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2024-04-25 8:28 am

Der Schwarm

by Frank Schätzing

Paperback, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

833.914

Tags

Genres

Science Fiction

Science Fiction

Publication

Fischer Verlag (2005), 956 pages

Description

Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic, eyeless crabs poison Long Island's water supply. The North Sea shelf collapses, killing thousands in Europe. Around the world, countries are beginning to feel the effects of the ocean's revenge as the seas and their inhabitants begin a violent revolution against mankind. At stake is the survival of the Earth's fragile ecology-and ultimately, the survival of the human race itself. The apocalyptic catastrophes of The Day After Tomorrow meet the watery menace of The Abyss in this gripping, scientifically realistic, and utterly imaginative thriller.

Media reviews

Abysses (Love Books Review)

"Abysses" ("Der Schwarm") est un roman de science-fiction à suspense écrit par l'auteur allemand Frank Schätzing et publié en 2004. Le roman explore une crise environnementale mondiale déclenchée par des événements mystérieux et sans précédent dans les océans de la planète. L'histoire

commence par une série d'événements inhabituels, notamment la mort mystérieuse d'espèces marines, des catastrophes naturelles inexpliquées et une élévation du niveau de la mer. En enquêtant, les scientifiques et les chercheurs découvrent que ces incidents font partie d'une réponse coordonnée et intelligente de la part des espèces marines. Les océans semblent se défendre contre les activités humaines qui ont perturbé l'équilibre délicat de l'écosystème. Alors que la crise s'intensifie, les nations du monde entier s'efforcent de comprendre et de faire face à la menace que représente cette force redoutable et consciente d'elle-même, issue des profondeurs de l'océan. Le récit tisse des liens entre différents points de vue, notamment ceux des scientifiques, des politiciens et des gens ordinaires, offrant ainsi une vision globale de la catastrophe en cours. "Abysses" explore les thèmes de l'environnementalisme, de l'équilibre écologique et des conséquences des actions humaines sur la planète. Schätzing mêle connaissances scientifiques et fiction spéculative, créant ainsi un récit captivant qui incite à la réflexion. Le roman a été acclamé dans le monde entier pour sa portée ambitieuse, sa précision scientifique et sa capacité à mêler les préoccupations écologiques à une intrigue de thriller captivante.

User reviews

LibraryThing member xbri

I read 'The Swarm'during my summervacation on Crete and I was hooked from the very first moment. This book was one of the most amazing one I've read this year or even the last years. I just couldn't put it down and I couldn't stop thinking about it when I had finished. The story is so intriguing

and fascinating. Right now my son is reading it and we always enjoy to discuss it.

LibraryThing member moonimal

Picked this up while in Germany for a work trip. I was looking for something to read on the plane - something that i wouldn't pick up in the US. This book delivered on those counts, and was a nice thriller read besides. Not as good as a Crichton novel (in the outrageous twist on near future

science), but the characters would have been at home in one of his. A bit flat.

Fun, but the ending doesn't do justice to the weight and complexity of the story.

LibraryThing member Floratina

READ IN DUTCH

I had heard a lot about this enormous book by Frank Schätzing, therefor I was interested in reading it.

What if nature turns against us, polluting humans? Interesting thought!

Featuring mostly sea animals, it sometimes gave me the creeps. On other moments the tone was really scientific

and perhaps to some people a little bit boring to read. I found it all quite interesting, I could feel Schätzing had done an enormous about of research for this book. Something I always like a lot!

LibraryThing member the_hag

The Swarm mixes equal parts beach thriller and ecological disaster to bring the reader a mostly satisfying romp around the world and with plot elements deftly combined from nearly every underwater thriller you’ve ever read or seen and I believe that the heavy-handed anti-Americanism in this book

is actually part of its charm (yes, I am American). It is certainly weighty (both literally – nearly 900 pages and figuratively). It touches on a number of contemporary environmental issues but isn’t terribly preachy, it has sound science and still retains the human element. That is to say, for all it’s science it manages to hold on to the human element throughout. Since this book isn’t about a single “disaster,” it would seem out of place if it had a single protagonist, so it doesn’t! There is quite a large “cast” which helps tell the story from many different perspectives, weaving together an interesting and compelling whole cloth. The only drawback to its large cast is, at times, it is hard to keep track of all the people and individual story lines.

