As a huge Barry Lyga fan, I was thrilled when I read the description for his newest book, THE HIVE. “A better way to sanction people for what they do online. Cause trouble, get too many ‘condemns,’ and a crowd can come after you, teach you a lesson in real life. It's safer, fairer and perfectly legal.” Sounded great! But the writing didn’t quite live up to the expectations I’d formed based on his other books.

Here are a few of the issues I ran into:

1. Mom’s point-of-view takes up quite a bit of space in the story. An adult POV is usually not found in a novel targeted at the young adult audience. I found it jarring, didactic, and hard to buy into.

2. Naming of emotions, constantly telling rather than showing, pulled me out of the story world. For example, “Rachel shook her head tersely, fatigue and anger radiating from her in nearly visible waves. … Annoyance was overtaken by a jolt of worry.”

3. Archaic patriarchal ideals can be found throughout. For example, “Why hadn’t Harlon prepared her?” and “She regretted not putting on lipstick,” and “Bryce was a Norse god … What good would her puny mortal muscles do?” AND this one seriously made me want to quit reading: “I hope whoever finds her RAPES HER FIRST. Teach that bitch to open her mouth.”

4. There was such an overwhelming sense of meanness that came through the pages of this story. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but I felt like I needed a shower after reading.

5. Cassie’s spite for her mother seemed off base and unmotivated. “The world was crazy, but not so crazy that her mom could actually be right.”

Nearly every time I was tempted to quit reading, Lyga reminded me why I enjoyed his previous books with a lines like these:

“Anytime someone is lambasted in the press without a trial, there are the Romans, feeding victims to the lions for sport. For fun.”

“They clambered up a ladder, then used balconies and fire escapes to zigzag their way up another story … When she dared glance around, her stomach heaved; down below, more lights flashed but the sounds of the city were muted, drowned out by wind and her own heavy breathing.”

“She breathed a silent prayer … then tap-tapped her way down the sidewalk. To her surprise and delight, it worked. A guy in his thirties even offered to help her cross the street when the light changed.”

“A graphic filling the screen … a complicated skein of digital silk, thousands of strands spun out from the center …”


Final takeaway: I’m a fan of Lyga’s I HUNT KILLERS, and I can easily recommend that series.


[I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion.]

This one is scary because of how much it could relate to reality. Enjoyed the interesting plot and story line. Lyga is a wonderful writer and I will look up Baden now too. Good story.

What would our world be like if mob mentality really did rule? If justice were based on the likes and dislikes of social media and punishments were determined by a thoughtlessly delivered tap and swipe of a finger. That’s the premise behind The Hive.
But what began as an interesting novel based on an all-too-terrifying and all-too-possible scenario quickly descended into thinly veiled partisan politics. Excessive language, an unlikable heroine, and a lackluster finale further doom what could have been an interesting read.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to Net Galley, Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden and the publisher for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is the first time Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden have teamed up together to write a novel. This is marketed to be a dystopian Young Adult genre narrative about a mob mentality of people punishing trolls, doxxed and hackers for posting inappropriate content on social media. It is supposed to be perfectly legal and if a person has too many unpopular shares, likes or condemns and the people of the hive comes after you and teaches you a lesson. It all comes down to how serious your offense is. It goes between levels one and six, which if you are deemed to have committed the latter your punishment could mean death.

Cassie has just lost her father who was a hacker to death. She has just moved in to a new home with her mother. Cassie is sort of an unlikable character because she is so full of rage. When Cassie posted some inappropriate heinous content on social media suddenly it goes viral and the whole country is whipped up in a vigilante sort of frenzy. Cassie goes on the run but can she outsmart all of the hive mob mentality from finding her and punishing her?

This was scary at times reading this because with the wide use of social media today could this be a prophetic of things to come in our real lives? Suited for readers of all ages even though this belongs in the Your Adult genre.

