Search This Blog

Monday 14 May 2012

BOOK REVIEW: Aftershock(Mark Walden) H.I.V.E


Book:  Aftershock-H.I.V.E

Author: Mark Walden

Rating:   8.25/10


Otto Malpense is back again for another adventure at H.I.V.E ( The Higher Institute of Villainous Education) and Mark Walden has done another good job.

Dr. Nero ,the head of H.I.V.E and the leader of the Global League of Villainous Enterprises(G.L.O.V.E)
has made some very powerful enemies after his decision to disband G.L.O.V.E's ruling council after the events of Overlord in the previous books.


Meanwhile Otto and his fellow alpha students are preparing for end of year tests, including  one of the hardest assessments in H.I.V.E:
- The Hunt

An arctic survival challenge where the students must avoid Raven and a team of GLOVE agents for as long as possible.


But all at H.I.V..E is not what it seems,  somewhere there is a traitor, feeding information to the treacherous former members and the Disciples, the former followers of Overlord.

So when the Hunt is ambushed a survival exercise becomes more than a game. Otto and his friends must escape the ambush then flee through the wilderness,  the others are captured or dead,
can they make it back to HIVE alive?

Pursued, they must try to reach a safe point to call for help, but is there such a thing as a safe point when Otto knows there's a traitor in their midst?


A feature I really like about this book is that not only does it give you the main story but also little insights into Raven's training as an assassin and how she became the operative she is. There's a number of chapters dedicated to her harsh treatment and becoming the killing machine she is.






This book is good. It's what hopefully appears to be a start of a new storyline.
Mark Walden is a masterful writer of HIVE books and I have read and enjoyed all of them so far, it's not to complex to read and some of the detail is a little light in places but that's made up for because it's  full of action and suspense. The number of crisises they have and the twists and turns how can you fail to like an action book about kids learning to be villains that includes abandoned Russian military facilities in the middle of nowhere.
It doesn't require you to have read the books before but it does help you understand some of the references.

If you haven't already started reading this series then you should start now.


Hope you found this review helpful,
The Devonian Book Reviewer

UK:

USA:

Germany: