Honeycomb

by Joanne M. Harris, Charles Vess (Illustrator)

An astonishing, richly interwoven story from #1 bestselling author Joanne M. Harris (The Gospel of Loki, Chocolat), beautifully illustrated by the multiple award-winning Charles Vess (Stardust, The Books of Earthsea).Long ago and far away,Far away and long ago,The World was honeycomb, we know,The Worlds were honeycomb.The beauty of stories is that you never know where they will take you. Full of dreams and nightmares, Honeycomb is an entrancing mosaic novel of original fairy tales from bestselling author Joanne M. Harris and legendary artist Charles Vess in a collaboration that's been years in the making. Dark, gripping, and brilliantly imaginative, these magical tales will soon have you in their thrall.Each original tale is a small piece of the larger picture - a clue or a message, a theme, or a warning - interwoven with the tale of the Lacewing King as he travels the Worlds and encounters a multitude of a toymaker who wants to create the perfect wife; a princess whose heart is won by words, not actions; a tiny dog whose confidence far outweighs his size; and the vengeful Spider Queen, and deadly Harlequin . . .Turn the page, and be swept up in the adventure.Perfect for fans of Sandman, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, Piranesi and The Midnight Library, this tour de force is a beautiful achievement, from two exceptional creators at the top of their game.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Adult, Anthologies, Mythology

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 25, 2021

About the author

Joanne M. Harris is also known as Joanne Harris

Reviews

[Ceecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

4-5 stars

‘This is a tale the bees tell…..’

This is a collection of (very) short interconnected stories most of whom are linked by the Lacewing King and of course, the bees. We meet a multitude of insect rulers such as the Spider Queen in the nine worlds and other characters such as the Halloween King and the Clockwork Princess. There’s a lot of magic, a fair old bit of cruelty (well, you’d expect that in a fairytale, Grimm by name grim by nature), some are really lovely and sweet as honey, others make you smile and there is more than one chuckle at the Harris wit.

They are beautifully written, the language is rich and often lyrical and the storytelling is very clever. Stories are matched by some stunningly beautiful illustrations by Charles Vess with some being so wonderful they almost make you gasp!

If you like fantasy and magic Joanne Harris excels at it, I am utterly in awe of her fertile imagination. These are creative, original, imaginative modern day fairytales and if this is your genre then you may also love these.

[Stace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Reviewed on www.whisperingstories.com

This is a gorgeous collection of super short (2-5 page) stories that read like a cross between fairy tales and fables, each interconnected to a larger picture. The Lacewing Prince is a selfish and cruel ruler of the fair folk, touching many lives with his behaviour, but as time goes on he starts to face the consequences and mature.

They’re really easy to read and particularly good if you only have a couple of minutes to spend reading at a time, though I will admit that I read the whole book in a couple of settings.

The stories carry a mixture of moral messages and also, if you’re familiar with Joanne Harris’ Twitter presence, some stories that really capture the kinds of personalities you find online and how they affect others (I’m being so diplomatic here, you should be impressed). She’s unapologetic in her criticism of certain characters, without ever directly even criticising them and I love it.

The illustrations in this book are spectacular and I recommend reading the print edition so you can relive the childhood experience that I imagine most lifelong bookworms have, of poring over a book of fairy tales and looking at the pictures when you should be in bed. It’s such a nostalgic feeling with an adult twist, though the stories would be perfectly suitable for kids.

[CYIReadBooks (Claire) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honeycomb is a collection of dark fairy tales. There are two books within this novel and the collection of stories consists of independent tales as well as interrelated tales that tell the story of the Lacewing King. The novel has the feel of Aesops Fables combined with the tale of Ulysses in The Odyssey. It is a slow read.

Though some of the stories were entertaining, most of them for me were somewhat of a grind. As a whole, Honeycomb was a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps I expected more. I'm sure there are a number of readers that will certainly enjoy this book. Those that enjoyed Circe (I didn't) will certainly appreciate the author's writing style. An unfortunate two stars (it was okay) for me.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Gallery Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

[Ranjini Shankar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this book!

Honeycomb is a kind of book that is difficult to describe. It’s a set of dark fairytales. It’s an interconnected group of tales. It’s a fantasy. It’s horror. It’s science fiction. It’s about family and growth and love and guilt. It’s about seeking perfection at the cost of humanity. It’s about different worlds that look different but share a heart. It’s about one family but also about many. It’s about war and peace and consequences of each. And as my 7 year old who keeps peeking at the stunning pictures has said repeatedly - it’s also about a lot of insects.