I did not care for this book, I didn't like the characters and I wasn't able identify with them. They all did the right thing or the predictable thing and I felt like it ended too perfectly. Even Georgie who was independent and turned out to be just like the others. This book group of parents at St Ambrose Church Primary School and looks at the way their lives interact and change over a school year. The mothers are just nasty to each other, and maybe it is where I live but I have not come across mom's who cat like besides in movies and tv. The metephors about bees and the mothers was okay the first few times but there was a few to many.

It was a quick read, but kind of boring for me.

Interesting YA dystopian-esque view of asking the question of what would life look like if social media got even more out of hand? I say dysopian-esque because, honestly many of these concepts are sadly already in play today. Social media is out of control today. It affects how our children view daily life, in terms of "polls" for every decision they make all the way to governments announcing policy decisions by Tweet. And juries of popular opinion becoming mobs of angry citizens who view video footage of an event that is taken on someone's camera phone. Are people ever "innocent until proven guilty in court" anymore? Or is our system so tainted by social media that most have decided their opinions prior to any real trial?
This book tries to address this idea in the scope of teen angst. The premise is good. It reminds me of a mixture of "The Passenger" and "The Circle" and "Scythe". I enjoyed it. I would have liked for it to be a bit more true dystopian, in that meaning, further removed from today's reality.
I would recommend it for those that like the above books listed or similar sorts of books.
#TheHive #NetGalley #KidsCanPress

Cassie McKinney is the daughter of a tech mastermind, and she has inherited her coding abilities from him. Her society utilizes Hive Justice--an app that allows every citizen 13 and older to like or condemn online behavior. When Cassie posts a joke online, the Hive quickly turns against her. Can Cassie survive a #killonsight order by the Hive?

What an interesting concept! I love that the book tackles the issues of cyberbully and doxxing, and I think teens can relate to the idea of Hive Justice. While I wasn't totally convinced that people would still post negative things online in a society that uses Hive Justice, I fully believed that the Hive would behave the way it did in the book. A really good standalone sci-fi for fans of coding and technology as well as readers who love action adventure stories.

This novel is fabulous, I love how it shows what happens when social media goes too far because lets face it, in today’s society it does. Both Lyga and Baden were able to make this novel relevant to today’s youth and is a wake up call. I saw this in my local chapters the other day and pick up a copy for my sister and my cousins! I will highly recommend this novel to anyone who asks !

The Hive is an intriguing YA dystopian novel. Cassie McKinney is grief-stricken over the unexpected loss of her father while navigating life as a high school senior. In true teen angst, she lashes out, making what she thinks to be a harmless (albeit heinous) online joke. Feeling invisible, she thought no one would notice. But someone did.

The Hive was created as a response to living in the digital age. Cyber bullying is at an all-time high, and the masses believed online trolls needed to be held responsible for their actions. The Hive locates these users so they can be found and taught a lesson in the real world. No longer can they hide behind a keyboard and screen. The Hive is thought to be safe, fair, and legal.

Cassie's comment goes viral, sending the entire country into a frenzy, and when The Hive demands retribution, Cassie runs. With nowhere to turn, she must learn to rely on herself. But can she uncover the truth about the machine behind the Hive before its too late?

The Hive is an interesting read, especially considering we too are living in the digital age. The growing popularity of social media makes this a intriguing and relevant read. Overall, The Hive is well-written, fast-paced, and exciting. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA fiction.

In exchange for my honest review, I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

The premise of this book sounded amazing, the whole concept of there being actuall consequences for what you say online decided by people had a lot of promise. Sadly for me the story didn’t end up grabbing me. For one thing I really disliked the main character which made it super hard to get into the story. I also wasn’t super engaged in the plot and found myself skimming large parts of it. I won’t say it’s a bad book because I don’t believe bad books exists but it definitely wasn’t for me.

ACTUAL RATING 4.5 STARS

So I'll keep this short. This novel is a scathing analysis on where the world is headed should we continue our love affair with social media in our current political climate.

Its kind of similar to that episode of Black Mirror with Bryce Dallas Howard where she is obssessed with her rating but instead of a 20 something year old woman falling apart, its a teenager who makes a stupid post and her whole world implodes.

