The beginning of this book was very dull. And the sections of dialogue between Holmes and Damian or Holmes and Mycroft interrupted the flow of the narrative and were extremely annoying. I'm glad this disappeared as the book went on, almost as if King realized, belatedly, it wasn't working. Too much mysticism surrounding the plot for my taste. Normally, I can't stop reading a Mary Russell book, but through the first half of "The Language of Bees", I was looking for excuses to put the book down. Not a good sign. The second half of the book was much better than the first, if a little creepy. To my surprise, I actually figured out the importance of the map locations several chapters before Mary did. I wasn't certain I was right and gave a little cheer when my suspicions were confirmed. Hated the ending (which wasn't really an ending). I wanted the creepezoid committing the murders to die or be caught. He makes my skin crawl. I'm not looking forward to him showing up in the next book. I truly hope the case concludes then and Mary and Holmes are not always looking over their shoulders for such a sinister villain.As you can tell, I'm not totally thrilled with this book and I debated between 2 and 3 stars. Two things brought the rating up a notch. I really liked the part with the airplane journey. The banter between Mary and the pilot was pitch perfect. Glad to see he'll be a part of the next book. The trip was thrilling, interesting and realistic. Also, I do love the idea of 24-year-old Mary as a step-grandmother. Wonderful twist. great fun, as are all of the books in this series. as ever, king not only provides an engaging plot problem, but she continues to develop russell and holmes's relationship in a believable and satisfying way and offer some top-notch secondary and tertiary characters en route. as this particular plot held significant personal interest to holmes and russell, the denouement was appropriately more tense, holmes's ability to clinically detach realistically impaired. well-developed, riffing good fun.
What do You think about The Language Of Bees (2009)?
Another intriguing, complex, learned, and interesting book by Laurie R. King.
—willie
The best one so far. Started a little slow but picked up.
—ilovetoread
