(BWF) The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai - 4 stars

[Ellen]

Sidi the beekeeper lives in the small village of Nawa in northern Africa. He is dedicated to the bees, his 'girls', and is devastated to find one of his hives completely destroyed one morning. Learning that the hive was attacked by a swarm of large, black hornets, Sidi determines to learn how to defeat the killer insects before all his hives are gone. Nawa is a tiny village so Sidi sets out to travel into the big city to do his research. Along the way he sees that things have changed drastically in his country. What was to be the first democratic election in years turned out to be a landslide for an Islamic radical group that has taken over all facets of the quiet life Sidi is used to. Women are now covered head to toe, education is stifled, books are destroyed and armed soldiers travel the roads. Fortunately Sidi has friends in the city who are able to help with his problem telling him of specially trained bees in Japan who have learned to surround the hornets, beating their tiny wings to raise the temperature in their circle, effectively smothering the hornet. This is known as the ardent swarm. Sidi needs to have one of the queen bees from Japan to help his own hives but how will he ever procure one.

The parallels between the killer hornets and the radical government is easy to see throughout the story. Sidi is a wonderful character who will do all in his power to save what he loves. A very interesting story.

[Booknblues]

I loved this book when I read it. Sidi is such a great character.