The Swarm (novel) Totally Explained

Everything about The Swarm Novel totally explained

The Swarm (original German title: Der Schwarm) is a techno-thriller novel by German author Frank Schätzing. It was first published in Germany and Austria in 2004 and soon became a bestseller.

Plot

Across the oceans, more and more strange and dangerous incidents take place: Humpback whales and orcas attack whale watchers near the coast of Canada, swarms of small fish sink South American fishing boats, and a strange poisonous lobster causes an epidemic in parts of France. It seems that the marine world is making a stand against the threat of human interference. Leading scientists from all over the world try to figure out who or what is behind all this, but before they can do so, a strange new species of deep sea worms causes an underwater landslide by consuming the methane clathrate in the north European continental shelf. The result is a huge tsunami that destroys most of northern Europe's coasts, killing millions and doing severe damage to European infrastructure. Meanwhile, naval cargo traffic is largely coming to an end as more and more ships are attacked by all kinds of marine lifeforms.
   When New York City and Washington, D. C. are also affected by the epidemic from France, the United States take the lead in establishing an international task force of scientists and military personnel under the command of Lieutenant General Judith Li, a close friend and advisor to the President. Below the ocean surface the task force discovers that humans are no longer masters of the world, or, more precisely, that they've never been, as an incredibly old species emerges from the deep, one that's dangerous, intangible and intelligent. Lead scientist Sigur Johanson comes up with a name for the species, derived from three letters he randomly typed on his computer's keyboard: Yrr. The Yrr turn out to be single-cell organisms that operate in groups (or swarms, hence the novel's title), controlled by a single hive-mind that may have existed for hundreds of millions of years.
   Johanson and his fellow scientists try their best to make contact with the Yrr, but General Li has her own plans; unable to accept that dominance over the Earth may not be a god-given birthright of mankind, and the United States in particular, she makes a military scientist create a virus that will spread through the swarm and destroy it. Before she can do so, most of the scientists onboard her ship, the helicopter carrier USS Independence, turn against her. At this point, the Yrr attack and severely damage the vessel. Most of the crew dies, and Johanson finally gives his life detonating the two torpedoes with the virus, killing Li and sinking the Independence.
   One of the survivors is science journalist Karen Weaver, who dives to the depth of the ocean in a midget submarine, using one of the Yrr's pheromones (their means of communication) to make contact with the swarm and reach a temporary ceasefire.
   The epilogue reveals that a year later, mankind is still recovering from the conflict with the swarm. The knowledge that humans are not the only intelligent lifeform on Earth has plunged most religious groups into chaos, while parts of the world still suffer from the epidemic the Yrr sent to destroy the threat to their marine homeland. Humanity now faces the difficult task of rebuilding their society and industry without coming into conflict with the ever-watching superpower under the sea again.

Publication history

The Swarm was a number-one-bestseller for eight months in Germany. It was lauded by many critics and readers for containing well-researched information about marine biology, geology, and geophysics. However, some critics have commented that the book is overly long, and that the story has been marred both by poor editing and some factual errors, notably that methane in the book is described as having a strong smell, even though in reality it's an odourless gas. Also, the description of computer simulation is kind of unrealistic given today's techniques, with the scientist generating a complete physical simulation of the underwater environment with a few keystrokes.
The novel borrows some ideas from the Gaia Theory. It hits on the notion that mankind's activities have created conditions that begin to affect a delicate equilibrium of biotic and abiotic conditions that have fostered and sustained complex life forms and ecosystems.

Use of real life persons

Three characters from the novel actually exist and were written into it by Schätzing as way to thank them for answering his questions on the scientific backgrounds: Gerhard Bohrmann and Heiko Sahling are geologists, Erwin Suess is a marine biologist.
The character of Samantha Crowe is strongly based on SETI director Jill Tarter, who was also the main inspiration for Jodie Foster's character Ellie Arroway in Contact (1997).

Claims of plagiarism

Thomas Orthmann, a German marine biologist and journalist, claims that dozens of passages in The Swarm have been lifted word for word from his writings. He now demands a compensation from Schätzing. Schätzing himself refuses to pay any compensation, but has agreed to acknowledge Dr. Orthmann in the next edition of The Swarm.

Film adaptation

Hollywood actress and producer Uma Thurman bought the film rights to The Swarm in May 2006. On May 9, 2007, it was announced that a film based on the novel was in the works. Ted Tally will write the screenplay and Dino De Laurentiis will be one of the prime financial benefactors of the project.

Further Information

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