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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
You have been selected. All of you. The worst. The most cunning. The most mischievous minds from around the world - selected to become part of an institution like no other.
Thirteen-year-old master criminal Otto Malpense has been chosen to attend H.I.V.E., the top-secret school of villainy. But there is one small catch - he cannot leave until his training is complete. There's no way Otto is going to spend six years studying something he has such a natural talent for.
He is left with one option. Escape.
He just needs to figure out how.
Since Harry Potter took off, there's been a glut of children's and YA fiction set in schools. Mark Walden wins points for setting his in a school for villains and his pastiche of Bond-style villains and henchmen will appeal to adult readers as will his surprisingly sly satire on politicians. Unfortunately, the rest of it is nothing new and indeed, reading this I felt that you could cut and paste characters from the Harry Potter series. This is particularly the case with Nigel, a shy bald boy forced to live with the reputation of his super-villain father. Nigel is rubbish at everything except growing plants, and this, together with the characteristics that Walden gives him, reminded me a great deal of Neville Longbottom in the Potter series. There are two henchmen who are like Crabbe and Goyle and there's even a teacher who's been turned into a cat. So far, so yawn.
The main problem though is that the central characters of Otto and Wing are bland. We know that Otto is a criminal mastermind in the making and has special powers because we're constantly told that. Wing is mysterious and good at kung-fu. They're friends. And that's it. There's no vital spark to either of them and as a result, it's difficult to sympathise with their attempts to escape the school. The same is true of the token girl characters, Laura the computer expert and Shelby, a jewel thief. Each character is defined by their skill, with no attempt to bring them out further. Perhaps this is something that will improve in future books, but for the moment it's difficult to care about them.
There are some funny lines and moments in the book. I particularly enjoyed Otto's revenge on the Prime Minister, even though the context for this doesn't actually make sense (it's the council closing his orphanage, not the government). There are also a couple of one-liners, such as the headmaster's lament that it's "always the bald ones" who cause the most trouble. These aren't sufficient to keep the book entertaining.
The details of the school are sketched out in broad strokes. We know that there are four streams (alpha, henchmen, technical and political/financial) and what some of the classes are, but it's told in a way that feels like a checklist and Walden rushes through it to get to the escape strand of the story.
Walden also sets up a mystery to go through the series in the form of Number One, a villain with plans for the school and for Otto in particular. The headmaster, Doctor Nero, is also interesting as he tries to work out why Otto is important and what Number One has planned. For me, this was just interesting enough to make me want to give the next book a try, but I would really need to see more fleshed out characters to want to continue beyond that.
The Verdict:
It's okay. Not particularly innovative and far too many similarities to Harry Potter for it to stand on its own. However, the story arc has the potential to be interesting, which is why I'd read on.
Thirteen-year-old master criminal Otto Malpense has been chosen to attend H.I.V.E., the top-secret school of villainy. But there is one small catch - he cannot leave until his training is complete. There's no way Otto is going to spend six years studying something he has such a natural talent for.
He is left with one option. Escape.
He just needs to figure out how.
Since Harry Potter took off, there's been a glut of children's and YA fiction set in schools. Mark Walden wins points for setting his in a school for villains and his pastiche of Bond-style villains and henchmen will appeal to adult readers as will his surprisingly sly satire on politicians. Unfortunately, the rest of it is nothing new and indeed, reading this I felt that you could cut and paste characters from the Harry Potter series. This is particularly the case with Nigel, a shy bald boy forced to live with the reputation of his super-villain father. Nigel is rubbish at everything except growing plants, and this, together with the characteristics that Walden gives him, reminded me a great deal of Neville Longbottom in the Potter series. There are two henchmen who are like Crabbe and Goyle and there's even a teacher who's been turned into a cat. So far, so yawn.
The main problem though is that the central characters of Otto and Wing are bland. We know that Otto is a criminal mastermind in the making and has special powers because we're constantly told that. Wing is mysterious and good at kung-fu. They're friends. And that's it. There's no vital spark to either of them and as a result, it's difficult to sympathise with their attempts to escape the school. The same is true of the token girl characters, Laura the computer expert and Shelby, a jewel thief. Each character is defined by their skill, with no attempt to bring them out further. Perhaps this is something that will improve in future books, but for the moment it's difficult to care about them.
There are some funny lines and moments in the book. I particularly enjoyed Otto's revenge on the Prime Minister, even though the context for this doesn't actually make sense (it's the council closing his orphanage, not the government). There are also a couple of one-liners, such as the headmaster's lament that it's "always the bald ones" who cause the most trouble. These aren't sufficient to keep the book entertaining.
The details of the school are sketched out in broad strokes. We know that there are four streams (alpha, henchmen, technical and political/financial) and what some of the classes are, but it's told in a way that feels like a checklist and Walden rushes through it to get to the escape strand of the story.
Walden also sets up a mystery to go through the series in the form of Number One, a villain with plans for the school and for Otto in particular. The headmaster, Doctor Nero, is also interesting as he tries to work out why Otto is important and what Number One has planned. For me, this was just interesting enough to make me want to give the next book a try, but I would really need to see more fleshed out characters to want to continue beyond that.
The Verdict:
It's okay. Not particularly innovative and far too many similarities to Harry Potter for it to stand on its own. However, the story arc has the potential to be interesting, which is why I'd read on.
