by Anna February

A murder mystery set in a dystopian society structured like bees in a hive where the whole population works tirelessly and unquestioningly for the good of the queen.

When Euphemie, one of the royal family is killed, her shield Feldspar who not only failed to protect her, but who didn’t automatically die alongside her charge is captured and sentenced to death. Another royal, Nikolos who practices the dark arts and is infamous for killing his own shield is sent to investigate what happened. Initially sure of her guilt, Nikolos comes to believe in Feldspar’s innocence and together they race against the clock to find the real killer and thus prove Feldspar’s innocence before Feldspar’s scheduled execution in 3 days.

As she explores the Hive with Nikolos, Feldspar starts to see more of the reality of her world and question the society they live in.

Whilst I did think this a little slow at the start, I like the concept of modelling this world on the workings of a bee colony. The spark of romance between a maverick royal and a shield who’s life is deemed as essentially worthless by the upper echelons is nicely developed. There are some interesting revelations and twists to the plot that keep you turning the ages and guessing to the end. It’s been popular with our 17-24 agre group, but as it is ‘clean teen’ it also works well for younger, say 14+ years.

For schools it throws up some interesting discussion points. Definitely worth reading.