Dreadnought

H.I.V.E. #4

by Mark Walden

A renegade faction of the world's most powerful villains is intent on destroying G.L.O.V.E. (Global League Of Villainous Enterprises) and showing the world the true face of evil. The Disciples begin by hijacking Diabolus Darkdoom's Airborne command post, then they kidnap his son and his son's best friend. Unfortunately for them, Nigel Darkdoom (and Franz) also happen to be Otto's friends. Heading out to America, Otto, Wing et al embark on a perilous and highly unauthorised rescue operation. Cut off from the support of H.I.V.E. and on the run from American security forces the hunt for their friends leads to one of the US military's most secret facilities. It becomes clear that the Disciples are not all they appear and in a desperate race against time Otto must work out who his real friends are to prevent the Disciples from completing their true objective. Only Otto can save the world from domination by a sinister new world order but it might be that the price he has to pay is just too high. When it comes to the crunch will he be prepared to sacrifice himself?

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Adventure, Action, Middle Grade, Childrens

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

I am the world’s laziest man.

No…really. Not just a bit slack, really, truly, breathtakingly lazy.

Which is why it’s taken me so long to get off my big, lazy rear end and get myself properly on-line.

I’m the author of the HIVE series of books which I hope that some of the people who stumble across this might have read and enjoyed. Or read and hated…

I am fortunate enough to live with the two most beautiful women on earth. And yes of course I’m hoping they’ll read that and forgive me for any one of the incredibly stupid things I’ll do this month.

I have yet to hold down anything even vaguely approximating a proper job.

I did help make video games a while ago but that was not the best environment for someone as lazy as me.

Reviews

[Bayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I continue to read this series, I find it more and more unbelievable that these guys are meant to be villains -- perhaps because they are always stopping bigger villains from destroying the world.

[Hayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

MAJOR EPIC GIANT MASSIVE HUGE ENORMOUS CLIFFHANGER!!!!!

Actually, I have Rougue in front of me, so I don't really care :)
Still, I feel sorry for everybody who doesn't have it.

This book had quite a few twists and things in (Vicontessa?), which this book even more exciting than it already was. I wasn't expecting to find out about the person who trained Raven, although I never found out why she left Furan and joined Dr. Nero. Maybe I'll find out in the next few books.

I'm frustrated again because I can't think of anything else to write...
Apart from the fact that I keep forgetting that Otto and the gang are villains. The thing that reminds me was when Trent said that Otto was working with a terrorist orgaisation, and it sunk in that Trent is a GOOD GUY.

[Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not enjoying the cliff hanger at the end.

[Hikachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesomeous!
Mind bobbling!
So... Otto is a... uhmm... a mutant. If I may say. I guess that's how to politely address a clone of a super computer with an evil mind who can enter human's mind. Anyway, he's special. Period.

The last book was pretty much awesome. Diabolous Darkdoom re-surfaced from "death" and the true nature of Number One was exposed. And in this book, a stray group, a bunch of GLOVE deserters lead by Jason Drake is trying to take over Darkdoom's position in the council, as the new GLOVE leader.

There were some new twists in this book. Started by introducing a new character in the Alpha stream, Lucy Dexter. A girl with special ability, just like her grandmother. Not amusing enough? Finally Nigel Darkdoom has some part in this series! Now we just wait for some act from Franz. =3

[Vishal Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This just keeps getting better and better. Go Raven ...

[Jaden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreadnought is the fourth book in the series, H.I.V.E, which is a story about a school, pretty much in the middle of nowhere which trains elite kids/teens to become villains.

This story's protoganists are Otto Malpense. Otto is a highly intelligent 13 year-old who is able to hack anything electronic and understands difficult problems like they're child's play. Next character is Otto's best friend, Wing Fong. He is best at martial arts and pretty much anything that has to do with physical strength and endurance. After that is Laura. She, like Otto, is a talented hacker and is able to hack even the military's equiptment. Lastly is Shelby, previously known as 'the wraith' due to her old life which included stealing many items without anyone knowing until she was gone from the crime scene.

Dreadnought is about these characters going to a base camp for training which has a nickname called the 'ninety-four percenter' due to the percentage of kids who actually make it out alive. Which is understandable since it is, maybe below zero, where the training camp actually is. But, before they even arrive at the base camp, trouble arrives as the have to go against a group of villainous men and have to face them head on.

This book was absolutely suspenseful to read. I couldn't even put the book down without reading another few chapters. With many cliff-hangers, this book was probably the best so far out of the other books in the series that I have read.

I recommend this book to people who suspense, mystery, action, and comedy. I loved this book because of the plot and the lovable characters which want you to keep reading the series. I hope you read this book, and all the other books in the H.I.V.E series by Mark Walden.

