About a year ago I read and recommended on this blog the first book in the series H.I.V.E. That fast-paced adventure took place at a secretive specialized school for prospective young criminals. The students were elite kids possessing criminal abilities and potential and were abducted and forced into the six-year program during which our protagonists attempted a break out and also dealt with a deadly biotechnical science experiment that ran amok.
This book, H.I.V.E – The Overlord Protocol, is second in the series and is as equally fast-paced and exciting. Our main characters, students and adults, are all back in the picture battling evil and trying to stop unchecked world domination through high-tech computers and robots. The students are up against some real ‘nasties’ in this story, but, of course, the fun twist in this series is that our very likeable student heroes are not saints themselves. They are, after all, being educated to be master criminals at the Higher Institute of Villainous Education.
I like this series, so far, and do recommend it for readers 5th grade and up, but it seems to be turning out more like the Alex Rider books (not a bad thing), as opposed to the Harry Potter books which I first thought because of the six years of schooling angle and how in the Harry books, the school year begins, continues, and ends all in one book. That’s not so in H.I.V.E., but I enjoyed reading the story anyway.
Posted by: Fran D.