The characters are generally well rounded and act like what they are, normal mid to late teens kids who shouldn't have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Its fast paced and punchy with an ending that gives you all the feels.

Only downside was that I had to constantly flip between Wikipedia and the novel because it uses A LOT of technological language and I am not a person who understands this...

Well worth a read and I eagerly await further publications from this group of writers

The Hive Justice system has changed the way we punish people. Trend positive with many likes and shares. You will be ok. But do something like cheat on your partner and your crime will be decided depending on which level you go to. Levels 1-6 are available depending on the severity of what you have done.

People vote on the outcome and attend a hive mob where the person is ridiculed for what they have done.


Cassie - an only child moves into a new house with her Mum. Her dad has recently passed away and this was a fresh start for her and her Mum.

When Cassie uploads a tasteless joke she is shocked as she goes from Level right up to level 6 with a hashtag trending killonsight.

She could not believe it, after all it was just a joke, but is the government hiding something? Is Cassie a scapegoat for something bigger? She is the daughter of Harlon McKinney - famous hacker.

When Cassie runs for her life, we think how is she going to get our of this? Will she survive? Can she find a way to trend positive?


This book highlights all about social media and how it can be dangerous and get out of hand. We live in world where the technology is changing all the time. For example you seem to be wired all the time, with ear buds and phone. Of course being addicted we tend to lose and forget how to have proper relationships.

I was not too keen on this book at first but as I kept reading, it became better and ended up being a brilliant page turner. It is written well and the plot is easy to understand. Without getting confused.

Although at the end the author seemed to leave the book open. Which brings me to the question: will there be a sequel?

I hope so, I would really like to read on about what Cassie does next.

This book is alright and mostly interesting to read, but one thing in particular I didn't like was how stereotypically teenage Cassie was. I'm a teenager, most of the people I know are teenagers, and let me tell you, not one of us is so full of rage. It annoyed me throughout the book. Moving on.
Some of the main plot twists were easily predictable.
I liked the character development, although there was too much for it to be realistic.
Also, not to spoil, but Carson. Cringe. That's all.
And yet, books like this are always quite interesting because it could actually happen! And it would be terrifying!
So in conclusion, it has a lot of flaws, but still is an interesting read.

The premise of this book is very timely in this age of doxxing and mob mentality. The hive rules social media and delivers swift justice based on the opinions of the majority. The punishments can range from small things like being publicly humiliated to death.

I found this novel interesting and appreciated it for what it was but I can't say that I particularly enjoyed it. The president in this book was too similar to the current president and I hate when politics are brought into books, especially when authors use their books to vent their love or frustrations for certain figures (whether I agree with them or not). I have also realized that I am not particularly fond of books that focus on "social issues"...when fiction collides with reality I find myself thrown out of the story and my enjoyment wanes.

Overall, this just wasn't the book for me. I think some people would enjoy the story but I wasn't one of them.

I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Hive was an interesting take on a Dystopian future that honestly kinda scares me in how much of a possibility it could be if we as a society let ourselves get there. I've been reading thought provoking books lately and it was a great read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever watched internet trolls and bullies spiral out of control online? Maybe fallen down the rabbit hole that is social media comments on a controversial news story? In The Hive, the powers that be sought to change hate speech on the internet by allowing any comment made to be liked or condemned. Get too many condemns, and the public are free to enact “Hive Justice”. Often handed down as public shaming events, The Hive is meant to keep social media safe. But when Cassie posts an inappropriate joke, she finds out just how scary hive justice can be.

On the run from the Hive mob, in a time where it’s illegal to abandon your phone and eyes are everywhere, Cassie doesn’t know who to trust and even how to survive.

Although there were some parts of The Hive that were very much pure science fiction, the mob mentality of the Hive was scarily real. I have watched horrifying things unfold online in real life (including a young teenage girl’s home address published in a bid for people to ‘teach her a lesson’ in unspeakable ways, for voicing an unpopular opinion). This sort of behaviour is both terrifying and completely bizarre to me and The Hive really brought it to life.

