Two separate but joined worlds. Myth and magic juxtaposed with modern society. Unsuspecting heroes from both sides of the divide must find a way to work together to stop the malevolent forces which are gaining strength.

Immersive and enjoyable read.

Thanks very much to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. Many thanks, Dave

A charming fantasy adventure aimed at an adult audience.

The main characters in this story, Ebbie and Bek, start like in all good stories, as wary enemies who eventually become the best of friends. They face magical terrors and travel between realms to try and find the missing heir to the throne of the Wood Bee Queen.

A slow start, but persevere, and the story builds into a grand adventure.

In a small town called Strange Ground by the Skea, Ebbie Wren is the last librarian at a library that is about to be shut down. In a parallel world, in Strange Ground beneath the Skea, the Queen of House Wood Bee has been murdered and the usurper threatens destruction for the entire realm. The unsuspecting Ebbie is magicked beneath the Skea and tasked with finding the heir to House Wood Bee in order to save the realm; but Ebbie isn’t interested in being a hero, and all victories come at a price.

The best thing about this book was the concept of the two worlds, Strange Ground by the Skea and Strange Ground beneath the Skea. I thought this was well done, especially the threat of Earth weapons on the Realm, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thought the characters were good… They are likeable and easy to root for, but they weren’t developed enough to become really memorable or have much of an impact. I also found the plot a little bit simple and very slow in set-up and progression. I got the impression that the author was trying to tell quite an epic fantasy story, but it falls a bit flat. Overall, I mostly enjoyed it but found it a little bit boring.

I very much liked the description of this book. All in all it was an enjoyable and interesting read.
I struggled sligthly to get into it at first : the reader is (voluntarily) left in the dark about some of the history surrounding the story. But once you are into it and have understood the powers in play and the way the world works the story is interesting and well paced.
If you are looking for an easy to read, stand-alone fantasy novel with strong female characters and you enjoy fantasy based in folk-legend I think this is a good fit for you!

This was the first book I have read by Edward Cox, the title and the cover art drew me in like a bee to a honey pot. I found the book to be well written and engaging, the world building was excellent and the story had likeable characters .

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book*

Ebbie is a lonely librarian, his only friend a homeless woman who lives near it and dies at the beginning at the novel. While Ebbie has not expected an adventure to arise from the late woman's will, this is what he gets. His preoccupation with folklore, however, has not prepared him for the weirdness of the otherworldly adventure he embarks on.

I had a very hard time getting into this novel, I did not care for the secondary world storyline after my initial confusion. Eddie was okay, but overall, the book did not draw me in. I was never immersed, always rather bored and I started skim-reading the parts that did not have anything to do with Ebbie. Did not care for the villain, did not really care for the characters, but that might be my fault.

2.5 stars because it was maybe a mood-thing for me

The Wood Be Queen wasn’t for me. Edward Cox’s novel was promoted during the Gollanz Fest earlier this year and I immediately requested a review copy. I was very happy when I got approved for an ARC, but this is where my happy reading experience stopped.

It took me felt ages to get into the story. I gave it several tries. The first 20-ish % that I read, and re-read, reminded me of Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea. Though, where I stuck it out with Morgenstern’s book and actually re-read that one, I just couldn’t get into The Wood Bee Queen. The dialogues felt forced, the arrangement of the chapters/scenes felt weird, which is probably a feature not a bug. I kept wandering off, first in my head then physically by picking other books.

A good solid standalone fantasy with excellent and original world-building, and potentially interesting characters. There was much I liked about this book but I felt that the constant point of view shifting between characters meant that most characters lacked depth and motivation. From paragraph to paragraph we could change characters and many times I had to reread passages to work out exactly who was talking. Just as I was getting into the swing of things I was thrown into another point of view and had to re-calibrate my thinking. I did love the writing though, it was imaginative and rich and I will be investigating further works by this author.

Very rare for me to DNF but I just couldn't keep up with this book. The premise hooked me in, but too fantasy/supernatural for me with lots of twist, turns and hidden meanings which distracted from the pace of the story.

3.5 stars.

The Wood Bee Queen is a well-written fantasy novel, with an engaging hero and a beautifully drawn world.

Things I liked/loved:

-The world- & mythology-building was superb and original
- the quality of the prose was great
- The characterisation was good. I found Ebbie and Bek in particular to be engaging characters who I cared about and wanted to succeed.


Things I wasn't so keen on:

- The slowness of the beginning third of the book. It didn't really take off for me until Ebbie crossed from his own world into 'The Realm'
- Sometimes dialogue was used to get across information that both characters would have already known (a pet hate of mine & totally not needed in third person narration)
- Mai's magical letters to Ebbie which felt like a series of deus ex machina. I would have loved to have seen him (& other characters) use their ingenuity a bit more to solve tricky situations.

