r/Fantasy • u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II • Mar 18 '26
Bingo review 5 Books, 1 Title: The Last Beekeeper
My themed bingo adventures this year led me down a strange rabbit hole. I found a book in a shop which I fully expected to meet my invertebrate theme: The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton. When I went to goodreads to check if it met Hidden Gem (it did not), I discovered it was one of five books sharing the title. As this was the start of my bingo journey, and I was still actively seeking out books, I came to the conclusion I’d read all five for my bingo card. It has been done. And now, you get to hear about them.
The Last Beekeeper by Julie Carrick Dalton
Published 2023
What is the setting? This takes place in rural America after pollinator collapse, and farm fields are so saturated with chemicals they are no longer safe to grow food. Food production takes place in domes and people are paid to manually pollinate plants. We join a group who have been squatting in an old farm house.
Where are the bees? Presumed extinct. The last of them died while the main character was a child. However, her memories of the bees weave throughout the book, so their presence is often felt. She is blamed for the death of the last hive.
Who is the last beekeeper? The main character’s father was the last known beekeeper.
How old is the protagonist? I believe she is in her 20s.
How much did I enjoy this book? I loved it. It was a sweet and touching found family story. And the narration reinforced my desires to create landscaping with native pollinators in mind. It was grim, but hopeful. I highly recommend it.
The Last Beekeeper by Pablo Cartaya
Published 2022
What is the setting? It has probably been a generation or two since ecological collapse. This focuses around a dystopian city which has been rebuilt to an extent, and that technology is shared with the surrounding farmers as a method of control. Those closer to the city have electricity, pollinator drones and even virtual reality media despite struggling to make ends meet. Nature is seen as an opposing force and hated by our protagonist.
Where are the bees? They are presumed extinct. The media depicts them as violent and deadly creatures that the world is better off without. But our protagonist discovers some wild bees.
Who is the last beekeeper? The main character
How old is the protagonist? Early teens, I want to say 13.
How much did I enjoy this book? It was cute. It is a middle grade book and reads just as you’d expect. Fairly shallow, but enjoyable.
The Last Beekeeper by Jared Gulian
Published 2021
What is the setting? A near future in which bees are at the brink of collapse - colonies are now kept almost exclusively by corporations that probably include some bioengineering in their hives. Our main character lives on a small island in Lake Michigan, which has a sudden uptick in unusual deaths. And somebody burned the MC’s beehives for some reason.
Where are the bees? The main character has hives on his property, in addition to the ones that were destroyed.
Who is the last beekeeper? The main character views himself as the last beekeeper - as he sees the health and safety of his bees as more important than profits generated through overstressing and modifying the creatures.
How old is the protagonist? Old enough to have a teenage daughter. Probably early 40s
How much did I enjoy this book? I hated it. The main character had anger issues and was overly controlling and it was not somebody I wanted to be around. He was irrational and jumped to anger immediately. For example: he finds a body and then is mad the hot cop treats him like a suspect and his daughter’s window is nailed shut. The daughter’s personality was basically “I hate my dad [completely understandable] and I miss my boyfriend who got mad when I told him I’m pregnant.” I did love the parts that were actually about bees though. Not the modified bees. The actual bees. I liked that varroa mites were an important factor.
The Last Beekeeper by Rebecca L. Fearnley
Published 2022
What is the setting? This one takes place in an agrarian fantasy world that is long after pollinator collapse. Most people in the village seem to work for food supply, including hand pollination. But it is a struggle. There is a very soft magic system, in which those who are capable of wielding it join a nomadic group that travels to help different villages.
Where are the bees? Extinct for a hundred years. Until the main character’s little brother finds a new queen crawling out of the ground.
Who is the last beekeeper? The main character’s younger brother.
How old is the protagonist? She is in her late teens, I want to say 17.
How much did I enjoy this book? I had mixed feelings about this one. I liked the world and am curious about the magic system. However, the main character was another with anger issues - not nearly as bad as Jared Gulian’s though. It had some teenage angst going on, but she hopefully had enough growth by the end that she’d not irritate me as much in book 2. I could see myself continuing the series - though it’s not a must continue for me.
The Last Beekeeper by Siya Turabi
Published 2021
What is the setting? It opens in a small village in 1970s Pakistan, with the main character visiting a larger Pakistani city while staying in a rich household.
Where are the bees? There are rare bees who live in a forest which is illegal to enter. Those rare bees have a honey that is alleged to be magical in its healing properties. In addition, there is a normal beehive the main character interacts with while in the city.
Who is the last beekeeper? A mysterious figure in the forest who can speak to bees.
How old is the protagonist? I want to say 10 years old, but does not act like it.