[Tony Keefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this 4th installment of the H.I.V.E. series, Otto and his friends are led into another death-defying adventure that involves stopping a new competitor to G.L.O.V.E.'s dominance as the leading super villains in the world.

The action sequences in Dreadnought are riveting, though a little darker than the previous books. A few more deaths are involved this time around.

Walden had struck a chord with readers like me. His vision of what cutting edge technology can do is both alarming and interesting. The twists and turns in this plot are a little easier to see, but I wasn't expecting a run in with the person who apparently trained Raven before she became a G.L.O.V.E. operative.

About the only thing that irked me in this book is the cliff hangar ending. I could see it coming toward the end, but it still made me want to scream AARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of hive since the first one. I like the young teen characters, the world Waldon has created, and the action. Because I forget important things like, how books end that I read, it is helpful that Waldon included a bit from the past as one reads along.

[YoHaNnAaaaaaaaaa ^_^ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a great book just like most other books by Mark Walden.
I must say though, that compared to the other books in the H.I.V.E. series this one is definitely not my favorite. On the other hand it had a really great cliffhanger. Can’t wait to start the next book in the series: Rogue.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was awesome

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

May 2019: I am really conflicted about this book—that is to say, I struggle to reconcile some of the clumsy elements of a transitioning book with the solid aspects I dearly love, such as character development and the climax. There's a lot to love in this book, and yet in some ways I think you have to love the book to accept some of the trickier moments.

The first thing to know about this book is like I said: it's a transitioning book. In other words, the first three books represent a complete arc for Otto, moving from a place where he wanted to escape the island to a place where he considers it a home where he has family. (It is not an irrelevant parallel that the pre-climax action in book one involves Nero confronting Otto in a prison cell to prevent his escape from H.I.V.E., and the pre-climax action in book three involves Otto facilitating Nero's escape from a H.O.P.E. prison facility) Structurally, we're good to go on that front, which means this is an opportunity to introduce new characters, new conflicts, and new enemies as Otto and friends start the next phase of their adventures. In theory, this is a great move. In practice, there are some bumps along the way.

I'll get those bumps out of the way first:

To some extent, you could sum up the entire issue as "the beginning doesn't have sufficient conflict to grab the reader." As I said, this is the beginning of a new arc, which means new enemies and new friends. We meet our new enemies in Nevada—but since we don't know who they are or what they're doing, there isn't as much to connect us to the trial. (The exception I would take is Raven's backstory, but more on that in a minute.) We also meet a new friend, Lucy! She is also great, but since the team welcomes her with open arms, there isn't really a conflict on that front, either.

Fact is, the beginning's main conflict exists in G.L.O.V.E. politics, which appears slow-moving and doesn't draw us to the kids' story right away. Otto doesn't really have a reason to be afraid and in motion until chapter three on the titular airship. It doesn't kill the story, but whereas Otto has always had a clear motivation from the first chapter in the other books (i.e. escape, revenge, rescue), here we have to wait around to discover who is lighting the fire beneath him.

I talk about this more in my review of Interception Point , but the role of animus also takes a hit thanks to its introduction in the previous book. Animus isn't *that* big a deal in this book, but it is very essential to understanding the next book. The fact that it doesn't have a very intense introduction in this book makes it a little bit confusing. In theory, I think using a surprise animus attack to unveil the true villains was a clever thought, but in practice it felt a little jarring.

All that said, I still really enjoyed the book, and there were a few things that helped make this book a fun and impressive read.

I like Raven's backstory. Yes, I realize, WHO DOESN'T?, but I think opening on her backstory continues the precedent set by Escape Velocity that Dr. Nero and Raven are protagonists in their own right, but also connects her coming-of-age story to that of Otto, Wing, Shelby, and Laura. We also develop the question, "What in the world scares Raven?", which is amazing.

There's more character development, which involves a lot of humor. The kids are so delightfully funny, which I think helps give these books lasting appeal. Nonetheless, observing Raven as a guardian, expanding Nigel's relationship with his dad, and giving Otto and Wing more infiltration experience keeps me invested in the characters I love.

I will also throw it out there that I appreciated Lucy's introduction more than I have on other reads. I think the fact that she gets along well with Laura and Shelby helps a *lot*.

The climax is also wonderful. I think the lack of investment I felt in the beginning was totally overshadowed by my satisfaction with the ending. Walden is great at writing action scenes, and he did well while juggling a lot of balls. It was among the most ambitious finales we've had to date, and the pain and the stress present in the ending lead into a great setup for a fifth book. The presence of darkness allows the series to take a new direction where we don't really know what will happen.

But the thing that really helped, on top of that, is that with the darkness comes the hope of light. Dreadnought's ending is a beautiful parallel to the first book that captures the familiarity and happiness of friendship along with the urgency and determination to escape. I struggled with the beginning because there was directionless friendship, which slowed the pace. By the end, we see that all the friends have their compasses pointed in Otto's direction, and they will use the skills they learned at his side to haul him home safe.