I’ve never read anything like this and I’m a little sad because I don’t know if I ever really will again. I wasn’t sure how I felt a few chapters in but by the end I wasn’t ready to leave this spectacular world.

[ABCme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forget Alice, these are the stories you'll want to read and the creatures you'll want to meet in 2021. And there are a lot of them. These folks will make your head spin. Some creepy, some crafty, some cruel, some cute, some ready for bed, some that keep you awake at night. A great addition to anyone's Joanne Harris collection.

Thank you Netgalley and Gallery/Saga Press for the ARC.

[J.J. Garza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yo le tenía puesto el ojo a esta novela / mosaico de relatos de Joanne Harris desde hacía tiempo. Siempre estaba en mi lista de compras. Pero no había dado el salto, hasta que lo compré. Y en la lectura, que comenzó con lo que llaman ‘slow burn’, terminó creciendo y creciendo hasta casi fascinarme. Me sorprendió bastante que este libro no fuera mucho más comentado y apareciese mencionado junto con los libros de Erin Morgenstern por ejemplo.

Pero bueno. Digamos que es una colección de cuentos de hadas contemporáneos, con un giro. Cada uno forma parte de un tapiz (una colmena para ser acorde al concepto del libro) que narra una trama mítica sobre el poder de las historias, la pertenencia y la redención. Este concepto no es en sí tan revolucionario: es una historia féerica con raíces muy hondas en el folclor que hemos visto en algunos lados. Lo que la hace destacar es cómo bebe y refunde sus fuentes a algo que parece a la vez novedoso y conmovedor. La idea es que las hadas en un plano diferente de la existencia son bichos y el más importante de ellos, el Rey Crisopa, es una especie de Loki mañoso al principio que empieza a meterse en problemas. A mí me recordó más al Rey Mono de Wu Cheng’en y su particular travesía. También hay guiños e influencias de autores como los Grimm, Dunsany y Baum. Fábulas que acontecen en una granja y que nos recuerdan a una mezcla de Esopo con Orwell. Se siente tan orgánica en su modernidad que contrasta de frente con todos esos retellings mustios de cuentos de hadas que hay por ahí. Y eso fue lo que me encantó.

Además, es necesario hablar de la producción espectacular de la edición. Publicada en el Reino Unido en tela, en un gran papel y con ocho o diez láminas ilustradas por Charles Vess (el ilustrador de fantasía con marcado tinte Art Nouveau que ilustró originalmente Stardust y que recientemente ha ilustrado también los libros de Terramar y Jonathan Strange). Esto añade a mi enorme sorpresa de no ver este libro comentado por aquí y por allá

[Patille · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending was not in any way the perfect ending that I had imagined it to be, or what it was close to becoming towards the end. It took a very sharp turn to a different ending. However, this different ending was the only ending that made sense.

This book is also fantasy. If you don't like fantasy, you really will not like this book at all. The entire thing is all made-up worlds, names, and creatures. Also, the storyline is scattered around, so if you love very solid storylines, you will absolutely DESPISE this book.

I loved how, even though little stories seemed to be separate from each other, certain characters always found a way to come up later on into stories about other people. Everything is connected in a way.

Slight spoiler part:

I just feel empty after this is over. I really wanted a perfect ending for the Lacewing King and the Barefoot Princess (who is the granddaughter of the Lacewing King), where he could finally go back home with his granddaughter and rule over his life that he is so used to living. However, he had to take the job of his father because it was the only way that the world could make sense.

It just left me with a feeling of emptyness.

Will I read this again? Yes, definitely. Even though the ending will stick with me for a while (because of how sudden and hurtful it was), I still want to go back to the beginning, read it again, and make connections that I did not understand when I read this for the first time.

This will probably be one of my favorite books for the rest of my life. It was just so nice to read and watch everyone mature, and it was so nice to see how the ending unfolded over time.

I just want one thing: a small sequel to this book. I want to know if the Barefoot Princess and the Lacewing King have any way to be with each other. I also want to know if he has any contact with his mother, the Honeycomb Queen, and also what happened to his dad, whose name I don't even know now because he doesn't rule over Hel anymore.

