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Empire of the Ants
by Bernard Werber

There are plenty of books that feature animal viewpoints. Such books usually either feature 'animals behaving somewhat like men' (The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame) or 'true animal behaviour' (like Watership Down by Richard Adams). Bernard Werber's Empire of the Ants falls into the latter category. While wonderful in its characterisation of ants, it's writing is somewhat 'stiff' and the ending could have been better.

This book, translated into English by Margaret Rocques, has two threads running through it. One deals with a strange cellar in a house that bears the warning message, "ABOVE ALL, NEVER GO DOWN INTO THE CELLAR!" Of course, a message like that is just asking for trouble and when people venture down into the cellar, they don't come back. Those few that do are torn and tattered or raving mad.

The other, more exciting, thread in the book deals with ants directly. It starts with a male ant (known simply as 327th) who, while on a field expedition, discovers what may be an unknown danger to his anthill. But upon returning, he is ignored and then pursued by ants with a strange 'rock' smell. But he manages to convince two ants (a female known as 56th) and a soldier (103,683rd). Separately, they try to discover what the unknown danger may be and the mystery behind the 'rock-scented' ants.

The wonderful part of the book is its seeming ease in getting me to accept the world as seen by an ant (blurry but scent-filled). Probably the most unsettling yet powerful scenes in the book deal with the ants' defenses against predators (like a sparrow) or against another species of ants (in which millions die in warfare that includes tanks and biological weapons).

However, the book is held back by its somewhat 'stiff' prose, especially in the sections involving people. But this may be due to the translated nature of the book and not the fault of the author or translator. The book suffers a bit from its pacing which is somewhat rushed towards the end as the nature of the strange cellar in the house is shown to be connected to the ants.

But the amazing journey of the various ants as they try to understand their world is wonderful. You'll never look at ants the same way again after reading this book.

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Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber

Empire of the Ants
by Bernard Werber