Schatzing takes us on a whirlwind, non-stop journey starting with crazed whales on the Canadian coast and includes nearly every conceivable marine disaster that one could think of…hydrate devouring ice worms destroying the continental shelf off the Norwegian Coast, disappearing boats and fisherman off the coast of South America, toxic jellyfish, deadly exploding crustaceans, luminous gelatinous mass…and that’s just the beginning! As with most books/movies in this genre, a crack team of scientists and military consultants is convened to study the problem and help save the world (complete with evil undercurrent from certain American elements).

All in all, it’s a fine read…though I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole if I were on a beach and reading it there would most certainly make me want to leave IMMEDIATELY. The Swarm is compelling, entertaining, informative, and exciting. I think my only complaints here are that it was a bit too long and I was a tad disappointed in the ending, for all its 900 pages, The Swarm’s ending felt rushed and contrived. At the end, I was left thinking ALL THAT for THIS ENDING!?! Despite those two complaints, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could hardly put it down each night! I’d recommend it for anyone who loves “nature bites back” movies or books, this is definitely worth the time. Four stars!

LibraryThing member ncarman31

This book was accurately described as a "biodiversity thriller" by one of the reviewers on the jacket. I was staggered by the amount of research done, and the number of experts consulted to write this book.

I really enjoyed the build-up to disaster in this novel, and the scattered pieces of the

puzzle; crazy whales and wild worms. I could hardly put it down, although I'll never eat lobster again!

I liked that it was a nice meaty 900 page novel; it gave me something to get stuck into on holiday.

Entertaining and informative is my final verdict.

LibraryThing member Sean191

Interesting at first - the scientific aspects were pretty interesting. Characters were a little thin though - partly because there were so many key characters, partly because they just weren't done too well - very generic and stereotypical. The ending of the book - the last 50 pages or so - just

fell flat. If the characters either weren't brought in left and right or the book had ended up bit earlier, it could have been a great book.

LibraryThing member tjm568

Wow, this book took a long time to get going, and The end left a lot to be desired. Some decent carnage from about page 400 to 800, but overall only average

LibraryThing member Ambrosia4

It's taken me awhile to form a coherent response to this book as the possibilities it presents overwhelmed me when I first finished it. Unlike many of the other books on the 1001 list, this is very much in the here and now. It could be read as a response to the environmental crises the world has

thrown itself into, but I don't think that was really the point. After great thought I believe the author just has seen too many movies, especially of the disaster genre.

That should not be taken as a reason not to read it however, because this book had one major thing that I love to see in books: a multitude of well-researched and explained scientific factoids that are actually pertinent to the plot. This was chock full of them and while most were about biology (not my favorite), they were still fascinating. If you don't give a hoot about science, this is probably not going to be your favorite...

The back of this book calls it a successful amalgamation of The Day After Tomorrow and The Abyss, which I found to be a surprisingly accurate description. The action, while it took a bit to get started, was well described and enthralling when it occurred and there's enough time between bouts to catch your breath and get a sense of what's going on. It's appalling how real it seems and how easy he makes it sound to end the world.

While I agree with the other reviews on the book page that the characterizations could have used some work and the whole "disaster concept" is a bit trite (although the actual reason behind it seemed new to me), all in all, it was all good enough to support the real baby behind this book: the plot.

Any complaints I had about wording and punctuation would be unfair to the author because this is translated, however, I think the publisher needs to have an editor go over this one some more. Many of the proofs I've read have had fewer errors.

LibraryThing member robinhood26

First off: I read it in German and not English. Based on complaints regarding the grammar and style of the English version, it seems to have been a good thing. The book starts slowly and switches between parallel stories. As can be expected, they grow together toward the end.

However, the

(anti)climax of the book is a disappointment; it is reminiscent of the many Hollywood movies that have a great premise and build up well, then cheat themselves and the audience at the end with a lame finale. What also bothered was the many references by the characters in stressful situations that "this is not Hollywood" - well, yes, that's true because of the length of the story and the author's penchant for killing off almost all the protagonists (as well as all of the antagonists), but otherwise the reference was bothersome, as it yanks the engrossed reader out and turns him into an observer again.

The science is interesting but at times long-winded and out of place. I ended up skimming some of that and still read on, because I liked the basic pretext and was curious.

