The book was great, honestly.

I love the book, but you have kinda written yourself into a corner here with the premise. This is not an ANTi-hero tale.. it’s my first experience with what I can only see as ultimately an ANTi-villain for a protagonist.

The ants pose a problem for the end game of the story as a species. The Queen caste will need to be removed later on to make the ending any kind of happily ever after.

The Queen’s are compelled by their very nature to reproduce endlessly. This means if the ants are not eventually fundimentally changed or ended they will grow endlessly and all resources on the planet would be monopolized by the endlessly ravenous maw of the colony regardless of their intentions. Their very nature even if well meaning would be an all devouring suck on the resources of the planet beyond what any other species compares to. An intelligent colony of ants which require the consumption of vast resources of biomass and valuable economic treasures to grow even mildly is the very embodiment of greed and gluttony to a level it itself is mindless and all consuming.