The Ardent Swarm: A Novel

A short, rather meditative novel that had a lot going for it.

This book is rich with metaphor, making it hard to put down. It's sort of about a beekeeper in Northern Africa dealing with a very topical invasion from murder hornets, but there's a lot more going on than just that.

The Ardent Swarm is about change, as scary and big of a topic as that is. Everyone is promising change to the people in his small village, but that change has little impact on them. When their dictator was overthrown they didn't even know it as their village is without electricity or many modern amenities. Both political parties come into town to promise they'll get to elect a new leader, only for the ultra-conservative, fundamentalist faction to breeze into town bearing gifts including food, water and clean clothes. Not just a little, but a lot.

The catch? Their idea for the world is hardline and wishes to halt progress.

That's where the bees come into play. A swarm of murder hornets is introduced and Sidi must cope with this new, unwelcomed and deadly intrusion. The reader gets an inside view of how the fundamentalists operate and wish to lie, cheat and steal their way into unquestionable power that fights the tides of change. Of course, the leaders aren't living the life they claim to, either, which we find out from a rather... colorful scene in the desert with honey, asses and wads of cash.

Ultimately, it's about the people in Sidi's community and his family helping him and learning about a swarm in Japan that can deal with murder hornets but forming a bubble around the hornets and superheating them to death. After all his work to rid himself of the murder hornets, he finds himself needing to embrace the chaos they sow to fend off murderous fundamentalist soldiers.