Empire of the Ants (Hardcover)

by Bernard Werber (Author)

Editorial Reviews

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1St Edition edition (February 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553096133
• ISBN-13: 978-0553096132
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #609,982 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unputtable-downable, January 14, 2004

By	Torgny Hylen (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empire of the Ants (Mass Market Paperback)

Bernard Werber is a genius. The way he jumps back between the fascinating heirarchial ant world and that of the individualistic off-kilter humans is wonderful to read. The first time I opened the book, I couldn't put it down for long time; it was so engaging and easy to read. The author mixes the factual and the fictional when dealing with the ants, which makes one wonder where the line between truth and fiction truly lies. His imaginative perspective on the society of the typical russet ant will forever change how I think of them, and in a larger context any social insect.

It is a shame that none of his other books have been translated into english, because as I understand it Empire of the Ants is the first part of a trilogy. I'd truly love to see what Mr. Werber has come up with since then.

True speculative grandeur!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A genial concept and entertaining story, September 14, 2004

By	L. Bonnaillie (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Empire Of The Ants (Turtleback)

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!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real pleasant surprise, I'll never see ants the same way.., July 19, 2001

By	DiannaCam "DiannaCam" (Neptune) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empire of the Ants (Mass Market Paperback)

I'd never heard of this book before stumbling across it in the bookstore, and bought it because I was intrigued by the jacket blurbs. Now, it's among my favorites (at least partly because it's so rare that something you take a chance on turns out to be such a pleasant surprise.) I've passed it along to several friends and relatives all of whom enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm looking forward to re-reading this one, and that's not something I often do. It's an unusual, unique story and the style suits it. I don't want to give anything away about the story (though other reviewers may have already done that) but I did want to cast my vote and recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a little fun, diversionary (and educational!) reading.