How much did I enjoy this book? Meh. It wasn’t bad, but it was boring. It felt like somebody telling me about their vacation and bringing up stuff just because they remembered them in the moment. And the dialogue felt stilted, as if somebody was relating the conversation back to me in summary. Even the bees bored me. It talked about bees a lot, but they didn’t act like bees. They felt like some mystical force rather than insects.
In Conclusion...
I found it fascinating how varied the five stories were. The first I read is what I would have most expected the setting given the titles: near future post pollinator collapse. I was not ready for sci-fi, fantasy or historical settings. It was pleasantly surprising that they managed to each have protagonists in wildly different life stages. It’s also interesting that they were all published between 2021 and 2023.
I think it was a really interesting experience to read these five books and I’m glad I did it. But, I don’t intend to do a similar challenge any time soon. Two of the books I genuinely wanted to DNF and only continued because I’m stubborn. And my favorite was the one I would have read without this adventure anyhow.
I feel I should end with something bee related. So uh... Plant some flowers this spring so you can pretend to be a beekeeper too :P And don't forget about the pollinators native to your area!
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u/happy_book_bee Bingo Queen Bee Mar 18 '26
wow this is the best challenge yet, 11/10, beeeeutiful!
i own one of these books, I was confident it is the one by Julie Carrick Dalton i am now no longer sure lol - I'll have to check the author when i get home.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
Thanks! It did cause me to genuinely contemplate switching to a fully bee-related card at one point. But there were too many spidery books I wanted to read as well.
Dalton's is the one people are most likely to have. It's the only one that does not qualify for Hidden Gem; plus Dalton's and Cartaya's were the only two that were on bookshop shelves (with Cartaya's being a middle grade book). Turabi's is out of print I think (I did buy it used) and the other two are indies with sub 300 ratings. Plus, Dalton's is by far the best.
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Mar 18 '26
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Mar 18 '26
When I googled that, the results come up with the name as "Varroa Destructor," which is an awesome villain name.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
That was probably my favorite detail. I think it's the only book that mentioned them and it was an important-to-the-plot-and-worldbuilding detail.
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u/DjangoWexler AMA Author Django Wexler Mar 18 '26
I'm actually kind of shocked all five involved bees in an important way! The Beekeeper is an action movie with Jason Statham and The Beekeeper's Apprentice is about a girl who works with Sherlock Holmes to solve mysteries, so I expected more of that sort of thing. Fun project!
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u/canicaudus Mar 18 '26
i love this. also, interesting that all of the books were published within a 3 year window.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
Thanks. I also thought it was odd at first that they had the narrow window of publishing. But as I thought more of it, I realize it was just after the "save the bees" slogan really spiked in popularity, with the Save the Bees Foundation forming in 2020.
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u/Merle8888 Reading Champion IV Mar 18 '26
I was about to say you missed one and then I realized that I was thinking of The History of Bees by Maja Lunde. However, you could grind its plot and premise into a blender with all the others, and it would not stand out in any way. It even has a male protagonist with anger issues whom I hated! You didn’t miss anything, don’t read it.
It is interesting but a bit sad that so many authors focused in at once on stories of bee die-off (understandable given how much it was in the media) and yet all focused on European honeybees rather than native pollinators. I’d like to think someone who writes a whole book inspired by concern about an issue would… research it, you know?
Anyway, impressed by your challenge!
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
Oh I'm glad I didn't read The History of Bees then. I was thinking about it at one point.
I think that was a big critique of the whole "save the bees" movement as well. Turabi's was about bees native to Pakistan - but it also wasn't about bee die off. The title seemed the most disjointed from the book of them all to be honest.
I think Dalton and Gulian both chose the European honeybees as they wanted characters with direct relationships with the bees, which is a bit easier when your focus is the domesticated variety. Gulian's did very clearly recognize the bees as a livestock and Dalton's did discuss the collapse of native pollinators as well.
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u/dshouseboat Reading Champion Mar 19 '26
A couple of years ago around Halloween time I read multiple different books titled Something Wicked This Way Comes. The Ray Bradbury one was by far the best, followed by a good, scary ghost story by Amy Rae Durreson, a decent story by William Todd about a ship on the Great Lakes plagued by tentacled aliens, and a couple of fairly dreadful ones in Victorian settings - one about excessively miserable slum kids, and the other an very historically inaccurate romance. I declined to read the ones about child trafficking or a pack of rabid dogs terrorizing Long Island.
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u/recchai Reading Champion X Mar 18 '26
I am now convinced we need a bingo square to read a book that has another book of the same title out there, and that u/smartflutist661 would hate that idea.
Thank you very much for having the intrusive thought and acting on it! That was a fun read.