LibraryThing member SonicQuack

The Swarm mixes up disaster movie action sequences with a well researched approach to a mystery below the waters of our planet. Early on, as the characters are being explored and fleshed out, there are rogue attacks by usually benign aquatic animals, signalling the emergence of the books central

mystery. This enigmatic menace is played out over the first half of this epic tale with supporting data supplied. At times, even though the author attempts to reach all audiences, the quantity of evidence offered can be bewildering. The character arcs in The Swarm are engaging and present some moments of genuine credibility as they bond with one another. The overall detail and length works against the novel; it's just too long. That noted, it would not work as well without the character interaction, the portentous descriptions and the science which underpins the gravity of the situation at hand. It's an original and brave piece of science fiction and even with its shortfalls is a recommended read.

LibraryThing member HeyYeah

Recommended to me by a German friend. This is the book that finally drove me to buy a kindle as it is a heavy book (in purely physical terms). I think could have used a good bit of editing to trim it down but it is an enjoyable page-turning ecothriller with some interesting science. It fizzled out

towards the end but I must have been gripped to carry it around with me for a couple of weeks so 4 stars. Recommended for long plane journeys and holiday reading.

LibraryThing member kousouna

A lot of hype without justified reason. Outrageously long!!A very tiresome read.

LibraryThing member Bridgey

The main thing that I got out of this novel is a hernia… only joking but it really is a heavy book….

The worlds oceans are starting to turn against us land lubbers, and we see an array of creatures attacking mankind and its machinery. We encounter worms, crabs, jellyfish, whales & algae all out

with a vengeance. We don’t know why or how, but the resulting plagues, tsunamis and deaths mean we have to find out, and sharpish!

Colonel Li is assigned with putting together a team of scientists in order to safeguard the very future of the Human race, but is it too little too late? Luke Anawak is a marine biologist, a specialist in the field of whale intelligence, Jack ‘Greywolf’ Bannon is an ex navy seal with a passion for animal rights, whilst Sigor Johanson is a leading expert in invertebrates under the sea. Accompanied by various others they must first find the cause of the uprising and then the solution.

This is a book of mammoth proportions, at times it seemed like almost a cross between Peter Benchley and Steven King. The only thing that stopped me giving the book 5 stars was that at times it was a little too preachy. We are all aware that the oceans are being polluted but an essay on the subject every dozen pages wasn’t all that necessary. Despite its size the book held my interest throughout with a large number of characters with well rounded personalities.

Would I recommend it? Probably.
Would I reread it? Probably not.
Am I glad I read it? Definitely.

LibraryThing member auntmarge64

Great premise and interesting science, but a boring, endless tome with little characterization, tiresome and unnecessary dialogue, and about four times the length necessary. I read about half and decided I had much better things to do with my time.

LibraryThing member coachsully

Loved the premise of nature getting back at man for his carelessness of his planet -or is it ONLY nature?. The science got a little heavy for me at times and I would have appreciated the lighter book to lug around.Nevertheles, I was kept engaged enough to keep going back to it. Schatzing also kept

me in suspense continuously because no characters were safe. I was almost tempted to peek at the back to see if fave characters made it through-a cardinal sin for avid readers, I know, but I resisted and was kept on edge until the end.

LibraryThing member StigE

Delightful and silly. Perfect holiday reading if you're holidaying in the mountains.

LibraryThing member AprilAnn0814

It took, what I think, an inordinate amount of time to sludge through this book, and I use sludge on purpose because of science. The Swarm received two stars instead of one because the last hundred pages had me on the edge of my seat in anticipation, it's really a pity the first seven hundred pages

couldn't even come close to being considered action. The characters began to have back stories only after the first few hundred pages had been filled with science. Not that I mind science. What I minded most was a seeming disinterest in anything other than the science of the Swarm. The last hundred pages and the character development (when they finally quit being stagnant science automatons) granted the novel an extra star, but I would only truly recommend this novel to someone who loves marine biology and will care more about the science than I did.

LibraryThing member NancyLang

Recommended by a young sales woman in a small Tofino, BC bookstore. Her personal story peaked my interest because, after she read The Swarm, she moved from Germany to Tofina. Tofina, BC is an important part in the book as are various sites around the world, the ocean and all of sea life and of

course, what we're doing to nature, not considering humans are part of nature. A thriller from the start with the conflict of the natural world, science and control; it held my interest but was long. I certainly commend Schatzing for his research and his suggestion to understand oneself and our constructiveness to all life.

LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

Huge, but wonderful. Lots of science, some horror/mystery/suspense. For fans of classic Michael Crichton - read it in his honor.

LibraryThing member kukulaj

A genuine eco-thriller. It reminds me a bit of Overstory by Richard Powers. Overstory was more slowly paced, more thoughtful. The Swarm is more action. It gets a bit over-done at the end - a bit of fun to see a German writer casting Americans as the villains. Really it is quite on target!

It's a

real page turner, for sure. I didn't quite read it in one sitting, but I almost could have.

With this kind of book, it's fun to guess at the boundary between fact and fiction. Leon goes to Nunavut - I got on Google maps to look at Cape Dorset. The whole main story line is rather far-fetched, but not absurdly so at all.

I doubt that any anti-ecology people would be moved by this book. The story is too wild. So I fear it is just preaching to the choir. Still, bit by bit we do need to figure out, not just that we are utterly interwoven into the biosphere, but we need to find ways to help spread that message, to incorporate it deeply into our world view. I don't see how this book will do the job, but it's a step in that direction that others should be able to build on.

LibraryThing member MacDad

To be honest, I can live with the minor factual errors in Frank Schätzing's book as well as with the grammatical ones that emerged in the translation. I'm even fine with his one-dimensional portrayal of Americans as a bunch of God-fearing, trigger-happy yahoos who think that the only solution to

any problem is to kill it, because it's not as though there aren't any examples in recent memory to support such a depiction.

But I just can't accept writing that is as poorly done as it is in this book. It reads too much like a novelization of a TV miniseries rather than a true novel, as instead of developing a plot or nuanced characters Schätzing prefers to take his readers from set action sequence to set action sequence. Too many of them read like scenes from the sort of CGI-driven disaster movies that Hollywood has churned out over the past quarter-century, something that the author underscores by his characters' frequent references to them. The only silver lining is that it's all blessedly skimable, as the lack of depth allows the reader to skip through the pages like a rock bouncing off of a lake — or perhaps the best advice is to just skip reading it altogether.

LibraryThing member HenriMoreaux

Frank Schätzing's The Swarm is a superb if not intimidating book, some people may be weary of its size at 881 pages but I can assure you it’s well worth the time. Rather than reading two potentially average books you can devote said time to this, an excellent book. I enjoyed this to the point

that I’d say it’s one of the best, if not the best book I’ve read so far this year (my 68th book in April 2020).

Whilst initially it seems like a bit of a monster in the deep novel, it expands into an all-encompassing disaster novel bringing the world to the brink of collapse. Whilst it does feature a bit of a stereotypical portrayal of Americas as Christian fundamentalists who see themselves as blessed by God and the only solution to problems is to kill, it’s not to the point that is derails the narrative. One could even say in some ways it brings it up to date with the current themes prevalent in large swaths of American society (yes, I write this as a foreigner looking in from the outside).

Overall, it was an excellent thriller with speculative aspects that give food for thought on the current manner in which humanity conducts itself, the science fiction aspects are believably possible and despite its size, it’s quite a page turner.

LibraryThing member yarmando

What if the aliens in *The Abyss* weren't friendly? The result is this sweeping eco-disaster thriller that makes for a delightful (if a bit bloated) binge-read. The characters are a somewhat flat (only the Inuit cetologist seems to have any depth, and the novel has to remove him from the action to

a personal side-quest to establish and resolve that), but that suits this story that draws its inspiration from Big Disaster Cinema, which it namechecks throughout.

LibraryThing member Kristelh

This science fiction eco-thriller was just barely a three star read for me. There are some interesting sections. The premise is of nature ,tired of humans destructiveness, goes on the attack was good and it was informative on how the ocean functions and the importance of the ocean to life on earth

in general. The book takes place all over the world, wherever there are oceans. Characters were mostly scientists, military or political. Countries featured included Norway and Canada. The United States contributed the military and political characters and not in any favorable light. The presidential character was a caricature of Bush. This German author did not paint a nice picture of the U.S. The main story was interesting, there are many protagonists and minor characters that come and go (mostly die) and there was whole sections of just words, words, words. The translation was full of edit errors. The author brought in Samantha Crowe from SETI (Jodi Foster character in Contact). The book reads as if it was written for the screen and reportedly there is a film in the works.

LibraryThing member autumnesf

Nature fights back.

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