Rough beginning. Good end. Oh man, and I didn't even mention the fire truck.

[Levi Hinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Walden’s novel, H.I.V.E: Rogue is a book that will keep the reader wanting more till the end. It tells the story of a young villain that has been kidnapped and his friends and colleagues must fight to rescue him. The main character, Otto Malpense is a typical teenage boy except he has computer like powers in his brain. He was living his life in his own, perfect way, until he he tried to save the world and he was kidnapped. This turned his whole world upside and his friends had no idea where he was or how to save him.
Characters: The main character is Otto, however the story talks with Raven and Nero a lot. They are more of secondary characters. Life through a villainous school teacher that is questionably one of the smartest men in the world and the world’s most talented assassin is very interesting. One leaves you on the edge of your seat wondering what is next and the other has you trying to think of strategies and ways to help find a solution to problems. They are all three definitely interesting and something out of this world!
Plot: In this sequel, Otto is captured and his friends must look for him and save him. Raven, goes to whatever ends necessary to hunt down and follow every lead she can. Nero, the teacher and a very intellectual character, looks for any clues and evaluates everything he can that may lead to a possible sign of Otto. In H.I.V.E. there is small humor and things that while reading it you will chuckle and say “wow that was clever”. There was a downside to the plot, however. It was very interesting except, unless you read the previous books, which I highly recommend, how the points of vision jump around is somewhat confusing. When the point of view switches, all that indicates it is a little hazard symbol. Then when resuming with whatever point of view you are going into, it just kind of starts with not much explanation as to where they are or how much time has passed.
Conflict: The major conflict was very clear and very concerning. It is that Otto was captured and they needed to save him. Not only was he captured, but he was under control, which is bad because he could be used as a deadly force against them because of his powers. They did not know this at first even though, through different points of views, the story told you this. They did not understand how or why Otto would turn against them. The leader of G.L.O.V.E. even set out a kill order for him. They knew that if they could not save him then he was too powerful of a weapon to be used against them. Nero did not want this to happen, he wanted to save Otto because he knew that Otto wouldn't just turn on them.
What I Learned: While reading this book, I learned that you must not give up on friends. They are very important to you. I also learned that trusting your gut is a very good instinct and you should trust it more. This book was a very good book and I loved it from the beginning to the end. This is why I'm rating it a 4 out of 5 stars.

[Amita · Rating 3 out of 5]

despite reading the hive series like 3 billion times, I could never remember anything about this specific book. I have found out that this is because the book is very boring.

i JUST finished this not two hours ago and i'm STILL having trouble remembering anything important. the president was in this one. timeline & context clues wise, he's supposed to be obama. lol. and lucy gets introduced teehee along with (kind of) the love triangle that is the only reason she exists (sorry lucy bestie it's not your fault that you were written this way)

what i DO know is that dreadnought sealed its fate (my 3 star rating) by making the evil plan be "throwing a bomb into yellowstone to make the supervolcano explode" bc not only did i just take volcanology, i also just finished reviewing the chapter about this topic. so i had a fantastic time fact-checking. 1) supervolcanoes aren't a thing, supereruptions are. some places, like yellowstone, have a volcanic system that makes them more likely to have supereruptions, which is important because... 2) i can't say for sure, since i've never seen a nuclear missile detonate, but there's no guarantee sending one into yellowstone would trigger a supereruption. 3) human existence after this event in the affected area would not be impossible. difficult, yes, but not impossible.

if you read all that, ily. it's not important to this fictional story whatsoever but i thought it was hilarious that it messed up something i actually know about. sorry dreadnought but you didn't have a fighting chance.

anyway moving on. half the characters are OOC in this. but raven continues to slay. also i love laura!! she saved a bunch of ppl by hacking the bomb timer and she is my fave.

[Najah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uncle Mark, you've done it again!! Once again, Walden's book was very well written, perfectly structured, humorous, emotional, and full of action, adventure, and so much depth! I love the overarching plot-line that he has going and that last line had me soooooooooooo excited to read on. One thing that I really, really liked about this book was that the climax was so perfectly timed and well thought out. I loved reading that bit and it was so well written that everything flowed organically and I could see it all happening in my head. In the past Walden has had issues with writing the climax imo, but the man's knocked it out of the mfin park with this one! I absolutely cannot wait to read the next book!!!

