Empire of the Ants »

Bernard Werber is a scientific journalist who has studied ants for fifteen years as an avocation. He lives in Paris.

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.

VOYA

Jonathan Wells inherits a flat from his eccentric uncle Edmond, and moves in with his wife, Lucie, and his young son. He is warned never to go into the basement, but eventually does so in pursuit of the family dog. Soon, the rest of the family and a string of rescuers vanish as well. Jonathan's story interweaves with that of a russet ant colony, several members of which uncover a mysterious secret. The two stories finally connect in the conclusion when Jonathan's grandmother and two friends find that Jonathan, his family, and the fire and policemen sent to rescue them have taken up residence in a secret laboratory set up by Edmond where they are in communication with the ant colony. The ants abruptly cut off contact when the anthill is set on fire by two children from a nearby orphanage, leaving Jonathan and the rest stranded in their new abode. Werber, a scientific journalist who has studied ants for fifteen years as an avocation, makes the ant colony world of Bel-o-kan come alive, offering fascinating insights into ant life. Unfortunately, he is less successful with the story of the humans, and the characters never really come to life. The ending is unsatisfying, requiring too much suspension of disbelief, and is perhaps too abrupt. Still, the concept is interesting and unique, and much of the writing is strong and lucid. This title is suitable for larger libraries looking for something a little different. [Editor's Note: A more accessible tale of an ant colony, along the lines of the classic Watership Down by Richard Adams (Macmillan, 1974), is Robin Hawdon's A Rustle in the Grass (Dodd, Mead, 1984), recently reissued in paperback (Tor, 1994).]. VOYA Codes: 3Q 2P J S (Readable without serious defects, For the YA with a special interest in the subject, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).