Book Review: Hive by D.L. Orton

Title: Hive

Author: DL. Orton

Series: Madders of Time #1

Page Count: 356

Publish Date: May 6, 2025

Publisher: Rocky Mountain Press

Buy Hive at Amazon

Synopsis:

In a crumbling biodome, surrounded by endless seas and swarms of microdrones, humanity’s last survivors cling to hope.

For Isabel, a dying scientist, and Diego, the man she loves, time is running out—literally. The Earth is ravaged, and the biodome that was meant to save humanity is failing. But when Isabel stumbles upon a long-lost time bridge, the possibility of changing the past emerges, offering one final chance to rewrite history.

There’s just one problem: only one person can make the jump.

As they grapple with the weight of impossible choices, love, and regret, Isabel and Diego must decide whether altering the course of time is worth the risk. Will their sacrifice save the future, or will tampering with the past ensure humanity’s extinction?

Hive

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My Review:

Thank you to D.L. Orton, The Write Reads, and Rocky Mountain Press for providing me with a copy of this book as part of the blog tour.

Right from the first sentence, I was intrigued. What a phenomenal way to introduce the world and the main characters.

The way the prologue introduces the dire situation that Isabel and Diego are in, along with a glimmer of hope, if the time travel works, really grabbed my attention. It shows just enough of the future to make you wonder how the heck it all went wrong, while providing small breadcrumb clues that don’t give all the answers but make you want to keep reading to find out how they got to this point.

Add in the third main character, Matt aka Madders, who in the future had his consciousness uploaded into an AI, and there’s a lot to be curious about. How did the artificial pollinators go wrong? How long have they been in the biodome? What happened to the rest of humanity?

Once we find ourselves back in the past, the story truly picks up. As we bounce between Isabel, Diego, and Matt’s perspectives as they deal with personal and business issues, and of course, the trickle effects of the time travel – something they aren’t aware of for the first bit of the story.

With each chapter, we can see the building blocks of the disaster form. And yet, there are positives sprinkled throughout, giving you hope that it may all work out.

Along the way, there is the suspense of discovering how Diego’s traveling into the past affects the current timeline. From the mystery of the sphere, which highlights Matt’s area of expertise, to the reveal of the biodome where Isabel’s pollinator bots will be a key player in producing food, we watch events unravel and twist together.

With each chapter, we also get to see a small snippet of what AI Madder is seeing, as he keeps track of events in the past and notes any minor or major differences from the virgin timeline. These little snippets are a fantastic addition and really highlight how quickly things can change. They also provide hints for what happened originally and if, perhaps, those events will be avoided, accelerated, or delayed.

Each character’s specialization is key to ensuring humanity’s survival, though it may not always seem like it at first. Diego is one such character whose water systems are important; however, compared to Isabel’s bees, it seems like it won’t matter as much. However, as it all unfolds, you realize that he indeed has a major contribution to the world.

While each character has a connection to the others, I found that Isabel and Diego stood out the most. Perhaps it’s because of the romantic past, or something else, but I enjoyed their chapters more than those following Matt.

Isabel is a strong woman, and despite the numerous setbacks she endures, there is always hope in her future. Her artificial pollinator bees are an amazing invention, but the stain of her ex-husband on the project hampers it more than anything. Speaking of that lowlife, thank goodness none of the chapters are from his perspective because he is a horrible human, and I hated every minute he was on the page.

One character I would love to see more of is Cassandra, Matt’s niece. I completely understand why she doesn’t have chapters from her perspective, however, I’m hopeful that in future books we will get to see more of her because I can see she holds some importance to the story.

This book is quick-paced, and there is a constant stream of events rolling through. However, I will say that this is a detriment to some scenes, especially those emotionally heavy moments with Isabel and Diego that could have used a bit more time to fully process what was happening.

The science behind the time travel, and other aspects (which I don’t want to go too deeply into to avoid spoilers), were really well done. At no point did the story feel bogged down with details about the machines or anything else, which can be a common issue in some sci-fi stories. I enjoyed seeing how the characters came to solve each mystery from the future and how it could or had affected their timeline.

The ending was quite a nail-biting moment, and there is some good to be found; it also hints at more bumps in the road.

Overall, I loved this book. Between the pacing, interesting characters, suspense of things to come, and gripping plot, Hive has a lot going for it. I have already added the next book to my TBR and cannot wait to see what comes next for this trio of characters and the world.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Hive. Have you read this book?

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