Library

Hive by A.J.Betts

So, when I was shopping in Big W recently for new books for our library, I was immediately struck by the cover of this book.

It was enough for me to pull the book from the shelf and read the back blurb below:

"All I can tell you is what I remember, in the words that I have.

Hayley tends to her bees and follows the rules in the only world she has ever known.

Until she witnesses the impossible: a drip from the ceiling.

A drip? It doesn't make sense.

Yet she hears it, catches it. Tastes it.

Curiosity is a hook.

What starts as a drip leads to a lie, a death, a boy, a beast, and too many awful questions."

'Yes!'  I thought.  Just the sort of book I would love to read; a dystopian novel where the writer has created a future  world that is less than idyllic and a teenager is going to save the day!

My second thought was, 'Yes, I know some students that would enjoy this novel.'

So in the trolley it went, through the cash register, and into my hot little hands. I read it over the weekend. 

And I am happy to say, I loved the book!

So to all the students that are enjoying reading the Michael Adams series or love books where young people save the world that adults have wreaked, this could be the book for you!

Ms Oliver

So what is it about?

Hive is the story of fifteen-year-old Hayley. Hayley lives in a different world. A world made of hexagons, and secrets and lies. A world with new meanings and assigned roles. A world where our world has completely disappeared from view.

Betts has created a new world order based upon the structure of a bee hive. Hexagons line up with hexagons and each pod plays a different purpose. Madness is abhored in Hayley’s hive. Hayley struggles to hide her head pains from the community for fear of being discovered as mad.

Hayley’s world is a world of order and confinement; where power is concentrated within  the hands of a few and where knowledge can be a powerful weapon. Hayley stumbles across the ‘drip’ and starts asking questions about its existence. Such questions place her life in terrible danger.

Hive is a well-constructed narrative and compelling reading. It is an easy-to-read book that will stay with readers long after you delve within its pages. My only complaint is I have to wait until next year to read the sequel, Rogue.