Intriguing and thought-provoking. I feel like this novel could generate profound discussions in a classroom setting. Some of the chapters were a little bogged down with technology terms and I began to skip over those parts. Still, I really enjoyed it overall.

This was eerily similar to a future that I could see for all of us in our real lives. Between our obsession with reality tv and social media, we're headed straight for this. In this world, you get a rating based on your behavior and society as a whole judges you in public for things you write online. They also carry out your sentence, which can range from a warning up to public execution. The teen MC makes one joke, and we follow her story for the rest of the book. It turns out her Dad was an early architect of the system that punishes her, and so the plot turns towards that mystery as well. I loved the whole thing.

While I loved the concept of the book there were too many plot points that felt rushed or strained. Even the beginning that sets up the whole story felt rushed.

An absolutely fantastic read!
A terrifying look at modern day vigilantism born from online trolling.
In a time where one wrong comment can (and often does) ruin a person's entire life The Hive gives us a look behind the curtain, what happens when you make that split second mistake?

When Cassie makes a joke in poor taste with the hope of trending online she becomes the 'condemned'. But for a misdeed usually punishable by public humiliation, Cassie instead finds herself at the centre of a political plot on a scale she could never have imagined.

Happily there wasn't too much coding jargon in this book, just enough for me to believe in what I was reading. When we first start getting into the creation of the Hive I thought 'uhoh, they're gonna lose me here!' but even this simpleton followed and understood it easily.

My heart was in my throat whilst Cassie and the Ohm attempt to evade The Hive mobs and the police, those rapid pulse-pounding action scenes were my favourite parts of the book. I can think of nothing scarier than being hunted out in the world with no refuge.

Cassie made a fantastic protagonist, they really nailed the teen angst. Her inability to communicate her emotions openly with those around her and the constant underlying anger and pain of bereavement made Cassie belligerent and disconnected her from all those around her.
Cassie wasn't always likeable which made her more authentic and added depth.
I really sympathized with her mother who was unable to do right from wrong.

Tish, TonyStark and RedDread were brilliant as the righteous opponents of Hive mentality. Their unwavering moral compasses and commitment to ending internet-led corruption was uplifting, especially given our current world climate.

The only minor issue for me was inclusion of an instalove plot. I felt it unnecessary and a little too cheesy for my liking. However, as someone who prefers to ignore romance in this type of story it probably bothered me more than it would other readers so I just glossed over it.

It seemed as though the end was set up for a sequel but for me this book works perfectly as a stand alone.

The entire concept of The Hive was honestly terrifying. In a world where the most heinous actions are somehow becoming legal, this fictional future is not as inconceivable as I wish it were.

I was given this novel from NetGalley for an honest review.
If you've ever watched Black Mirror this book definitely has that feel to it. A possible scenario that could happen in the future with social media. And a very scary one at that!
For people that don't speak code or understand computer lingo. The gist of this novel is, in the future the government basically controls online bullying by allowing users to be in control of what is being said or done. If you're doing something people don't like, the human race is in charge of what your punishment is based on the level you reach by how insulted people are by your actions or comments.
Even if you don't speak code or understand computer jargon, you can get the gist of what is happening. The story is written well enough for you to want to find out what happens. It could be easily written into a series.
I was definitely more interested in the daughters point of view vs her mother's. And while there was a lot of references to her father who was a hacker, I think this was to explain the main characters knowledge of computers. It was a bit over kill on how many of the same references of how amazing her dad was at hacking and coding.
For those social media lovers, this is a novel I think you will enjoy!

Reading The Hive, I got the sense that the world described could easily be in our own near future, which makes this YA thriller as scary as a horror story in some ways. Cassie McKinney is just trying to make it through her senior year and move on with her life. But when her so-called friends leave her high and dry after acting as catalyst to a social media comment gone wrong, she's on the run and doesn't know who she can trust.

The concepts in the story, while a bit futuristic in implementation, will not be surprising. Trend positive, go viral, the Internet is forever... and there's always the government conspiracy. But I fell into the world easily and was quickly invested in the characters. Some of the twists and turns were predictable, but not enough to be distracting, and the ending was open-ended enough that I hope there will be a follow-up!

Overall, I really enjoyed The Hive and would recommend it to fans of YA thrillers and futuristic technology.