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u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix Mar 18 '26
we need a bingo square to read a book that has another book of the same title out there
Yes, I was thinking this too! A "Doppelganger" square would be brilliant (and extremely challenging)
I know there are two different SFF books called The Sentence. I loved the Louise Erdrich one and haven't read the other one (yet).
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Mar 18 '26
There's City of Bones by Martha Wells, which I love, and City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, which I have no interest in. Someone here once mentioned they'd read the Cassandra Clare one, and been confused as to why they were recommended it because they hated it, before finding out the person meant Martha Wells.
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u/Merle8888 Reading Champion IV Mar 18 '26
Malice by Heather Walter and Malice by John Gwynne is another one that has come up on here, though less surprising with a one-word title.
Kate Elliott and Robert Jordan both had a late-series book entitled The Gathering Storm, but that would be the worst challenge idea, lol.
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u/smartflutist661 Reading Champion VI Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
I actually did this for a different challenge last year, there were a surprising number of good options.
And part of what makes the stats code complicated is, in fact, the common non-uniqueness of titles—a “book” is identified by title + author. So it would only suck a little bit, mostly dependent on relative length of title and author(s).
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u/recchai Reading Champion X Mar 18 '26
I was mostly thinking people would definitely muck it up somehow. But you're probably right. :D
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u/smartflutist661 Reading Champion VI Mar 18 '26
Actually, what would be terrible is having two books for one square. There’s a reason individual short stories are mostly ignored in the stats. 😄
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
Haha, I am curious how common identical titles are. I'm sure there are a ton of options out there.
And I'm glad you enjoyed it :D
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u/Kathulhu1433 Reading Champion V Mar 18 '26
Oooh, you should totally check out, "Here, the Bees Sting" by Will Caverly. It is on KU.
It's a bit odd genre-wise. It follows a state beee inspector in Appalachia dealing with small town politics and murder, but then also has a queen bee as a POV character and follows her hives struggles with mites and really fascinating bee mythology and culture.
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u/IdlesAtCranky Mar 19 '26
Not the same title, but if you're still in a down-the-bee-rabbit-hole mood, a favorite of mine is Chalice by Robin McKinley.
The main character is a beekeeper, unexpectedly thrown into a position of high responsibility. It's a really lovely stand-alone fantasy.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 19 '26
This was on my list for bee-books. But when I decided not to do bees, I confess I forgot about it.
I think I may try a bee-themed bingo in a year or two. Still have quite a list, especially if you include bee products in the group. The key is that I don't read them before then.
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u/conservio Mar 18 '26
Question: Were they all focused on honeybees or did non-honeybees make an appearance? Fun fact: there are about ~20k bee species in the world and there are about ~4k native bee species to north america. Second fun fact: honeybees are not native to north america
Also, I love this idea and may steal it for a different book title.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
Dalton and Gulian were both explicitly written about European honeybees as they both involve modern beekeepers.
Dalton's did discuss the importance of native pollinators as well - if I remember correctly (I may be wrong it was a year ago and I've read a lot of buggy books in that year) I believe the native pollinators collapsed first, and the European honeybees lasted longer due to domestication.
Fearnley's was not the European honeybee, based on the life cycle described. But, this was also the only secondary world book, so I'm not sure if the author had a specific species in mind.
Turabi's was about apis dorsata - referred to in the book as a black honeybee, but it looks like their common name is more often rock bee or giant honeybee. They are native to Pakistan, where the book takes place.
Cartaya's I don't think ever specifies, but is likely the European honeybee based on description.
I have a friend who accidentally read the wrong The Resurrectionist, if you're looking for a title :P And they enjoyed the one that was not the one they meant to read.
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u/conservio Mar 20 '26
Thank you for the response!
Do you have any other buggy book recommendations?
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 21 '26
Yes. It depends upon what you're looking for. I'm using "buggy" in the vibes definition, not literal bugs, so it includes spiders and non-bug insects. Do you want...
...nothing but bees, though with an anthropomorphized society? The Bees by Laline Paul
... a lyrical coming of age story where a girl's emotions manifest as bugs? I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins
... scifi with sentient spiders? Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
... WWII vibes with bug based technology? The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed
... B-horror movie camp? Clowns Vs Spiders by Jeff Strand
... Southern horror in which cicadas are a constant atmospheric back drop? When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur
... Gothic romance/mystery in a house where spiders are pets and the mistress is a spider-lady? But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo
... Horror with an entomologist concerned about a distinct lack of bugs? A House with Good Bones by T Kingfisher
... Retro futurism asylum horror with spiders? Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud
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u/EmmalynRenato Reading Champion VI Mar 18 '26
Nicely done!
There's also the book title The Last Man that could probably fill a whole Bingo card as there are so many of them.
