Empire of the Ants is an absolutely brilliant book which does for the Formica Rufa what Watership Down did for rabbits. It's two tales in one with the human element being represented by the nephew of an entomologist and his family who all mysteriously disappear into their cellar, never to return, to be followed by numerous police and fire men. The ant element tells the story of the great city of Bel-o-kan and its millions of inhabitants.

M. Werber (for he is French) is a superb narrator that lets the story flow out of its own accord while maintaining the enormous tension that ants have to daily experience thanks to their small size and as such even betters Richard Adams classic because of the distinct lack of anthropomorphisation. You know that when you are reading about the ants, you are reading about a civilisation as alien to our own as that of the creatures of beta Centauri.

To give you some idea of how much I liked this book, I'll tell you that I bought the 350-page tome yesterday and I didn't do anything but read it since parting with my precious cash. Even if you aren't enthralled at the order of ants, you will still like this book. For someone like me who has been interested in the little critters since way back when, you'll adore it.

Ben gives it:

Price: £5.99
Published by: Corgi (ISBN 0-552-14112-7)

last updated: 13th February 1997