A review by jiyoung
The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai

3.0

The author uses a bee colony and the threat of a foreign hornet invasion as an allegory for the spread of Islamist fundamentalism in Arab countries. The book was short and felt quite simplistic -- more like a political parable than a novel -- but I loved learning about bees and their survival tactics, especially the eponymous ardent swarm.