Book completed

[eve_prime]

The Bees: A Novel, by Laline Paull. This book is astounding. I learned about it from a local author who specializes in "furry" fiction.

The basic premise is Watership Down, but bees are so much more alien than rabbits - their society is bizarre, and much of the time they're under the influence of hive-generated chemicals. This author has a vivid imagination and somehow managed to create this world effectively, having learned an awful lot about bees.

I had two small concerns. First, the bee "culture" is a bit more anthromorphized than necessary, but that's also true of Watership Down, with its religion and such, and it's really not at all extravagant in that regard. Second, more seriously, there was a point fairly early where I found it difficult to read for very long, and upon reflection I realized that our POV character had such a limited, short-term perspective that I just didn't want to spend that much continuous time in her head. So I set it aside for a few days. But as she grew older (she had just hatched at the beginning, after all), she definitely developed into a unique individual. There's plenty of action, and the final chapters were as spell-binding and dramatic as one could hope for.

So, if you enjoy trying on different ways of seeing the world, I highly recommend it.

Comments

[kaishin108]

That sounds like a very unusual book.

[eve_prime]

Very! She has another book that's about sea creatures, but our library doesn't have it. (And a third book about humans, which we don't have either.)

[claidheamhmor]

That sounds fun!

Have you read Children of Time, or Duncton Wood (or any of William Horwood's other books - Stonor Eagles, Wilves of Time, et al.)?

[eve_prime]

I've never heard of him - is he writing from animals' perspectives? Looks like our library has a few of his books.

[claidheamhmor]

Yes, he does. Duncton Wood is like a fantasy novel told from the viewpoint of moles.

[eve_prime]

Fun! I've never actually seen a mole, but I can imagine.

[eve_prime]

Ha! So I was in the library today and I went into the children's section to get more Konigsburg books, and there was Horwood's "The Willows in Winter," in the middle of a display, facing me. So I brought it home.

("The Bees" is not a children's book.)

[claidheamhmor]

Enjoy!

[eve_prime]

Thanks! I'll probably take a while for me to get to it, but we have our library books for 24 weeks unless they're recalled.

[claidheamhmor]

Wow, that's a decent lending time!

[eve_prime]

It used to be that you could check out a book for three weeks, then renew it (online) for three weeks, up to 8 times total. Now it's still technically for three weeks at a time, but all the renewing is automated. You just have to keep track on whether someone else has requested it, because if they have, the renewing doesn't happen. It's very handy! New books usually have to go back after the first three weeks, but most books can be kept for the whole 24 weeks.