This book is a mess, and, frankly, I'm a bit disappointed that it came from one of my favorite authors.

The premise of this book is fantastic - futuristic deadly Twitter mobs. Edgy. I like it. The execution (pardon the pun) was abysmal.

The characters are mostly one-dimensional, except for the hair. Weird. We know that Sarah is blonde, Rowan and Bryce are redheads, Livvy has long curly hair, Indira has "sleek black hair," and Cassie wears her dark hair in a top knot.

Cassie is an angry 17-year old who just changed schools her senior year after the death of her father. And, by the way, she's biracial:

"[Her parents] tried to explain how just being born biracial would sometimes mean that people would disregard the rest of her. That sometimes people wouldn't be able to see beyond the color and into the individual."

I thought this detail was significant, at first. That somehow, her biracial background contributes to the upcoming obstacles Cassie has to overcome with the Hive, and her fitting in at school, and/or possibly her acceptance in certain groups she wants to join (Debate or the Techies). Yaas! I enjoy a character who rises up and squashes the hatred. But no. It's a detail that seems thrown in for no reason - it does nothing to further the plot.

The anger from this girl is justified by her father's death (a detail that doesn't get resolved), but she's seriously over-the-top angry. I mean, throwing food at her new "buddy" at lunch seems uncharacteristic of a new girl in mourning. She's also bitterly vocal about the justice of the Hive that she finds the #DumpSkylar scene ridiculous and petty (which pretty much defines the rest of the book). Cassie likes to spend her time on "stuff that changes things."

"I was in a mob yesterday for a guy who ruined his family's lives. That one mattered."

This from a girl who then joins the same petty mean girl clique (which doesn't make sense for either character - Cassie or mean girl, Rowan). Cassie joined the Hive Mob to punish a man who vaguely "humiliated his wife and children." That's the kind of action that matters and is worthy of Hive Justice. Two chapters later, Cassie posts something truly heinous: "Too bad the abortion didn't take. #betterlucknextbaby." A comment that not only humiliates the president (a thinly veiled caricature of our current president), but also his family. Hmm . . . pot, meet kettle.

Cassie then changes her tune. Suddenly, Cassie is no longer angry. She's desperate for friends, and she can't seem to understand why she's being targeted by the Hive Mob for a stupid comment she posted online - one that humiliates and embarrasses the fictional President of the United States and his family in front of the whole world. Seriously?!

Then Cassie's mom. Rachel, comes to the rescue. What part of YA is this? True YA books serve to empower the teen characters without parental intervention. And yet, Cassie's mom not only helps her flee the Hive Mob, but she also starts a social media campaign appealing to parents and then engages in protests. What?!

So many scenes seem contrived and irrelevant to the plot - just makes this book almost infuriating to read. The so-called presidential conspiracy is absolutely ridiculous, and the convenient conclusion is even more absurd.

Cassie is not a likable character, and the authors fail to suspend my disbelief in what could have been a great new YA dystopia about the dangers of social media.

An interesting take on how teens and the general public take matters into their own hands. Personally, I loved how Cassie dealt with the mob mentality and the cyberbullying, and this book leaves a lot of room for discussion around these topics.

I found Cassie's character was well built and round, just like her mum, however the plot lost its spark in several places due to a particular scene being drawn out.

Rating: 3.75/5

(This review will feature on my blog on the 20th of July)

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC. This was a very interesting and somewhat scary concept. This could really be our future if you think about it! I loved the writing, the plot, I thought it was a great enjoyable time for me.

Holy heck! What a whirlwind! I think this book is going to find its way into classrooms and morality discussions in the future. Lyga & Baden fill it with modern technology ethics, politics, and the base human instinct for survival in a fast-paced, easily digestible (though I was anxious the whole time) format that is going to insight conversation for all readers.

Was it perfect? No. Was it entertaining with social and cultural references that will cause readers to go “Hmm.” and “Oh my goodness” at every turn? Definitely.

Full review will be published on my blog: August 25, 2019.

This was a fantastic book. A story about a teenage girl named Cassie who is navigating the death of her father, a new life, and new emotions when she is blindsided by “hive justice” after a tasteless but harmless BLINQ. I really liked the parallel drawn from the world we live in. I felt an eerie “this could be where we end up” kind of feeling reading about how people’s actions online are handled in the story by their peers, and how easily manipulated the program is by the government. This is absolutely a book I will be recommending to everyone I know while I lecture them about our online presence and how we should be more careful when hiding behind our screens.

