The Wood Bee Queen by Edward Cox

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Title: The Wood Bee Queen
Author: Edward Cox
Year of Publication: 2021
Series: NA
Series #: NA
Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4
Goodreads Rating (Mine): 3

Cover Art for The Wood Bee Queen by Edward Cox

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an unbiased review. This review is based on the unpublished ARC, and content may be subject to change prior to the publication of the book.

Synopsis: In Strange Ground By the Skea, when Ebbie Wren’s strange friend Mai passes away, she leaves him with a strange quest – to journey to the Realm of the (fairy) Folk and help find her missing granddaughter. Below him, in Strange Ground Below the Skea, trouble is brewing in the form of a coup by the Queen’s sister. Ebbie must partner with the untrustworthy Bek Rana, a thief so skilled she will dare to even steal from the Nobility, and try to fulfil Mai’s final wishes in the face of all odds.

The Wood Bee Queen is a difficult book to review. It has a very interesting plot and set of characters. Ebbie and Bek are easy to root for, and have a comical chemistry.

But the set up is a long time coming, which makes it difficult to really get into the book right off the bat. The dialogue feels laborious, and overall the book gives the impression of trying to tell a story larger than it is. It is full to bursting with sub plots and side arcs that spill over and makes it difficult to follow the thread of the main plot. In addition, some of the side characters seem to exist for convenient plot device reasons rather than anything else.

The Wood Bee Queen’s take on the Oldunones (essentially the Greek pantheon) is also interesting and fresh. However, we see only a limited portion of the pantheon, leaving more questions than answers where this part of the book’s mythology is concerned.

But what was most frustrating is that the ending felt a little disconnected from the rest of the book. Everybody’s avowed goals and motivations end up switching rather fluidly by the end. As a result, I still have no idea how or why the happy ending came about, especially because it seems to send for a toss every single aspect of the book’s mythology that was carefully explained until then.

Regardless of these aspects of the book, I deeply enjoyed reading The Wood Bee Queen. The adventure is fast paced, and the characters extremely likeable and intriguing. Three stars for a warm, solid read. ⭐⭐⭐

Next: His Dark Materials #2 – The Subtle Knife