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Empire of the Ants, by Bernard Werber
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Here is the stunning international bestseller in the tradition of Watership Down but with a dark, original twist. Unique, daring, and unforgettable, it tells the story of an ordinary family who accidentally threaten the security of a hidden civilization as intelligent as our own--a colony of ants determined to survive at any cost....
Jonathan Wells and his young family have come to the Paris flat at 3, rue des Sybarites through the bequest of his eccentric late uncle Edmond. Inheriting the dusty apartment, the Wells family are left with only one warning: Never go down into the cellar.
But when the family dog disappears down the basement steps, Jonathan follows--and soon his wife, his son, and various would-be rescuers vanish into its mysterious depths.
Meanwhile, in a pine stump in a nearby park, a vast civilization is in turmoil. Here a young female from the russet ant nation of Bel-o-kan learns that a strange new weapon has been killing off her comrades. To find out why, she enlists the help of a warrior ant, and the two set off on separate journeys into a harsh and violent world. It is a world where death takes many forms--savage birds and voracious lizards, warlike dwarf ants and rapacious termites, poisonous beetles and, most bizarre of all, the swift, murderous, giant guardians of the edge of the world: cars.
Yet the end of the female's desperate quest will be the eerie secret in the cellar at 3, rue des Sybarites--a mystery she must solve in order to fulfill her special destiny as the new queen of her own great empire. But to do so she must first make unthinkable communion with the most barbaric creatures of all.
Empire of the Ants is a brilliant evocation of a hidden civilization as complex as our own and far more ancient. It is a fascinating realm where boats are built of leaves and greenflies are domesticated and milked like cows, where citizens lock antennae in "absolute communication" and fight wars with precisely coordinated armies using sprays of glue and acids that can dissolve a snail. Not since Watership Down has a novel so vividly captured the lives and struggles of a fellow species and the valuable lessons they have to teach us.
From the Hardcover edition.
- Sales Rank: #234384 in Books
- Published on: 1999-02-02
- Released on: 1999-02-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.90" h x .70" w x 4.20" l,
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 320 pages
Amazon.com Review
In the early 21st century, in a Paris rapidly turning tropical thanks to global warming, Jonathan Wells tries to get to the bottom (as it turns out, quite literally) of his Uncle Edmond's obsession with ants. Jonathan and his family have been left Edmond's basement apartment; their benefactor's sole request is, "ABOVE ALL, NEVER GO DOWN INTO THE CELLAR." Meanwhile, in the great city of Bel-o-kan, a reproductive ant, the 327th male, is fighting for survival, having had his olfactory Identikit stripped by traitors of his own tribe.
Both males--human and ant--are determined to solve their separate quandaries, and Bernard Werber cleverly juxtaposes their adventures and those of their survivors. Their stories must somehow be linked, but it will be hundreds of imaginative and educational pages before we come upon the solution. Empire of the Ants was first published in France in 1991 and eventually in England in 1996 in Margaret Rocques's spryly formal translation. ("Ants are not especially well-known for their conviviality, especially when advancing in formation, armed to the antennae.") Werber has studied formic civilization for 15 years, and his observations more than pay off. We knew they were industrious little things, but why did no one ever tell us about their powers of invention, accommodation (in both senses of the word!), communication, and above all determination?
In fact, as the narrative makes increasingly clear, ants seem to have a lot more going on than the pale pink things stomping around above them, who seem doltish in comparison. Of course, as far as the creepy crawlies are concerned, humans are "so strange you could neither see nor smell them. They appeared suddenly out of the sky and everyone died." Empire of the Ants is by turns frightening and very funny. As more and more humans disappear down the cellar of 3, rue des Sybarites, we come to identify with the six-legged of the world. Werber, too, must have tired of his Homo sapiens, since the ant sections increase in length as the human ones decrease. No matter. Who would miss the perils of the young queen who tries to found her colony on a strange impervious hill--which turns out to be a tortoise--or the hilarious scene in which a spider swathes the 56th female in inescapable silk, only to be distracted first by a mayfly (they have shorter shelf lives than ants, who can be eaten slowly alive over an entire week) and then by a younger arachnid: "Her way of vibrating was the most erotic thing the male had ever felt. Tap tap taptaptap tap tap taptap. Ah, he could no longer resist her charms and ran to his beloved (a mere slip of a thing only four moults old, whereas he was already twelve). She was three times as big as he, but then he liked his females big."