Cassie, whose father, now deceased, was a world famous hacker and whose mother is a bit of a techno-phobe find herself landing squarely in the clutches of The Hive, a solial media driven, government sanctioned vigilantee committee after making a very unfunny joke to fit in with the cool\mean girls at her new school.

In an attempt to deal with and end cyber bullying, the government has enlisted the help of the top social media platforms to help create BLINQ. Using this social media platform, instances of bulying can be dealth with immediately with up and down (condemn) voting that can result in punishment by The Hive, a flash mob to mete out justice. Offend the wrong person and you could well be flogged in the public square.

Cassie makes the mistake of offending the family of the current president and finds herself reaching BEYOND the highest level of condemnation.

On the run and in fear for her life, she finds a band of resistance hackers that help her figure out how it all went so very wrong.

Make an unpopular comment, offend the wrong person and all of your personal information will be shared to the internet. Full of modern hashtagging, nogs to social media and the dangers of taking things viral; the book is very fast paced.

Government conspiracy, the dark side of social media, and mob mentality all play a role in the futuresque cautionary tale.


Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.

Cassie is the daughter of an infamous hacker and a mother who is a professor. After the death of her father she is angry and lashes out at her mother and is always angry and having to change not only her home but her school leads her to make poor decisions.
Online bullying has led the government to create a type of justice system called "The HIve" in which society passes judgement on those who transgress and the degree of punishment is voted on by followers of "Blinq" who can up or down vote each instance.
Cassie was goaded into making a tasteless joke and it goes viral in a way that no one has seen before causing her to go on the run as her life is on the line.
This book is a wake up call to all of us - we all are guilty of being gleeful at an online bully or someone we think deserves being doxxed who loses their job or is outed publicly. It shows how it cam get out of hand and how we forget there are real people suffering consequences and rapid judgement can destroy a life for a careless remark.
Some of the language is over my head but is probably recognizable to young adults
I can see how some will see current events in the story but it is not obviously political.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my opinion

I'm not a huge fan of the main character, as I find her extremely whiny and annoying. I also think that this book was clearly just a ripoff of Black Mirror (specifically the episode Hated in the Nation). I got about 25% through it and couldn't finish it.

This highly entertaining book is like The Purge meets Insurgent by way of Ready Player One. Categorized as a Young Adult book, The Hive tells the very timely story of a high school student, Cassie, going viral for making a really tasteless joke. Unfortunately, she lives in a future version of the U.S. (set approximately five years from now), where making a mistake online can lead to very harsh consequences.

Ostensibly designed to minimize online bullying, The Hive gives American social media users the opportunity to like or condemn everything that's posted on a website similar to Twitter. If any post's ratio dips too far into the condemn category, a Hive Flash Mob breaks out with the intention of meting out justice. In one example, a cheating husband was publicly shamed be being forced to strip nude and run from a large group out for blood.

The co-authors really nailed the current social media environment, along with how it would likely be altered by the introduction of something like The Hive. Readers are asked to think about the consequences of everyone's online actions, including whether or not it's ever okay to harass or dox someone, even if they've done something truly heinous.

Full of wit, sass, and vital social questions, this book is virtually certain to become one of the biggest YA hits of the year. The inclusion of profanity that goes beyond the most minimal basics was a bold choice for the writers and publisher - especially in a book aimed at teens, whose parents may become quite incensed by the language - but it fits the story well and is likely to be embraced by most teen readers.

There are a few instances of repetition that prevented this from being a 5-star book, but it's still more than exciting enough to keep readers of all ages rapidly turning the pages. I definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy YA stories such as Insurgent and The Hunger Games.

One word of caution: if you're a staunch conservative or a Trump supporter, The Hive may be difficult for you to stomach. At its core, this is a book that strongly reflects current events and presents a very open-minded, liberal approach to the nation's many problems. At the same time, it also begs people to both believe victims and insist on a thorough investigation into every harmful claim before simply tossing someone's reputation down the drain.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Government conspiracy, mob justice, and how technology can detach us from our humanity all make for an engaging and addictive read!

