40 Fun Facts About H.I.V.E. (Book Series)

In Mark Walden's H.I.V.E. novels, the top-secret school for young criminal masterminds is hidden inside what?

The school sits inside an active volcano, and getting out alive would be an unprecedented feat, which is exactly what Otto Malpense and his friends attempt.

A failed experiment leaves H.I.V.E.'s head of stealth and evasion trapped in the body of which animal?

Tabitha Leon's consciousness ended up in her pet, and although she dislikes being a cat she finds the claws and enhanced hearing useful.

In Mark Walden's novels about young Otto Malpense, what do the initials H.I.V.E. stand for?

H.I.V.E. is the Higher Institute of Villainous Education, a school that accepts only children who have already shown a villainous skill.

Before H.I.V.E., Otto Malpense hacks a teleprompter to hypnotise and embarrass which figure during a speech?

Otto humiliated the Prime Minister in revenge for a government funding cut, and the stunt is what brought him to the attention of H.I.V.E.

Which careful villain has been headmaster of H.I.V.E. since the 1960s yet appears to be only in his thirties?

Maximilian Nero has a reputation for heartlessness, yet he cares about his students and treats the assassin Raven as a friend.

Shelby Trinity, a wealthy American student at H.I.V.E., was already a notorious jewel thief under which alias?

Shelby stole jewels as the Wraith, an expert in stealth and lock-picking whose greatest fear is, fittingly, being locked up.

The Contessa, one of the most trusted teachers at H.I.V.E., bends almost anyone to her will using what?

The Contessa commands people with her voice, though the strong-willed can resist; she betrays the school before dying to save its students.

Raven, the most feared assassin working for H.I.V.E., carries which signature weapons into a fight?

Raven fights with twin katanas, and the pair she carries for most of the series are replacements built for her by the school's technology department.

Franz Argentblum, Nigel Darkdoom's best friend at H.I.V.E., is the son of a German magnate in which industry?

Franz is heir to a chocolate fortune, and the boy who constantly thinks about food later surprises his friends by turning out to be a gifted sniper.

In the first H.I.V.E. novel, Nigel Darkdoom accidentally breeds a giant flesh-eating plant with which name?

Violet escapes from the hydroponics lab and attacks the school, and it takes staff and students working together to stop the plant.

Laura Brand, the expert hacker among Otto Malpense's friends at H.I.V.E., comes from which country?

Laura is from Scotland, and her skill is trusted enough that she helps the staff fix the school's own technical problems in Rogue.

At H.I.V.E., students in the Alpha stream of future leaders wear uniforms of which colour?

Alpha students wear black, while Henchman wear blue, Technical white and Political/Financial grey, so a uniform shows a student's stream at a glance.

Otto Malpense, the white-haired English hero of the H.I.V.E. series, was raised in what kind of place?

Otto grew up in an orphanage called St Sebastian's, and two friends he left behind there later follow him to the school.

Otto Malpense of H.I.V.E. has a device implanted in his brain that links his mind directly to what?

Otto can interface with computer networks by thought, a gift that also leaves him open to possession by hostile artificial intelligences.

Which pair of Henchman-stream students at H.I.V.E. regularly bully Nigel Darkdoom and Franz Argentblum?

Block and Tackle pick on the Alphas, and in Aftershock a scheming older student uses the pair as muscle when he corners Otto and Laura.

Which head of technology at H.I.V.E. helped create the school's AI, H.I.V.E.mind?

Professor Pike seems disorganised and distracted but hides a shrewd, cunning mind, and one of his failed experiments left a colleague living as an animal.

Which villain attacks H.I.V.E. in The Overlord Protocol and is later revealed to be Wing Fanchu's father?

Cypher, a co-creator of the murderous AI Overlord, stages a failed revolt against the leadership, and in a later book his own son shoots him dead.

What is the name of the massive submarine commanded by Nigel Darkdoom's father in the H.I.V.E. novels?

Diabolus Darkdoom lived aboard the Megalodon for years after faking his death, and its replacement in a later book carries the same name.

Before writing H.I.V.E., Mark Walden was a senior producer of video games at which company?

Walden developed PlayStation titles at Sony, then left the games industry after ten years to write and to be a full-time father.

In Escape Velocity, Otto Malpense of H.I.V.E. discovers he is a clone of which G.L.O.V.E. figure?

Otto was cloned from Number One, the leader of G.L.O.V.E., and was designed as a host body for the artificial intelligence Overlord.