From Library Journal
"Don't go into the cellar" is the warning given the Wells family as they move into the dingy Paris flat inherited from Jonathan's Uncle Edmund. But when the family dog disappears down the basement steps, the Wellses follow, one by one, into the mysterious darkness below. Uncle Edmund was an eccentric author and scientist whose particular passion was ants. Thus, it must follow that the mystery of the Wells's basement lies in the parallel universe of an exotic ant kingdom. Struggling to rebuild what was once a vast empire in the face of the terrors of contemporary human society, the ants are compelled to deal with cars, tools, and other technopredators. The sf movies of the 1950s are immediately brought to mind here. The one-dimensional humans definitely take back seat to the anthropomorphized ants as characters in this novel of survival. Werber tells us much more about the intelligent and highly structured world of the ant than we may care to know. Readers captivated by Richard Adam's Watership Down might be attracted by this premise but will quickly tire of the novel's uneven characterization and didactic style. Not recommended.?Susan Gene Clifford, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Cal.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
What if 007 were an ant? He would be 103,683rd, the hero of this book, named for her birth order. She battles and escapes, using creative weapons and fighting theory true to ant nature. 103,683rd and other ants are investigating a secret weapon that smells strangely like rocks and is only known about by ants. Along the way, they survive wars between neighboring anthills, birds, frogs, and other insects trying to eat or enslave them. Set in a less satisfying story about humans discovering a mysterious basement laboratory that their reclusive uncle built to contact ants, the ants' story is fascinating for its ant facts, ant's-eye perspective, and the brave assumption that ant's lives are as attention-grabbing as any action movie. Like Watership Down or The Hobbit, Werber's book creates another world so like ours and so finely detailed that the reader feels a part of it. Keep your antennae out for this one. Kevin Grandfield
Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
A genial concept and entertaining story
By L. Shelton
This book is my all-time favorite. Genre: science-fiction mixed with mystery and anthropology! I was blown away by the genius of the format: the alternance of human story, ant story and ant encyclopedia is unique! The human and ant stories are constructed to be such a good parallel to each other than with each new paragraph, you first can not tell whether it's about ants or people! Very entertaining and mind-bending too, with enigmas and an original plot not to be taken seriously!
This book totally changed my point of view on ants, which I can never splat anymore. I'd rather follow them around in the yard to observe their exciting adventures and struggles...
For those who loved this book, keep checking for future translations of other Bernard Werber books, almost as genial (I read them all in French). He's written two more ants books, two books about the after-death, and one book about the origins of mankind (about the "missing link"). Man! This guy has an imagination!!
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Great fun, insectology and science fiction combined
By jmh
I admit that after watching my kid's ant farm, my interest in the life of the ant led me to various research books, and inevitably to this book. Who could not admire this tiny insect's social structure after learning more about them and spending hours watching them interact in a large ant farm. Soon, we began capturing ant colonies and adding males, and hoping to find a queen, which alas, we never did.
This book was recommended to me throught Amazon when I searched for furthur information about ants. Not sure what to expect, I bought the book and to my delight really enjoyed it.
It is one of the more unique stories I have ever read, and probably not a story that would work for everyone. I feel you would enjoy this book more if you are a fan of the insect and nature world. You can appreciate the research the author put into the novel, and I really came away with a higher respect for ants and the ant world in general. The story is a stretch in the imagination, which is what makes it so fun. I have read other reviews where some readers are annoyed that it wasn't a perfect scientific representation of the insect. For me, it was close enough and spurned my whole family's interest furthur in learning more about them. For the most part, we just sat back and really had fun reading this book and wondering what would it be like to be an ant.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Humans and ants delight and terrorize us. a gem!!
By Linda L. Burton
This book is creative and original. It tells the story of a few humans living in Paris in the early 21st century who are warned by Edmond not to go down into the cellar. The book then continues with a marvelous juxtaposition of human and ant lives. Characters are surprisingly real, both ants and people. Situations are original and while the book is a fantasy, witty social and philosophical commentaries are in abundance. It is obvious the author delights in his knowledge of ants and both delights and terrorizes us with this knowledge and a keen insight into characterization. I think this book should be considered for the Pulitzer Prize. It is a gem.
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