Book Review: Hive - Madders of Time Book One by D. L. Orton

What if, with your dying breath, you sent your lover back in time in order to change the fate of a ruined Earth? What if he sent a message back to his younger self to help seduce you? What if the Government intercepted a mysterious orb full of treasures from another dimension? What if…?

This is a curious mish-mash of a book. Part sci-fi and part romance. I don't read enough romance to tell if that side of it is any good - it's all longing looks, furtive glances, and "what if"s. It was charming enough, but didn't really do anything for me. It is a fundamental part of the story, and not tacked on, so it doesn't feel superfluous.

The sci-fi side of things is relatively interesting. A multi-stranded story with just enough technobabble to be fun and a great set of provocations about how everything would work. Some of the post-apocalyptic challenges are neatly overcome and the God's eye-view helps keep the reader in suspense.

But the real let down is the characterisation. There's a supposedly British character who is about as realistic as Dick van Dyke! His dialogue is particularly risible. I'm not sure of any Brit who repeatedly says "Crikey Moses" or talks about his "sodding pajamas" - and absolutely no-one here refers to a telling-off as a "bolloxing". Similarly, one of the "men in black" is just a laughable caricature of every gruff-secret-agent trope.

As with so many books these days, it tries to set itself up to be an epic trilogy. The result is a slightly meandering tale without much tension behind it. There's a great story in there - if you can look past the stereotypes - but I thought it needed to be a lot tighter to be compelling.

Thanks to MindBuck Media for the review copy.