Early reviews were largely positive. Anthony Boucher praised de Camp for "producing a science-fiction narrative which is entirely about sex, and, surprisingly, non-pornographic," characterizing the narrative as "that rarest of collector's items: a completely new science-fiction plot." Later he and J. Francis McComas rated "Rogue Queen" as "most interesting recent fictional extrapolation," noting that "[lively and unusual thinking, a vigorous plot, and a most appealing non-human heroine make the best de Camp novel in many years.". Groff Conklin described the novel as "without doubt the best item de Camp has yet developed out of his concept of "Viagens Interplanetarias"", lauding "[the meticulously scientific way in which de Camp develops details of this culture on a far-distant planet to parallel a bee society fascinating," with "[the story of how this is accomplished ... made so circumstantially real, so humanly plausible, that the book becomes a sheer delight to read." P. Schuyler Miller also called the novel the series's "most handsome dividend," finding it "by long odds the best of the Viagens stories, worked out with the de Campian flair for meticulously ridiculous logic." He also called it "the masterpiece of the Viagens series, and one of the best books in modern SF." The reviewer for "Startling Stories" characterized the book as "another in the same vein" in the author's "growing list of gentle satires," with "story ... relatively unimportant, ... there only as a vehicle for the author to ride in while he pokes fun at humans and their frailties." Villiers Gerson called it "an ingenious, amusing tale" in which "[that clever science-fiction writer ... for once blended satisfactorily both gimmick and characterization."