There were some fantastic twists, truly tense moments and a lot of non stop action to keep the story going. There were some parts that became a bit far fetched for me, for a story set in the real (albeit future) world, but all in all The Hive was a lot of fun!

Cassie has always believed in social media so when the Hive came about it seemed natural and right as well. The hive was the power of the people on social media to police themselves if someone got so many dislikes than they would be doled out a punishment that the Hive (the people of social media) would implement. The more the dislikes the worse the punishment and the longer it can go on, but most people got a level one or two which would be something small and would have to be done within one to two days. That is until Cassie made a joke on social media and found out a lot of people found it more mean than funny like her and she was the first to get a level six punishment, now she is on the run.

This was a fun book on so many levels, but mostly I can easily see some form of this coming in the future, it has been the center of many shows and brought up in some books lately, but not to this extent. This book makes social media scary even terrifying. I just read for fun so I didn't read to much into it other than what was there and that was exciting, suspenseful with twists and turns that kept me guessing and that make a great book for me.

This was definitely an interesting book to read. I really enjoyed and finished really quickly. It was entertaining and a little bit scary. It will definitely be an amazing movie.

This novel is the first collaboration between husband and wife team Barry Lyga and Morgen Baden. And as much as I am huge fan of Lyga’s works, I hope this is the first of many novels they work on together. My initial response was: “Wow! What an incredible read. I pray that The Hive is not prophetic. what an intense read. A page turner that kept me up way too late when I had to work in the morning.” Now I getup for work at 5am, and I stayed up reading until after 2am. I just could not put the book down. I think the power of this novel is the story can serve as a warning, but also as a prophecy of what might yet come. There are many cases where life ends up imitating art. We can only hope this does not become one of them.

This is the story of Cassie McKinney, she is the daughter of a world famous programmer. And he has believed in the hive and hive justice. Public shamming and doxing has become the norm. And Hive justice is the mob. The hive came into existence when the government took over social media and tried to put an end of trolling and doxing. People can upvote or down vote a punishment. And if you hide from the punishment it ups the ante.

Cassie is at a new school and gets in with the in crowd. But with one comment that someone else shares under her name turns her life upside down. She goes for anonymous to infamous. And the hive keeps cranking up the pressure. And now her life if threatened. Her mother at risk to her own life tries to hide Cassie, and soon a surprising ally comes to her aid. She has no where to turn, and only a small group of Hive outcasts to help her. But not everyone is as they appear. And with her life on the line can she figure out who to trust and who not to.

The story starts slow but once the Hive has focused on Cassie it turns to a breakneck pace. The story races from hiding, to secret meetings. To just trying to survive. You will find yourself cheering for Cassie, even though she had a momentary lack of judgement and came up with an incredibly mean jab. In some ways the story is like the case of Canadian Journalist, Ashley Csanady, who made a comment about Trump’s son and had giant sections of the web turn against her and focus on her. But for Cassie the consequences could be her life.

Lyga has written some incredible reads. And this is one of the best. Lyga and Baden have written a masterful story. It is an important story for our time. Not just for the young adult audience but for those of us who are older as well. It is an excellent story, and I hope as a culture we heed the warnings contained within.

Another excellent story by Lyga, and as mentioned I hope not the last from this team!

The Hive is such a timely and relevant book. Absolutely terrifying if you are a parent. This is one of those books that really sticks with you after you've read it because even though it is fiction, it isn't that far from the possible truth. We already have a ban with social media for our kids and this book confirms our worst fears, that the mob always feels protected. It is amazing what The Hive will do under the protection of the mass group, and this is what is really scary. This is really a book about the human condition, because even without technology many feel more bold and brazen under the protection of many.
The characters were rich and flawed and troubled and this made everything so real. What the main character did to be put on the hunt wasn't something innocent, and it just goes to show you how powerful and damaging words can be.
The plot thickens as you move on and there are some great twists that i didn't see coming. This is a wonderful Young Adult, sci-fi thriller.
Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book.