Le Cycle des Fourmis. Tome 3: La Revolution des Fourmis (Le Livre De Poche) (French) Mass Market Paperback – 1998

As soon as I picked up this book, I got sucked in and could not put it down. It makes you think even after you do put it down and has a very interesting perspective, and great parallels.Definitely an engaging story which will keep learners of French engaged without having to surmount too many vocabulary difficulties, as it is not too hard to read.

The first question I asked myself when I read that book was : Why? Why did he write it? Did he REALLY need to write it at all? Of course, you will find again the Wells' family (finally back to daylight), plus the famous ant 103è, plus the interaction between the world of the ants and the human world, and the "Encyclopedia" . Yet the main plot -a young student, influenced by the famous "Encyclopedia" by E.Wells provokes a "revolution" in her college with the help of a rock group-, is highly improbable (well, seeing the news, maybe I will have to revise my opinion after all...).I was puzzled by the final scene, a trial during which the ants and the human judge each other - and the more human are obviously not the judges.I heard once B.Werber telling he wrote that book as a kind of protest, because he felt frustrated by the failure (at that time) of "the Ants" and above all of "Les Thanatonautes". He thought he had to insist :"when people don't understand you, you have to repeat and repeat again what you've said until they do". I am fond of "The Ants" and "les Thanatonautes" is one of my favourite novels, but I'd like to tell their author : "please dear Bernard, it is not always necessary to insist!"To sum it up : it is a funny story , but not necessary to understand or complete the two other parts of the trilogy, and certainly not the best book he wrote.