H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education [Hardcover]

Mark Walden (Author)

Book Description

Series: H.I.V.E.

HIGHER INSTITUTE OF VILLAINOUS EDUCATION

Otto Malpense may only be thirteen years old, but so far he has managed to run the orphanage where he lives, and he has come up with a plan clever enough to trick the most powerful man in the country. He is the perfect candidate to become the world's next supervillain.

That is why he ends up at H.I.V.E., handpicked to become a member of the incoming class. The students have been kidnapped and brought to a secluded island inside a seemingly active volcano, where the school has resided for decades. All the kids are elite; they are the most athletic, the most technically advanced, and the smartest in the country. Inside the cavernous marble rooms, floodlit hangars, and steel doors, the students are enrolled in Villainy Studies and Stealth and Evasion 101. But what Otto soon comes to realize is that this is a six-year program, and leaving is not an option.

With the help of his new friends: an athletic martial-arts expert; a world-famous, beautiful diamond thief; and a spunky computer genius -- the only other people who seem to want to leave -- can Otto achieve what has never been done before and break out of H.I.V.E.?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–8—H.I.V.E. is operated on a volcanic island in a distant ocean by G.L.O.V.E., a shadowy organization of worldwide wickedness. And, as 13-year-old master of mischief Otto Malpense soon discovers, here the slickest of young tricksters, thieves, and hackers have been brought against their will to be trained as the next generation of supervillains. Otto and his friends refuse to be held prisoner at the institution and develop a scheme to escape from the island, but they must defeat the all-seeing computer system, a seemingly undefeatable assassin in black, and a giant carnivorous plant to succeed. Warner's first novel is a real page-turner; those who love superhero stories will eat it up and not want to put it down. Sequels are virtually guaranteed.—Walter Minkel, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Thirteen-year-old Otto and three of his new friends are kidnapped and taken to H.I.V.E., a super academy for world domination where the particular talents encouraged are craftiness and daring. Students come from all over the world, speak varying degrees of English, and are often the offspring of H.I.V.E. graduates. Otto, however, is an orphan. He has real brilliance and a photographic mind. Both qualities made him relatively independent before he was kidnapped, and they now provide somewhat of a challenge to his would-be keepers at H.I.V.E. Otto spearheads the group's effort to escape and return home, an escape that is foiled in the course of an evening that involves H.I.V.E.'s electronic overseer, an out-of-control flesh-eating plant, and other technothrills. H.I.V.E. comes across as the shadow side of Hogwarts, but Otto and his pals aren't so much bad wizards as they are bright kids realizing they may be out of their depth. The cliff-hanger ending leaves much to be tied together in a sequel. Francisca Goldsmith
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers (May 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416935711
• ISBN-13: 978-1416935711
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,171,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bound to Be a Movie, June 17, 2007

By 

K. Coombs (Utah, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education (Hardcover)

This is the second book out this year about a darker version of Hogwarts, although, since the two schools are set in our magic-free world, I suppose they're more like the opposite of whatever school trained the Marvel superheroes. Kids at a school for supervillains is, of course, a really terrific premise, if a slightly ominous commentary on our times. The other book, which I read first, is Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks. Evil Genius disappointed me by bogging itself down considerably in YA angst and dull plot points. In contrast H.I.V.E., while it threw me off in the first chapter, ended up being an entertaining, well-put-together book with a likable hero, Otto Malpense (yeah: last name Bad Thought!). What put me off at first was that a young Asian martial-arts expert and future roommate to Otto, Wing Fanchu, was described at least half a dozen times in the first 15 pages or so as having an impassive face. And then there's the H.I.V.E. student who's a fat German boy, a veritable clone of Roald Dahl's Augustus Gloop. This struck me as stereotyping--not simply un-PC, but cliched. HOWEVER, the rest of the book went on to be so engaging that I've decided to forgive Walden for those few bits of junk. H.I.V.E. is fast-paced, which is a real relief after Evil Genius. The book is sprinkled with humor, plot twists, and creative touches, e.g., the school motto is simply "Do Unto Others." Otto soon finds a team of buddies (Ron, Hermione, Neville) with a variety of abilities. And the story manages to wrap up nicely even as it sets us up for the inevitable Book Two. Bottom line: your 9- to 13-year-old will get a kick out of Otto Malpense and his villainous school!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, July 16, 2007

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education (Hardcover)

Welcome to Hogwarts for bad guys, minus the magic.

H.I.V.E. is a school set on a deserted island where brilliant young adults who have come from criminal families or have taken part in criminal projects are taught to become the worst that they can be.

Otto Malpense remembers nothing about how he came to be on the H.I.V.E. island, and neither does him Asian friend, Wing. The H.I.V.E. staff explains to the young criminals that their parents agreed to let them join the school - and that they are under the highest security and scrutiny.

Otto, being an extremely smart Alpha, wonders if they were kidnapped and are being held hostage until they graduate. Throughout their time at H.I.V.E., Otto and his friends are enrolled in a number of courses you will not find in your average school. Subjects such as Tactical Education, Stealth and Evasion, Villainy Studies, and many other classes (meant for other students, such as Henchmen).

Wanting to be off the island, Otto and his friends, Wing (a martial arts fighter), Shelby (a jewelry store sleuth), and Laura (a technological genius) devise a plan that has never been pulled off before - escaping H.I.V.E. This is a feat that no student has ever accomplished.

H.I.V.E. is a great book and the ending leaves it open for a sequel, which i will be more than happy to buy. Although some parts were scattered, it all led to a great, courageous ending.

Reviewed by: Jeremey

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hive, September 12, 2008

By 

Sid Lynch "SID" (Reno NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education (Paperback)

H.I.V.E is a very exciting story that takes you through otto Malpense's first term at a school for villanous education.During his time at H.I.V.E otto finds himself being taught by a cat, nearly being eaten whole by a giant plant and traveling through H.I.V..E's laundrey system.Although Otto makes lots of new friends and learns lots of new thing to help him become an even bigger villan he can't help but wish he was back home.......