A review by retiredlibrarylady
The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai

3.0

A really nice story; possibly the translation makes the writing a bit clunky at times. Sidi lives alone in the hills of Morocco tending his "girls", his bees. They are his life but two things start to disrupt that...the takeover of the government by fundamentalist Islamists and the arrival of giant hornets that destroy one of his hives and all the bees inside. The search for the hornets and a way to stop them occupies most of the novel as he enlists the help of others. One couple travels to Japan to bring home queens that can propagate warriors that can fight the hornets; the description of their trip is lovely but the destruction of all the queens but one is horrific. An exciting finish gives hope for the bees, if not for a return to a more reasonable government.