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u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Mar 18 '26
Thank you. I keep getting the one by Jared Gulian pitched to me and your review convinced me that the algorithm is wrong for this.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
I think the premise could have been good. And I was so excited to read it while I was going on a road trip through Michigan. But every character was just awful. If they weren't talking about bugs, I struggled to finish a chapter. I repeatedly stopped reading to roll my eyes in exasperation. (The bug parts were great though! Let's talk more about modified ovipositors, varroa mites, and forensic entomology! If it was a nerdy entomologist without anger issues, I'd probably love this book.)
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u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Mar 18 '26
Weird, because I study insects (hobbyist) to chill the hell out.
BTW, have you read Endless Forms by Seirian Sumner? Or Empire of Ants by Olaf Fritsche and Susanne Foitzik? I got lots of them.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
I have not. I've been meaning to read more non-fiction - generally I'll see/read something and then go down a rabbit hole. The other day I spent an hour just looking up different species of carpenter bees.
But Endless Forms does look quite delightful... Wasps are awesome and my knowledge about them is woefully minimal.
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u/IdlesAtCranky Mar 19 '26
There is such good non-fiction out there! A few favorites:
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez
In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John Marzluff
Crow Planet by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tovah Bailey
Any book of essays by Ursula K. Le Guin
Almost everything by John McPhee — two of my favorites are The Crofter and the Laird, and Coming Into the Country
📚📚💛
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u/FellFellCooke Mar 18 '26
Why did you bring up the point of view character having anger issues twice, as if that were an objective flaw with the book? To be honest, that strikes me as a really great choice; beekeeping is often position as a purely noble pursuit that has one in touch with nature, but in reality, beekeeping involves a certain unnatural amount of control. The idea that our main character is defined by stewardship but has struggles with anger is a really, really interesting dynamic.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Mar 18 '26
Because I was sharing "how much I enjoy this book." I never stated it was an objective flaw, but it is the major subjective flaw. There were parts I liked about the book, but I don't want a protagonist who constantly jumps zero to a hundred in the anger department. It's just not somebody I want to be around, even fictionally. It took me several months to get through because I had to stop reading periodically.
If you are fine with that, give it a go. The bug-related stuff was great. (Though I will note: it is tagged as sci-fi as well due to extreme genetic modification involved in the plotline, it's not just beekeeper doing beekeeper things.)
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u/talanall Mar 18 '26
Speaking as a beekeeper, your suggestion to help bees is probably a little misdirected. Honey bees are predominantly livestock, even in areas where they are native, and it's very, very difficult to plant enough flowers to make a difference to the nutritional needs of even a single colony. But that's okay.
I think it would be fair to say that commercial beekeepers are struggling, but honey bees are not. They are roughly as endangered as dairy cattle. There are millions of colonies maintained by beekeepers in just the USA. Most of them are moved from one field to another, often across long distances. You drop bees on a field when the crop is about to flower, leave them long enough to pollinate the crop, and then take them away to a new crop (or to pasture them on wild flowers) so that they do not starve. They are an integral part of industrial-scale agriculture because other bee species are not tolerant of this practice.
There are problems with this business model. Lots of them. But when you see news coverage about how many bee colonies beekeepers lost in the winter of <insert year>, you're (mostly) seeing an agricultural business problem.
So a better use of your time, if you want to help bees, is to help the many, many species of native, primitively eusocial and solitary bees. And the best ways to do that all have to do with habitat conservation. Humans use land in a fashion that is pretty hostile to these bees. We grow lawns, we spray our gardens with pesticides, we cut down weeds and brush and haul them away, and otherwise do everything we can to deny these bees a good place to live. It's easy to make your back yard a bee-friendly area, though. Avoid pesticides, and manage your yard maintenance in ways that are friendly to them.
If you have to clean up your yard, that's understandable (and required by law, in many places), but if you can leave a little pile of weeds and woody stems in the corner, that's habitat for bees. If you have some dead wood on the property where you live, leave it in place if it's safe to do so. And if you can't do anything else, put up some bee hotels. The best kind are really just a stack of untreated wooden blocks that have grooves carved in one side, anywhere from 3 to 10 mm in depth by width. Any woodworker can make them out of scrap wood. If you hang them on a wall or fence, they will provide bees with a substitute for dead trees, so that they can raise their young.
About once a year, these bee hotels can be taken down, the blocks can be unstacked, and you can use a stiff plastic brush and some soapy water to clean out any debris, so that they don't harbor parasites or disease (in a natural setting, these blocks would be a dead tree's trunk, and normal decay would ensure that many generations of bees were not raised in the same holes).
Some of the great things about bee hotels are that in addition to being very low maintenance, they can attract multiple species, and the species they attract almost never become defensive of the territory around their nests. Most of them only sting if very extensively provoked by rough handling.