Welcome to the Hive & Heist Blog Tour, hosted by Xpresso Book Tours!
BOOK ONE:
Queen & Commander by Janine A. Southard
(Hive Queen Saga #1)
Publication date: May 2014
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Book Links: Goodreads / Amazon / B&N
Synopsis:
**WINNER 2013 IPPY AWARD -- Silver Medal for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror E-Book**
On a world where high school test scores determine your future, six students rebel. They’ll outrun society as fast as their questionably obtained spaceship will take them.
Rhiannon doesn’t technically cheat the Test. She’s smarter than the computers that administer it, and she uses that to her advantage. She emerges from Test Day with the most prestigious future career possible: Hive Queen.
Gwyn & Victor are madly in love, but their Test results will tear them apart. Good thing Rhiannon is Gwyn’s best friend. Rhiannon can fix this. Queens can do anything.
Gavin is the wild card. Raised off-planet, he can’t wait to leave again... and he’s heard of an empty ship in orbit. The Ceridwen’s Cauldron.
Both Luciano and Alan fit in the system. They don’t need to leave. Only their devotion to Rhiannon spurs them to join the Cauldron’s crew.
Spaceships. Blackmail. Anywhere but here.
BOOK TWO:
Hive & Heist by Janine A. Southard
(Hive Queen Saga #2)
Publication date: May 2014
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Book Links: Goodreads / Amazon / B&N
Synopsis: Queen Rhiannon and her Hive have found safety on John Wayne Station, but with no way to pay their docking fees or Victor’s medical bills, their debts are racking up quickly. Thankfully, Gavin gets a job with American Space Ranger M3L-15-A, who’s hot on the trail of dangerous criminals.
The teens move in with their Ranger benefactor, but when they revisit their ship to pick up personal belongings, they realize their Alcubierre tensor jet has been stolen!
If Rhiannon and her Hivemates ever hope to leave, they must find and steal back what’s theirs. But far from home and among strangers, who can they trust? Will they be stuck on John Wayne for the rest of their lives?
Janine Southard's Hive Queen books were a very interesting read for me. They were totally different than anything I've read in a while, and I have to admit, the scifi-ness was a nice change of pace, offering a pleasant break from my usual genres.
In a nutshell, in the Hive Queen books, we've got a futuristic society with space-traveling capabilities, and in that society, Queens rule supreme. It is the highest and most revered job any young woman could hope to achieve, and sixteen-year-old Rhiannon is so dead set on achieving it, she's done the impossible: she's beaten the testing system. She's naturally a Perceiver, but instead, she tests out as a Queen-Commander. It's everything she's ever wanted, but a decision to help a friend disrupts her carefully laid plans and sends both she and her fledgling Hive into the great unknown ahead of schedule. Given that Rhiannon and her crew are all young, and in many ways untried and untested, things don't go as smoothly as any of them hoped...and that applies to both books. The challenge is to overcome the obstacles that come their way and somehow come out at the end as a better, stronger Hive unit.
Book 1, Queen & Commander, focuses mainly on establishing the world and the characters. While the world-building was sometimes a bit gray for me, it didn't interfere too much with my ability to grasp what was going on in the pages. It was the Hive itself that was the primary force behind the novel. Hives, you see, are made up of a Queen and her male Devoted, and each Devoted is different, with his own unique personality, talents and weaknesses. Given that Rhiannon's Hive was formed somewhat in haste, those differences don't always mesh well. There are a lot of growing pains in the first book as everyone is feeling each other out and trying to find their place, not only in the Hive itself, but with their Queen.
In Book 2, Hive & Heist, the Hive is in an entirely different part of space, recovering from the events of the last book. They're still trying to find their footing together, and the fragile ties they built in book 1 are put to the test even more by their new surroundings. When things get hairy and their only means of leaving the space station is stolen, they have a choice to make - band together yet again, or see their Hive splinter and fall apart. Throw in a subplot with the other Queens and the danger they are facing, and it's a pretty busy read.
For me, the best thing about these books was the Hive dynamic itself. The entire premise of Hives ruled by a Queen - and in this case, such a young Queen - was fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed the variety of characters I had a chance to get to know. Did I like all of them equally? No, but again, VARIETY! As a character-driven reader, how could I not love that? ;). Obviously I was invested in Rhiannon's journey - she was the Queen, after all, and the entire Hive's fate and fortune depended on her ability to lead, and while she didn't have all the answers and was sometimes just as lost as everyone else, she never gave up and continued to grow into her role in both books. She was clever, loyal, smart, and positively oozed potential. What's not to love about that, right? As for the Hive boys, Gavin was hands-down my favorite. He won me over in the first scene he appeared in and if I could have, I would have totally pulled him from the pages so I could hug and squish him. The other Hive members were a bit more hit-and-miss for me. It took me a little longer to warm up to them, but I loved that each of them brought something unique to the table. The more I read, the more faith I had in the group as the whole and their ability to not only balance each other out, but become a force to be reckoned with in the future.
I wouldn't have minded more action to go with all the character development, and I was disappointed by the lack of a true romance I could get behind. Granted, Queens are pretty limited when it comes to dating and marrying, and the Hive was still new and getting things sorted out, but still, I hoped. I think for some readers, as well, it may require a bit of a paradigm shift to get used to the male Devoted and how they interact with their Queen - or at least that was my experience. It wasn't a bad shift, but it was definitely a shift.
Overall, despite a few bumps in the road, both Hive Queen books turned out to be good reads for me. I really liked the concept, the variety of characters, and the different POV's, and I enjoyed the chance to see the story (and the characters) grow from one book to the next. If you're a fan of YA sci-fi, you should check them out.
3.5 Stars ★★★1/2
A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by:
Janine A. Southard writes and edits speculative fiction in between working on videogame projects. She’s attended more than the average number of universities, which she claims is a FEATURE. (“Oxford educated, but Californian at heart.”) She’s also lived and traveled in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Currently, she lives in Seattle with a husband (and a cat) and sings with a Celtic band.
Author Links:
http://www.janinesouthard.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6935843.Janine_A_Southard
https://twitter.com/jani_s
Tour wide giveaway
Open internationally
--3 x Signed copies of both books in the Hive Queen Saga
--1x ebook copies of both books in the Hive Queen Saga + an unrelated novella
A lot of people have mentioned the Hive dynamic in this series and it sounds so fascinating and unique! The whole world sounds very well developed overall. Sci fi is also a good change of pace from my usually contemporary reads I should really give this one a try!
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