Overall I enjoyed the book and will read more by this author.

The Wood Bee Queen is a modern quest fantasy with an unlikely pair in the lead. It is interesting and original, funny and sweet, thrilling and dark. The worldbuilding is great and the characters are meaty and complex. What more can you ask for?
I loved the dynamic between Ebbie, Bek, Ghador and Karin and how they held together and competented each other. I loved the ending and how Ghador and Bek got to be sisters again.
The literary lover falls in to his "book world" trope is one of my favourites.

What a fantastic book! Such an interesting twist on 'rag tag bunch take on usurper', I was hooked the whole way through. The mystery of where the second stone was dogged me for so long when, having finished it, I bet if I read it back it's so obvious. Hindsight is 20/20! I need to re read it again immediately!

I got interested in this book because of the title and the whimsy of the pun that appealed to me is preserved throughout the entire story. It acts as a coagulant of various narrative threads into a tale of queens, magic swords, libraries, and ancient gods. At times I got a bit lost in all the lore, chains of events, and characters that were being introduced, but it was still a pleasure to get to explore this world. Though, with everything that was going on, a lot had to be rushed and that left me feeling remote from core moments and from the individuals in the story.

This book wasn't for me. The Ocean at the end of the lane aesthetic is not speaking to me. But I definitely recommend this one for those who loved the ocean at the end of the lane!

I absolutely adored this, something about the author style reminded me of one of my favourite authors Laini taylor. The world building and magic system was amazing, interesting and engaging. I definitely recommend this for anyone who loves a good and well written fantasy

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This was a great read, I'll definitely read it again and recommend it wholeheartedly.
If the author ever jumps in again to these characters i’d pick it up in a heartbeat.

Wood Bee Queen is the kind of timeless fantasy that could come from any era. The narrative is lingering, the point of view is slightly distant, and the language is beautiful. It’s set in an imaginary English seaside town with a connection to—and mythical knowledge of—a faery world beneath the sea, the Realm. It’s probably always summer.

Ebbie is a twenty-something librarian whose carefully organised life is at crossroads, because his library has been closed. He doesn’t want to look for a new job, he wants to keep his old one, and he doesn’t want to go to his parents whose plans for him don’t agree with him. He has only one friend, an old homeless woman, Mai, who tells her stories about the Realm. And then she dies, and Ebbie is told that she’s chosen him as the executioner of her will.

It turns out, Mai wasn’t just a homeless woman. She’s the former Queen of the Realm, hiding on the other side from her power-hungry youngest daughter. Yandira has finally managed to murder the Queen, Mai’s eldest daughter, and the true heir is missing, making Yandira the queen. It’s up to Ebbie to set things straight. He’s about to decline when things take a drastic turn.

Pulled into the Realm against his will, Ebbie isn’t exactly in his element. Luckily, he’s not alone. There’s Bek Rana, a thief who’s in possession of a sword that may be more than she’s bargained for, and knowledge of a war that is coming to remove the usurper queen, which might get her killed. And there are gods too, closer than anyone knows. Together they’re plunged on a quest that they’re not exactly qualified for to save the Realm.

Wood Bee Queen is delightful fantasy. Despite the lingering quality, the story moves forward in a steady pace, with short chapters and multiple points of view characters. Ebbie was a somewhat wishy-washy character, but likeable in his cluelessness. Bek had strength and resolve abundant for even him. Their quest has a fairy-tale quality, and the ending seems to fit that too. All in all, a good read that will stay with me for a long time.

We start off the book meeting Ebbie as he's about to lose his job as the library is closing down permanently. He doesn't know what he is going to do next, which is probably a good thing as he's about to get mixed up in something he could never imagine. Ebbie's town isn't that different from any town we are familiar with, but through just being himself he gets drawn into something new, something that has him meeting and working with Bek Rana, and travelling to places he thought were folklore, but turn out to be real.

I liked Ebbie, and Bek, but both for different reasons as they are quite different characters. They need to work together to get out of the situation they find themselves in but working together doesn't come easily to them for reasons we discover as the book progresses. Through the book the reader is as much in the dark as Ebbie is and it was good to watch him learn and discover this new world he finds himself in, his questions helped me understand what was happening which helped me follow the story. The story isn't hard to follow at all, but there are a few threads to it that take time to come together and reveal their importance to the story and the resolution of it.

The descriptions of the places in Bek's world (where we spend most of the book) were really clear and easy to follow which, for me is a must in science fiction and/or fantasy books. The various characters were also well described and there was a definite sense of danger and tension through parts of the story which had me rooting for characters even though there was clearly nothing I could do to change what happened next. This, for me, is always a good sign in a story. If I get invested enough to get worried when the characters are in danger or making tricky decisions then it's a good story.