I JUST FEEL EMPTY I WANT SOME RELIEF FROM MY P A I N

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite treats over the last couple of years has been reading the novellas that Joanne has been quietly forming that have rewritten the Child Ballads for a modern audience. They have been a wonderful marriage of lyrical prose and subtle yet atmospheric illustration, in little packages that have been able to be read in one sitting – and then reread.

Honeycomb follows a similar pattern, but of all of Joanne’s work of this type to date it is bigger, more complex and more ambitious. It works wonderfully well.

Anyone who has been brought up on Fairy stories, whether Hans Christian Andersen or the Grimm Brothers (child and adult versions), the various collections of Victorian and Edwardian Fairy Stories accumulated by Andrew Lang (The Yellow Book of Fairy Stories, The Blue Book of Fairy Stories… you get the idea) or the more modern prose of Neil Gaiman and Naomi Novik will know what this is about. It is a set of collected short stories – 100 in all – in two books, that read well both individually or, as you progress through the book, cleverly intertwine to tell a tale that is greater than the sum of its parts.

There are Fairies, Elves, Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses, bees and moths, creatures that will do you harm as well as guide your hand. The intertwined tales tell of the Lacewing King, the last King of the Silken folk, from his birth to his ascendance of power whilst travelling between worlds. But along the way there are stories to make you laugh, creatures that will scare you, stories of love, hate and revenge. Being the son of the Queen of Bees has its usefulness as well.

“There are many doors between the worlds of the Faërie and the Folk. Some look like doors; or windows; or books. Some are in Dream; others, in Death. And some simply wait for one person—the right person—to find them and to pass through.

So it was with the Lacewing King. Banished by the Spider Queen, he was dragged through the space between the Worlds into a different place and time; into a different ocean. He found himself drifting there, alone; under strange stars, with no land in sight; and no sign of his ship, his crew, the Spider Queen, or the Barefoot Princess. Exhausted from his long ordeal, lost and at the mercy of the waves, he drifted in the darkness, watching the river of stars above and the glimmer of phosphorescence below, thinking about the Barefoot Princess, and what might have befallen her.

Beneath him, shoals of angel fish swam through arches of coral. Great whales passed like shadows; Moon Jellyfish rose and fell in the depths. For a moment the Moon Queen herself glanced up from her midnight cradle, and saw the man floating far above her. Her tentacles had grown so long that they almost reached the surface, drifting like a bridal veil, and for a second they brushed the soles of the feet of the Lacewing King, and he looked down and saw her.”

 

As you can see from the above example, the stories are of an old, almost-poetic style, with layers of depth and a lyrical vocabulary that is deliberately not modern, yet gives the stories a timeless feel. It feels like every word has been chosen carefully, with precision. They could be from the Grimm brothers or Lang’s collections as much as they are from a modern writer.

It also helps that these stories are illustrated in the typical Art Deco style of multi-award-winning artist Charles Vess, who specialises in the drawings of myths and legends – readers will know his work perhaps on Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, or most recently on the Earthsea omnibus volume by Ursula K LeGuin. Like the illustrations of the Lang books before him (mainly illustrated then by Henry Justice Ford) Vess’s work, in the style of Golden Age artist Arthur Rackham, transcends all ages and also adds to the timeless feel of the book. This is a book that feels like it would make an ideal gift, as Lang’s books did back in his time.

The prose of Honeycomb is so rich and dense that it is not to be gobbled up lightly. It is instead one that you will want to savour. I found that reading one or two stories a day worked best for me (perhaps at bedtime!), though I did often read more than I had planned and read many stories more than once as I went. As the book progressed, I found myself going back to earlier stories to “spot the connections”. It would be wrong of me to spoil those for readers, but suffice it to say that the links are clever, some are subtle, others less so, and together they create a wonderful tapestry of tales. If you have read those earlier novellas I mentioned, there are creatures and places you have read about before, which adds to the experience. I should also say that many of these stories are deliciously dark – not particularly sexual, but definitely not for children.

Honeycomb is a book that you need to take time with, but will pay back richly if you do. It mixes myth and magic, nature and spirit to form an intelligent and multi-layered prose poem that both celebrates Fairy stories and brings the style of the Fairy tales of old to a modern-day audience. It is one to dip into, to read and reread, and I rather suspect would be excellent read out aloud.

For me it is Joanne’s best work to date – clearly a labour of love by both the author and the artist, and one to be loved and admired for its ambition, its lush poetic prose and most of all, its heart.

