The Bee King

“Always the same. They were angry. They wanted what wasn't theirs. They expected a willing sacrificial lamb.

No. No, no, no.”

I absolutely loved this book! Mathilda Zeller does a masterful job of world-building. It was very refreshing and the bee/hive parallels had me in awe each and every time. The storyline managed to keep me on the edge of my seat, and - while I predicted one of the major twists (I'm suspicious by nature and tend to look for clues everywhere), - I kept being surprised by the direction the story took. The story was compelling and, being a woman in a world built on patriarchy, I related very much to the main character Alice. Even though I'm not a particularly resentful or vengeful person myself, you can't help but feel angry in the face of the unfairness and mistreatment of the girls of Oxenbee. The female and lower class exploitation was one of the main themes throughout, and it left me reeling with sadness and anger but also...hope for the future. The ending was surprising, yet extremely satisfying. Justice was served and I could not be more glad!

To be honest, this was my first venture into the horror genre and - as someone who is a bit of a wuss and therefore does not really watch horror movies - I wasn't quite sure what I was signing up for. As it turns out, I was very much into it so I'm glad I took a gamble on it (apparently all those hours watching true crime documentaries and reading thrillers might have numbed me to the gorey stuff). Fantasy horror might just be my new favourite genre, who knew?

I absolutely recommend this book. Just be mindful of the trigger/content warnings. The physical injuries/deaths can get quite graphic, but other topics like sexual assault are only mentioned and there are no descriptive scenes. Still proceed with caution or skip this book if you find any of that triggering.

Thanks to Booksirens and Mathilda Zeller for kindly providing this ebook ARC for free, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.