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 Once I heard that The Bees was a novel that featured anthropomorphic characters, I knew I had to read it. So few adult books lack human characters so I was extremely curious to see how this novel would pan out and whether it would live up to expectations. The Bees starts off strong, but it was quickly followed by a lagging middle portion and a semi-predictable conclusion. Though Paull clearly did her fair share of research and has a knack for detail, I couldn't immerse myself in the world of the hive. 
 Flora 717 is a worker bee who's always lived by the rules of her hive and her queen. She's always known to accept, obey and serve her queen in every way possible. Soon, Flora discovers that the Queen's hive isn't as immaculate as she had imagined and that it's on the brink of crumbling. Flora soon begins to challenge the tenets she had abided to for so long. 
 Though The Bees features a cast of insects as characters, the structure of this novel will feel very familiar for those who read dystopian novels. It's a bit difficult to read a novel when you have this nagging feeling that the plot will follow a certain route and my worries weren't for nothing. The Bees failed to surprise me and I think Paull tried to frame it like a dystopian novel so it would fit in perfectly with other novels in the genre. 
 Paull definitely did a great deal of research for this one and her efforts definitely paid off. At times, The Bees delves into a bit too much detail about bees that I don't think laymen would care for. All of the details about the hive, queen, duties and biological aspects of the bees were nice touches, but I feel as if some of the finer details could've been edited out. 
 Flora is a bee, but that never stopped me from caring about her rebellion and her position in the hive. Paull gives a voice to one of the most misunderstood creatures in nature and humanizes bees to the point where readers might forget that they're bees at times. I wish the other bees' characters were explored further, especially the Queen who was underused throughout the novel. I wanted to understand why the Queen took such specific actions and Paull failed to develop her character besides a bare bones infrastructure. 
 While I expected The Bees to be an extremely unique tale, it ended up being a pretty average novel that didn't live up to its potential. The Bees had the opportunity to be one of the best novels of the year, but a bland plot and a slow-paced plot helped spoil this novel for me. The Bees was published with a lot of buzz, but sadly the novel wasn't as sweet as I had expected it to be.