[val | starrynight.reads ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Gallery/Saga Press for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review*
Wow did I enjoy this book! This is a collection of dark fairy tales that all weave together in some way to create a magical, whimsical story that had me hooked the whole way through. The way I felt reading this book was the same way I felt while reading the Starless Sea. These stories could be incredibly dark at times but at other times be the most magical, heartwarming story. I felt so connected to all of the main characters and even the ones we didn't spend too much time with. I especially loved all the illustrations throughout. They perfectly captured their respective stories and it brought even more magic to this already wonderful book. Definitely a book I would pick up over and over again to re-experience the magic of its pages.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a tale the bees tell.... A fairytale novel built of interconnected stories. A magical adventure through the nine worlds connected by the river Dream. Some of the stories read like fables. The prose and the storytelling have the feeling of very old fairy tales with a few modern tweaks here and there to characters and tropes. The Fae (or Silken Folk in this book) are full of nature magic and trickery. Like the old stories, there is violence and death. As some characters keep coming back, we get character development for several key characters. The author weaves an intricate story web and I was caught up in it. There are beautiful illustrations (black and white as well as some color). In a word, enchanting.

[Ishi Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical, whimsical, and beautiful!

[Jessica Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

review coming soon

thank you to the publisher for the review copy!

[Max Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before we even actually get into the content of this book I want to just quickly talk about how this book is an entire experience in itself brillianty enhanced by the illustrations of Charles Vess, whose art style is sat perfectly and comfortably somewhere between Arthur Rackham and Alfred Bestall, who illustrated and painted the Rupert comics and annuals. If you pick up this book, flick through it and pause on its full page illustrations, there's a good chance you'll be tempted to buy it based purely on those. They honestly make this feel like an old antique Hans Christian Anderson book.

Opening the book though I was immediately emotional. It's split into 2 parts and even the names of those parts had be teary eyed.

This being 100 stories is honestly such an ambitious piece of work. If this story had been published in the 1800s, this would now absolutely be considered an important classic. The language managed to toe the line between modern and archaic while keeping that important fairytale vibe, this almost spoken word story like instead of reading a story, you're being included, you're being told about something by somebody who wants you to know it. The narrative in this book is super strong and it's very impressive.

The stakes in the stories are all very different, with some soft and some involving gruesome scenes and even death, but with the way they all tie together and ALL of the stories influence the others, with often these beautiful segues between them, how the end of one story paves the way for another adventure, was just a pleasure to read. Over the course of this book because the recurring characters have these amazing journeys and really strong development, moving through these very subtle moral-lesson stories and actually learning from and being affected by the situations they're in, ALL of the characters are memorable, and I was ATTACHED to them. I cared about the things they were going through and DID NOT KNOW what was going to happen next. Having these characters where you have parts of their lives described but where they're so strong you can invent all these new stories for them in your head to fill in the gaps. That is the type of characters YOU NEED in fairytales. And that's the kind we GOT.

With the recurring stuff and following characters, this could very very easily be one long, boring terrible story with a messy pace, but having it formatted into 100 tiny stories all woven together completely changed it into something else. This is 100 fairytales, but also 3 or 4 big stories, but it also is ABSOLUTELY and COMPLETELY a novel. AND each fairytale manages to retain its identity as a SINGLE story in its OWN right. Each fairytale feels chopped down and distilled to the shining core of what it is, but each could be EASILY fleshed out into its OWN full novel. And that's just mindblowing.

I will just say for those of you who have read Starless Sea. This is EVERYTHING I wanted from that book and which that book failed to deliver. This book did it. It knocked it out of the park.

And speaking of the lessons in the stories, they're all written so well and contain such timeless and important and still now socially relevant stuff that they do not feel dated at all. These feel like fairytales that will survive. It's rare you read something and you're like wow I can imagine people reading this 200 years from now and having the same rapture as ME reading a brothers grimm book as a child by torchlight under a blanket.

I also want to briefly touch on the influences you can so clearly smell in this book. It talks about the nine realms so there's the Norse, you have the river of the dead reminiscent of the Styx, there's mention of irish mythological figures and Tir Nan Og, the celtic realm of the dead, and all these things studded through the stories really make the worlds we experience with the characters feel BIG, feel RICH and feel OLD. And that sense of underlying history is so important, but Harris also manages to make some realms feel like they're running on different timescales than others because the stories are being told but you never know when or by who for the most part. So there's mention of things happening in ancient sandstone temples, and then in huge glass and concrete cities, and some which have a totally classic medieval backdrop. So WHILE you've got the old influences coming in to Harris' worldbuild I feel like she has managed to create a pantheon and a setting and a vision of the otherworlds that is so fresh and so new.