After the loss of her dad and a move to a much smaller home in time for a brand new school her senior year, Cassie is understandably angry. A brilliant hacker/coder of a well known father, she is invited to the cheating circle of the popular/mean girl clique in her school. One of their goals is to trend positive on the social media profile assigned to all people in the Hive. The Hive exists to monitor and control social media behavior. Dox someone or troll them online and it can earn you likes, but also condemn points. Earn enough condemn points and the Hive assigns you a level of punishment, administered typically by your local community. It is public shaming taken offline. It may be walking around naked with something written on you in marker, or having garbage thrown on you for the trash you spread online. The higher the level, the more severe (and physical) the punishment.

In an attempt to receive mean girl approval, Cassie makes a crass comment about the grandchild of a President, and practically overnight she goes from level 1 to level 5 and beyond. Abandoned by her so called friends, Cassie and her mom go on the run to protect her. In doing so they encounter a resistance group, government overreach, and the brutality of mob justice.

It is a timely book, especially in the wake of social media mob justice, where one comment can destroy your life even before you get a chance to present your side. I was hooked from the beginning and could not put this book down. The characters are believable and well written. The tension is weaved beautifully throughout the book and you will be flipping pages to see what happens next.

Cassie is a teenager and her decisions are teenager decisions. Teens can be impulsive without thinking about consequences and you will see this in Cassie's thought processes and decision making. If this is going to bother you, this probably won't be the book for you. She is a kid. She does impulsive kid things even when the danger is great.

My biggest struggle with the book was keeping up with all of the technology/coding terms, as I am not that advanced in my tech know how. So that part was a bit over my head but the authors keep the writing functional for those of us that are not brilliant coders. Like all dystopian like fiction, there is some suspension of belief in some areas, but overall the authors wrote a solid book. It could certainly lead to wonderful discussions about social media, mob justice, and the addictive nature of looking for likes/streaks between parents/educators and teens.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for providing an Advanced Reading Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I thought this book was interesting and warrants a lot of discussions about social media and the mob mentality. The actual plot of the book was eh for me but I really appreciated the point it makes about how our lives are consumed by what we see online and that is why it was 3 instead of 2 stars.

The Hive

How many times have you seen a post online that angers you, annoys you, bores you. Imagine having the power to condemn the person behind that post.

Cassie is just your average tech-savvy teenager, who is trying to fit into a new school.

The Hive is a safe, fair system to dole out justice to people who have caused trouble online. And, it's completely legal.

So, what could possibly go wrong when Cassie posts a joke online? The Hive want condemnation.

This story reminded me of films such as 'The Maze Runner' and 'Ready Player One'. It had a group of people going against the system and there was a lot of technology and computer referencing.

I'll be honest at times some of the computer jargon that I was reading, did go over my head slightly 😜 "An API was an application programming interface — it was the way programmers communicated with code they hadn’t written. Systems had APIs that hooked into aspects of their functionality"

But, you don't need to be a computer geek or code expert to follow the storyline 👍🏻

This story deals with the dangers of social media. The technology in this book might be a bit further advanced than what we have around at the moment, but, it's an insight to a possible future 😮 and it's quite disturbing.

A thrill ride of a read, that keeps you entertained to the end. And, also makes you hope that this fantasy story doesn't become reality 😧

A brilliant internet thriller!!!

Cassie, an only child, lived with her mother. She missed her dad terribly. Now attending a new high school, she has to reach out to make new friends.

The Hive is the way for "the people" to have a voice on anything (and everything) on the internet. The ratings were compiled and if someone had a large enough "condemn" number of votes, there was a price to pay. Even the government, including the police force, had to follow the guidelines of the Hive. No one wanted a Mob Hive to gather against them.

No one was safe...

Nowhere was safe...

WOW! What an amazing read! Action, suspense and thrills!

Don't MISS this heart-pounding story!

Many Thanks to Kids Can Press and NetGalley for a thriller for all age groups!

Going into this, I was already a Barry Lyga fan, his I Hunt Killer series was a favourite of mine.
I’m also secretly a fan of thrillers so this ticked a few boxes for me.

Through the entire book I kept thinking “what if this is our future?” We are already so tech centric, that I can easily see something like The Hive being implemented and that’s freaking scary!

All in all I really enjoyed this book.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.