I really liked this book. I liked the mix of non-fantasy and the fantasy world, the characters, particularly Ebbie who will always be special for me, and the way that the story developed through the course of the book. This is the first book I've read by this author but I'd definitely be interested in reading more in the future. </p>
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Edward’s last novels (The Relic Guild trilogy and The Song of the Sycamore) have tended to be on the dark and grim side, so this latest novel in some ways seems like a bit of light relief by comparison.

The story begins in what seems like Neil Gaiman territory. Strange Ground by the Skea seems like a quiet urban backwater of England. Ebbie Wren lives and works there as a librarian, although the library is about to close. Ebbie comes across as the stereotypical loser, unlucky in his job, in love and life generally. His only real enthusiasm is his love of local folklore in “The Realm”. His only friend and confident is Mai, the old homeless woman who Ebbie brings a hot chocolate to every morning.

On the last day of the library’s opening, Ebbie is disheartened to find that Mai has disappeared, presumably died overnight. In actual fact, Mia has a secret past as a person from the Realm of Strange Ground Beneath the Skea, and her disappearance is connected to that.

At the same time, in Strange Ground Beneath the Skea, young thief Bek Rana is making a living stealing things for others – with varying degrees of success. She is hired to steal a sword, which she does, only to find that it has magical properties, something which can do her no good.

As readers we discover that there has been an attempt to seize power from the Queen of House Wood Bee by the imprisoned Yandira, the Queen’s sister. To secure her power in the Realm and complete the deal she has made with Persephone, Mistress of the Underworld, Yandira needs that sword and the two magical stones of Foresight and Hindsight.

Bek finds herself contracted to Ebbie, who himself has been given the responsibility of carrying out Mai’s final wishes. This is not as good as it sounds – for reasons revealed through the book, neither Ebbie or Bek are keen on becoming heroes, even if their actions could restore order to the Realm.

And whilst on their journey Ebbie and Bek’s journey is made more difficult by the actions of ancient gods known as the Oldungods who are themselves involved in an ongoing battle of which Ebbie, Bek Yandira and the Realm are only part of. For every action has a price, and the players should follow the rules…

This is a story that manages to use the tropes of the past – a need for a succession of power, treachery, loyalty, friendship and familial ties – but turn them into something new. There’s a lot here that reminds me of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust or Neverwhere (for Croup and Vandemar we have Lunk and Venatus, for example), with even a touch of Hope Mirlees’s Lud in the Mist, all of which is good.

Our lead characters of mild-mannered Ebbie and spirited Bek, are engaging and often likeable. The story moves between the fairly small, focussed narrative of Ebbie and Bek to the bigger picture, that the events happening around Strange Ground by the Skea and its counterpart Strange Ground Beneath the Skea are being manipulated by the Oldungods, clearly a nod to the Greek myths of old.

However, in the attempt to make the story that little bit different, and maintain a fast pace, some of the actions of the characters and their motivations seemed a little forced at times. Even the title pun, in its attempt to be witty, annoyed me and felt like one of those “good ideas at the time” concepts that should have been lost early on in the writing process. Some may see it as clever, whereas it irritated me – different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I can accept that that is a personal issue – I have mentioned such things before in my reviews. Perhaps most worrying was that even at the end some of the main characters that I knew about and felt that I was supposed to care about, I actually felt remote and indifferent towards.

The lack of character development of some of those around the key characters may have been the issue, but at the end I felt that I was being asked to appreciate the importance of their being put in peril without really being invested in their personality. This led to the book sagging a little in the middle for me – lots of action and things going on, but I began to lose interest in some of the characters and their actions. I found that I had to keep checking the characters who they were and what they did.

The good news is that it did pick up towards the end where the disparate threads began to tie themselves together. The ending highlights the point the actions of individuals can have huge consequences, and that sometimes the choices made are difficult and may not be an easy decision.

I guess what I’m saying here is that whilst I did enjoy a lot about this book, and I certainly don’t regret reading it, at the same time there were elements that were issues for me. I appreciate that Edward is trying to do something different here, even if it didn’t always quite work for me. It is very different to his other works and even with my reservations showed me that Edward can write an entertaining tale in a variety of styles and forms. There is a better balance between ‘light’ and ‘dark’ here, and the story is better for it.

I am sure that there are readers out there less curmudgeonly than me and for whom this will be an ideal read. There is a lot to like here, though it wasn’t perfect for me. Nevertheless, if you like Neil Gaiman and want something similar yet different, this may be the book for you.