I especially loved the way that the lines were blurred between fairies, gods, ghosts, and even INSECTS! The only other thing I've seen fairies in with such a strong relationship to insects was actually an Asimov story (yeah bonkers you wouldn't expect that from him). But the explanations and the look we get into fairy society with different aspects the silken folk can take, and the insect emblems of their clans and governments and what these things actually MEAN and how they're RELEVANT and IMPORTANT was just wonderful.

[Holly Westendorf · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first book in a long time that I actually absolutely hated. It’s the never ending story that you actually want to end. It reminds me of a really boring, knock off of Catherynne Valente’s In the Night Garden. Like Valente’s book, it is made of a series of short stories that tells one much larger story. Unlike Valente’s book, Honeycomb’s short stories are impersonal and drag on and on and often have no point in regards to the bigger story. A lot of these come off as brief synopsis’ to serve as filler to make the book lengthier. The characters are bland and the stories themselves just are obnoxious, put together they create a slow drawn out death of a fairy tale that you want to shoot and end it’s misery.

[Fizah(Books tales by me) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the first half after that things started to get bland to me so I skimmed alot.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This goes on my very short list of six-stars-if-available books.
It's the fairy story that complements all the others.

I've read a lot of fantasy, and I always dread picking up yet ANOTHER retelling of Sleeping Beauty etc (sorry, Witcher fans, and exception for ALL of Neil Gaiman's reworkings).

"It's a story the bees used to tell, which makes it hard to disbelieve" will stick with me, especially when reinforced by the folklore that when someone dies you have to tell the bees because they are the social fabric of the world.

We have here a wide range of odd characters, in the world of insects but not entirely of it. They have power and pride and bad judgement and more, just as in our world. Their stories start far apart, but by the end they are an orchestra. We follow characters as they develop, but also get vignettes of the worlds we're in, and many of those are little pictures of how humans work too.

Charles Vess is superb as always with the illustrations.

The only disappointment in this book is that it's over. I'll miss it.

[lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

ALMOST 5 stars tbh but there was a brief mention of a lesbian couple :( and also it took me a while to get used to er... that many BUGS.

but BROOOOOOO THIS WAS SO GOOD LIKE ACTUALLY PHENOMENAL. YIPPEE FOR MODERN FAIRYTALES THAT (LARGELY) AREN'T QUESTIONABLE!!!!!!

[Simoné Eloff]

10/10/2020: Available to "Read Now" on Netgalley!

[Shikha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honeycomb was interesting read , I took my sweet time reading it. I didn't enjoyed the stories as much as I hoped. Normally fairies are my cup of tea but this one just didn't work.

It's a collection of short stories of fantasy world called nine worlds. The story is told through magical bees!

This book follow the story of a fairy Prince starting from a story telling how he was born, inbetween the story about him , there's another intertwined story of clockwork princess, story of an animal farm or other random stories.

[Miles Row · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of fairy tales that further cements Joanne Harris as one of my favourite authors.

[Aarna Parimi (Taylor's Version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a part of a giveaway. Honeycomb is a book with multiple dark fairy tales, in a realm known as the nine worlds. I personally don't like darker fantasy books, and I found this novel to be a little slow. I think that this book should have been a little faster, but I do not think it was for me, as I did not really find it to be similar to most books that I enjoy. However, I do believe that anyone who enjoys darker fantasy novels will enjoy this book, which is why I have given it 3 stars instead of 2.

[Lisa Spitse · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I'm giving the book four stars... but I do so somewhat reluctantly. You see, some stories in this book are genuinely really good. The overarching story was very enjoyable to me, however, some of the stories fell completely flat. "The troublesome piglet" was so awful I nearly stopped reading altogether. Apparently the author started with these stories on Twitter, and that one feels like a Twitter story in the worst way possible (a piglet screaming about free speech and censorship... literally using those words). That being said, most of the stories were enjoyable and so I can ignore the duds.

