While I was away in the states, my brother bought the second part of the novel by Bernard Werber (books that length are usually sold split). I only had the first part of the God books which I liked just average. I had to read this because their predecessors, Les Thanatonautes and L'Empire des Anges, changed my entire conception of death and afterlife. Those are my favorite Werber books. To be frank, I cannot believe that he has no reputation whatsoever, not even English translations of his books, in America. Well, Empire of the Ants is in English, but it is absurdity to read only that because it is only the first part of the Ant trilogy. It is real unfortunate of English speakers not to have Bernard Werber in English. English speakers should not read Empire of the Ants because if they do, they'll want to read the next parts, which don't exist in English language.
He is probably not the greatest writer ever nor a master of language (how should I know how good his writing is in French?). But his ability to gather uselessscientific knowledge and morph it into a story is appreciable. His books give an impression that he doesn't create the story first and fit scientific facts in it but is so familiar with the facts that he can use them to weave a story from them. When you read it, the story isn't the brilliantest of all, but it makes much sense for science fiction.
What I meant to talk about was, however, that he kind of lost it in the God books. Werber has a weird habit to put strands of his other books when he writes a novel. It gets really too obvious in God, where Edmond Wells, a mysterious genius figure in Ant, is featured as a regular character in L'Empire des Anges. His self-quoting is a hidden surprise in previous books because the reader can only see it when s/he has read all other Werber books. But in this, it gets way too obvious and his recycling of Edmond Wells and L'Encyclopédie du Savoir Relatif et Absolu (The Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge)gets old, which is an inevitable result when he recycles them for fifteen years.
Dragging and ambiguous endings are other obstacles that he doesn't seem to be able to get beyond. When you read an epic trilogy like Ant and it ends with nothing clarified in the end, it does piss you a bit. L'Empire des Anges could have been the worst ending I've ever read if God didn't come out. The second part of God didn't end so great either since it declared to drag by, well, dragging.
It really is disappointing to see his books struggle since they did change my thoughts of death a lot. I just wish he becomes obsessed with something that can make better stories so that I don't see another God from him.
