fantastical, genre-bending work. I’m just not it.
High-concept fiction always walks a fine line between bold and baffling, but “The Bees” topples into the latter. If you like your dystopias with a side of entomological fever dream, by all means. Otherwise, buzz past it.
Rating (story): 1/5 stars
Rating (narration): 1/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: March 30 – March 31, 2025
Multi-tasking: Not recommended. As in, don’t read this in any format.