[Joelle Egan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat), offers a creation myth frame around a compilation of updated morality tales and fables in her upcoming release, Honeycomb. The beautiful and emotional illustrations are by renowned artist Charles Vess. Split into two “Books,” the collection presents a world of insect-like fairies that is parallel, but invisible, to the human one. Book One, “Long Ago,” describes the formation of the insect universe and its various tribes. Most of the action in the chapters centers around the development arc of the main hero, The Lacewing King. In a nod to Ulysses, the Lacewing King embarks on a long journey of self-discovery and eventual redemption and reconciliation. His path intersects with a cast of characters that mirror the villains and heroes of traditional lore (but in insect form). There are rivalries and games of dominance, feats of endurance and bravery, and challenges to the King’s fatal flaw of hubris. Death and Dishonesty are incorporated as the main adversaries in the King’s quest, but it is his own inability for compassion that continually defeats him. The second book (“Far Away”) continues the Lacewing King’s journey after a particularly grueling battle. Having ceded his strength and power, he needs redemption and forgiveness by others to complete his journey home. Themes include balancing power with empathy, what it means to be able to “see” truth, the genuine versus the fabricated/manipulated, self-sacrifice and the value of artistic creation. The ability of stories to communicate across worlds is embodied by the bees, who act as the collective conscience and chorus buzzing throughout the book. With Honeycomb, Joanne Harris alludes to numerous motifs that have been integral to all stories for centuries: ideas culled from international sources of mythology, fables, folklore and parables. While Harris’ main storyline provides cohesion, it is the smaller asides and micro tales interspersed throughout that provide the most delight. Honeycomb will appeal to folklorists and fantasy fiction lovers, and would be a good choice for anyone looking for a new interpretation of the universal tales that continue to course through our shared language today.

Thanks to the author, Saga Press (Simon & Schuster) and Edelweiss for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an impartial review.

[Angelique Simonsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aww this was beautiful! Adult fairy tales

[Cendaquenta]

This was a perfect start to 2022. :)

[sunnydee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lushly imagined, beautifully illustrated and with the kind of wit and wisdom that is so often missed in fairy tales. Just perfect!

[Jodie Cotgreave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated collection of short fantasy/faery stories. I loved the characters, their connections to each other and the illustrations that brought them even more to life. The choice of Charles Vess as illustrator was a fine one and his ethereal drawings are perfectly suited to the charm of the words.

[Madalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars / 7/1o

I was very excited to receive a copy of Honeycomb as I love Joanne Harris' other books live Chocolat and The Gospel of Loki. Honeycomb was different from Harris' other works, of course, but it was magical in its own right.

Within the span of more than 400 pages, the author weaves (pun intended), one hundred dark fairytales, some of them loose retellings or last-minute twists to stories we think we know, some distinctly her own. From main characters that consistently appear in most of the tales, like the Lacewing King, to those who only make a few appearances in-between stories, like the wayward princess with her clockwork tiger, Honeycomb is an intricate tapestry of memorable portraits, each of whom stirs different images and feelings.

What makes the tales of Honeycomb stand out is, first and foremost, its language. Poetic and lyrical yet very readable, the writing style gives birth to visual and auditory imagery readers are likely to remember long after closing the book. Through strategic repetitions - which however bear slight but important changes - the author creates a haunting, dark atmosphere. But not one without hope.

While many of the chapters are self-contained, structured almost as traditional fairytales meant to teach a moral or comment on society, Honeycomb has an overreaching plot that ties most tales through a delicate thread: the first part is largely concerned with the Lacewing King, a type of faerie king who starts off as an adventurous but cold and cruel character, prepared to steal and murder to get what he wants. While it takes a bit for his atrocities to catch up with him, the Lacewing King makes many powerful enemies but also - surprisingly - some friends. And when, in the middle of the book, the reader feels they have grasped Harris' pattern and what the book is about, everything changes in a violent twist that forces us to see the story in a new light. Could there ever be any kind of redemption for a character like the Lacewing King? And if traditional fairytale villains get what they deserve, what can be said about a villain protagonist in a modern fairytale, who tumbles between pure villainy, anti-heroism and anti-villainy? Honeycomb attempts to provide some answers.