Some things to note:
-once again, the publisher has missed quite a few grammatical errors and some spelling mistakes :( It definitely doesn't take away from the story though!
-there's a lot of cheeky banter in this book, more so than the last 3 (which I quite enjoyed!) so that might not be your type of thing, but I think it added a lot to the characters!
-They didn't really touch on and discuss Lucy's past and abilities, which makes sense considering they were literally about to fucking die lol but I am very much interested in how the kids will react to it once they're not preoccupied with death

[Nuqksh Sapra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreadnought is the fourth book in the H.I.V.E. (Higher Institute of Villainous Education) series by Mark Walden, and it’s one of the most action-packed adventures so far. This series follows Otto Malpense and his friends—Wing, Laura, Shelby, and Raven—as they train to become the world’s top villains while secretly trying to stop real evil from taking over.
In this story, Otto is facing an even bigger danger than before. The villainous computer program Overlord is back and more powerful than ever. Overlord is trying to take control of a massive flying fortress called the Dreadnought, which has enough weapons to destroy entire cities. Otto and his friends must work together to stop Overlord’s plan before it’s too late. Their mission takes them to exciting locations around the world, from icy oceans to high-tech bases, as they deal with betrayals, deadly traps, and shocking secret
What makes this book so fun is the nonstop action. There are epic battles, amazing gadgets, and dangerous missions that feel like scenes from a spy movie. The characters are also really interesting. Otto is still learning about his strange abilities and struggling to stay in control, while his friends show bravery and clever thinking in tough situations. The friendship and teamwork between them make the story even stronger.

[Fatima Sarder · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘That was a joke, right?’ Lucy asked.

No Lucy, it wasn't a joke and welcome to the club of super talented, groomed for evil children who can barely do anything when confronted with a situation they have studied before; except for the four main characters. I'm still waiting for some character development author, though I suppose, Lucy will be joining the line.

I don't remember much of this book, a whole lot of action, G.L.O.V.E's ruling council is not happy with Darkdoom being the next boss and all of a sudden, H.I.V.E and Dr. Nero, who was potentially a little scary and mysterious, became the saviors of the day.

Poor Otto, captured by Sebastian Trent, I bet my braincells the next book is going to make him out as an unwitting villain.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, let me start off saying I’m enjoying this series. It’s fun and exciting and the setting is unique. BUT, Otto and his friends don’t act like villans at all! Not once in this series so far have Otto or his friends acted maliciously or for their own gain. They’re all like “No one left behind!” and “We don’t want the bad guys to do this because it’s bad!” There’s no backstabbing, sabotaging, or even light-hearted pranking between them! Honestly if the title was swapped and Otto went to a secret government training school to learn to fight terrorists, I wouldn’t know the difference. So yeah, cool plot and setting, but in no way do any of the protagonist characters act villan-y in anyway, which odd for a series called “Higher Institute of Vilanous Education.”

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it funny how in a series about villains, the characters never seem to do anything remotely villainous. They don't fight good guys, they just fight bad guys that are worse than them. They are essentially just good guys who pretend that they're bad by sneaking in to places and knowing how to pick locks.

Not that I don't like the series, they're definitely a fun read. It would just be nice to see the characters actually do something villainous for once in their life (Like Otto, Shelby and Laura did in the first book in order to be admitted to the school in the first place)

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new character is introduced, Lucy Dexter, who immediately gets into a love triangle with Otto and Laura. Otto’s origins are revealed himself, and they make so much sense. Nigel Darkdoom and his father play a role in this story, and the eponymous Dreadnought is a great action set piece. Upon reading, I thought this was a weaker book in the series, but in hindsight, this is one of the better ones.

[Gregoroveich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dnfed this book halfway through in July of 2024 idr why. Finally got to finishing it and I kind of see why I did but the second half was pretty enjoyable so whatever happened in the first 150 pages is not my problem. The ending was a little confusing because I don't remember who this Trent guy is. I refuse to reread the first three books to figure it out so good luck future me with the rest of this series.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Dreadnought probably the most engaging book in this series after H.I.V.E. itself. The action was cool and I enjoyed the plot, and the cliffhanger was intriguing. I don't really remember seeing animus in Escape Velocity, but I'm willing to assume that I just overlooked it in everything else that was going on.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. it is the 4th book in the Hive series. this book is a book that keeps you turning the page, it is a book where you don't know what will happen and is packed with action. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves action.

[Kaitlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of the H.I.V.E. books!!

[Talia Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Series

[Owen Vogelgesang · Rating 4 out of 5]

just plain awesome, probably my favorite in the series.

[Mindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enjoying the plot driven series.

[Kimberley A. McClure · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

So amazing
I have to use 18 or more words so night h jdhdhfhdond dandruff. Fh
Huh uhh :) jbuvyvyb btw those were completely random

[Patricia Triz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of action scenes. Explained very nicely, though I was quite disappointed with the ending.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very good. I liked how they have different enemy's to defeat in each book.

[Charles Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book with more plot twists story is a little more boring, but the next book will hopefully be more thrilling!