Hive: Madders of Time Book One

⭐️ Finalist for the 2025 Hoffer Book Awards Grand Prize - Rated 9.5/10 by the BookLife Prize in Fiction ⭐️

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 journey.

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?

Tense, emotional, and thought-provoking, Hive is a story of survival, love, and the unforgiving paradox of time itself.

Engrossing doomsday thriller spliced with heart, humor, and second chances.

Publishers Weekly

D.L. Orton writes vividly, bringing us right into the scenes.

Independent Book Review

Beneath the story's smart-alecky exterior is a very smart interior, developing character relationships [and] time-travel concepts in fresh, imaginative, and strangely relatable directions-considering they involve quantum physics and parallel universes.

Kirkus Reviews

Most remarkable is a longing to continue spending time with each of Hive's characters.

Independent Book Review

A gripping blend of science fiction, post-apocalyptic survival, and time travel intrigue

Manhattan Book Review

Characters that feel real, emotions that hit hard.

BookTrib