Which anti-terrorist group led by Sebastian Trent kidnaps the headmaster of H.I.V.E. in Escape Velocity?

H.O.P.E., the Hostile Operative Prosecution Executive, tells the world it fights terrorism while secretly serving the AI Overlord and its followers.

Which self-replicating substance, injected into Otto Malpense of H.I.V.E. to control him, drives the plot of Rogue?

Animus is an organic supercomputer that kills almost everyone injected with it, and Otto survives only to be turned against his own side.

In Dreadnought, new H.I.V.E. student Lucy Dexter turns out to be which relation of the Contessa?

Lucy is her granddaughter, and she inherits the family gift for controlling people, though she can manage only a few at once.

In The Overlord Protocol, assassin robots ambush Otto Malpense and Wing Fanchu at a safe house in which city?

The ambush in Tokyo kills a bodyguard protecting the boys, and Wing appears to be shot dead, though the bullet is a disguised tranquilizer.

What name is given to the knock-out weapons used at H.I.V.E. in place of tranquilizer darts?

Sleepers stun rather than kill: Raven shoots Otto Malpense with one to bring him to the school, and he wakes up in a helicopter on the way there.

Wing Fanchu of H.I.V.E. refuses to kill his enemies because of a promise he made to whom?

Wing promised his mother he would never take a life, a vow he finally breaks in Rogue to stop an attack on Otto.

Raven is only a code name for the assassin of the H.I.V.E. novels; what is her real first name?

Natalya was trained as a child assassin in the Russian wilderness, where she was forced to kill a friend and swore revenge on her teachers.

What is the name of the remote Russian facility where Raven of H.I.V.E. was trained as a child assassin?

The Glasshouse is where children are cruelly trained to kill, and a whole generation of kidnapped Alpha students is taken there in Aftershock.

In Aftershock, the H.I.V.E. training exercise known as the Hunt is ambushed in which remote region?

The Hunt takes place in Siberia, where the Disciples lie in wait after a blackmailed Laura Brand is forced to reveal its location.

Which disfigured leader of the Disciples kidnaps a generation of H.I.V.E. Alpha students in Aftershock?

Anastasia Furan helped train Raven as a child, survived being shot down in a helicopter by her, and takes her revenge through the kidnapping.

Which H.I.V.E. novel ended an eight-year wait for readers when it followed Deadlock in 2021?

Bloodline pits Otto against a female clone of himself who seizes control of the school and can command people as well as machines.

Laura Brand was sent to H.I.V.E. after hacking into what, just to spy on a school friend's conversations?

Laura broke into a military airbase simply to eavesdrop on a friend, the kind of villainous skill the school looks for in its recruits.

In The Overlord Protocol, the secret codes are hidden in which twin objects, one given to Wing Fanchu?

The yin-yang amulets were split up by Overlord's creator, who hid the codes in them: one went to Wing and the other to the headmaster of H.I.V.E.

Tom and Penny, who join H.I.V.E. in Aftershock, ran a crime team nicknamed after which famous outlaw?

Tom and Penny were known as the Hoods after Robin Hood, stealing from the very rich once their friend Otto Malpense had left for H.I.V.E.

In Zero Hour, Otto Malpense's team enters which real British organisation's base to send a vital signal?

GCHQ in Cheltenham is opened to them by a British politician and former H.I.V.E. pupil, who then betrays them to the Disciples.

Which American industrialist designed the airborne command post of the H.I.V.E. novel Dreadnought?

Jason Drake had hoped to win favour by giving the craft to G.L.O.V.E.'s old leader, and was angered when a rival took it as his flagship instead.

What name is given to the G.L.O.V.E. death squad whose executioners attack H.I.V.E. in Escape Velocity?

The Reapers leave no one alive, and the school is saved when a teacher who was involved in the plot changes sides and sacrifices herself.

In the H.I.V.E. novel Rogue, Raven and Wing Fanchu track Otto Malpense to a secret facility hidden in which region?

The Amazon rainforest hides the H.O.P.E. facility behind Otto's mind control, where Raven and Wing meet an operative even deadlier than she is.

Which Hollywood studio optioned movie rights to H.I.V.E., Mark Walden's debut novel about a school for villains?

Paramount Pictures took the option on Walden's debut, which was also picked as a winner in a Richard and Judy competition for the best children's books.

In Deadlock, which elite American intelligence unit, answering only to the president, hunts H.I.V.E.'s Otto Malpense?

The Artemis Section tracks Otto down during the three months he spends away from the school, and it catches up with him again in a later book.