The writing is beautiful throughout, but perhaps a little difficult to get used to at first, largely due to the particularities of the Lacewing King. After a few chapters, I was tired of reading about him doing mean things, with the occasional one-shot fairytale interlude, but as more layers were added to his character I found myself compelled, not to forgive him but to keep reading, especially when his ward became an important character in her own right. I particularly liked the way Harris played with the readers' expectations about a fairytale atmosphere, to eventually create one that is very much her own. The steampunk elements that became increasingly prominent as the story went on, were an unexpected addition, giving the fairy realm a unique flavour. As we got to know the main characters more, a few of the single-chapter tales felt a bit distracting, as they were similar to ones narrated before, and I found myself wanting to read them quickly, to see the main plot's culmination.

Was that culmination satisfying? Yes and no. After such a long, intricate story I had expected something more. Some characters' fates could be explored a little further, but given the conventions of the fairytale, from which Honeycomb borrows, even if just to twist it, perhaps the ending was just what it was meant to be.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Honeycomb. I didn't like all 100 stories equally, but a lot of them were surprisingly insightful, even moving. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy dark, adult fairytales with interesting twists. The pacing was a bit distracting at times, but overall, the fairytales are woven in an interesting, memorable pattern that stays with the reader after the last page.

[Suncerae · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Good: Timeless, modern, macabre, and lyrical faerie tales
The Bad: Very little; a few stories feel decidedly "eastern" in an old-fashioned way
The Literary: Exceptional world-building and character development in a fairy tale format

Honeycomb is a collection of exactly one hundred original fairy tales. Many of the stories stand alone and feature humans, including kings, gardeners, dancers, toy makers, or animals like dogs and cats and those who life on the farm. But the heart of the fantasy narrative follows the selfish Lacewing King, who rules over the kingdom of the Silken Folk.

In the vein of Grimm's Fairytales, The Thousand and One Nights, Aesop's Fables, and Animal Farm, this book is dark and rich and scary, whimsical and violent, decidedly European, but not a retelling of myths you already know. The stories are familiar yet new, nostalgic in format while providing complex characters or comparisons to events in the news. You'll recognize the World of the Fae and the Land of Death, but ride for the first time on the Night Train and the River Dream.

I think most readers will enjoy the primary narrative, which uses the standalone stories as a means to explore the fictional universe, but I enjoy savoring each short story morsel, and letting the interconnectedness reveal itself in due time. The format allows the reader to choose for themselves, just as the lack of an explicit moral allows the reader to form their own.

Transforming the Fae into insects, industrious bees who never forget, dancing moths, or armored cockroaches, makes them simultaneously intriguing, mysterious, and disgusting—not to mention otherworldly and terrifying. The Lacewing King, with all his power, can choose to walk among us in human form, or not be seen at all. He barely remembers his subjects, much less the humans who have suffered at his hands. But in time, through rejection and defeat (particularly against the Spider Queen and the Harlequin), the indulgent and proud Lacewing King experiences many adventures that teach sacrifice and, eventually, redemption.

I also particularly love the narrative of the Clockwork Princess, built and forgotten, beautiful but otherworldly, destined to outlive humans, for without a soul she cannot follow her love to the Land of Death.

A book of magic and wonder, after my own heart. Highly recommended for anyone who still believes in fairies!

Long ago and far away,
Far away and long ago.
The Worlds are honeycomb, you know;
The Worlds are honeycomb.

[Elley Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars

This is such an odd yet amazing collection of tales. I love how the stories are so interwoven and linked - even the ones you don't expect to be. (The world's a honeycomb my love, the world's a honeycomb.) In the beginning I didn't much care for the repeat appearances of the Lacewing King in the various stories, and when I got to a Lacewing King story I'd take a break from the book and go read something else for a while... But by the end he (and his stories) really grew on me.

The stories I really loved, though, are the ones that feel much like traditional fairy tales. The ones about the farmyard, especially, are sort of dark and twisted morality tales, and I'm still not sure if I liked them or not! If you don't normally settle down with a copy of The Brother's Grimm or Anderson's Fairy Tales and just read a bunch of short stories, you may not love this book. At the same time it's not JUST separate tales because there's the repeat appearance and over-arcing plot of the Lacewing King. This book tries to bridge the divide, and judging from other reviews not always successfully. I enjoy epic fantasy as well as fairy tale collections, so it worked for me personally. I also liked being able to read a few stories and put the book down and pursue other things, then pick it back up and dive right back in.


A digital ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review. All opinions are unbiased and my own.

Like this review?
Check out more of my reviews on my blog, Elley the Book Otter