The first thing that I need to say is that the character reference charts that we get at the beginning of the book were so useful. I get that fantasy books have many characters and that they had odd names, but sometimes it gets difficult for me to learn all of them, so I am grateful for the author to include this very helpful thing! Also shoutout to the cover for being so cool!

As for the plot, this novel has a very interesting premise; the description caught my attention with the struggle between good and evil. However, this was not a fast read for me. You will need some time to assimilate all the information. I do not mean this in a bad way, but there are many characters, places and events, and sometimes I had to stop and think about what had happened before continuing.

The atmosphere of the novel was really interesting. It gave me journey motif vibes with all the travelling, and also kind of mentally for the main character, who grows a lot as he goes along in this adventure. It was really fun to read, and at times I got nervous about the fate of the characters (the helicopter scene about half way through for example).

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, it is somewhere in between a 3.5 and a 4, but if I had to say one negative thing, is that there was too much information thrown at the reader (facts, dates, character’s name and relation among each other) that it got a bit overwhelming.

SkyView is an action packed thriller that takes you on a tour around the world - literally and temporally. The main character, William Ward, finds himself at the center of a historical mystery about the creation of a company that splinters and leaves the heirs divided. As William learns more about his family and the company’s history, he finds that there is more to his ancestry than ever imagined. William joins a team to help solve the mystery of a family will. SkyView has some of the great history mystery qualities like jaunts across the world using all sorts of transportation and danger at every turn. The characters hunt for clues in history to uncover the secret of the will. However, the science fiction aspect offers readers a different way to think about historical fiction. SkyView is high tech ship that allows riders to view history as it’s been officially documented and as it’s been remembered by those who have lived outside the traditional narrative. The book challenges the way history is told, remembered, and documented. As each character pieces together their own interpretation of the historical events surrounding the company’s demise and the will, the reader gets taken on a journey across Europe from the 13th to 15th century.

Great story! This is quite an interesting story with a good versus evil theme. This one covers a 700 year time period. William Ward is an employee for the The Interlake Beer Company. As part of the company's party celebrating it's 700 year heritage, there is a film about the history of the company. William sees that his name is mentioned and that he has a very strong resemblense to William I. Could it be that William's ancestor is William I? Well-written and a very compelling story. I really enjoyed this and will be looking for more books by this author!

This is quite good and engaging. An excellent mix of action and mystery and more. I hope the author produces some other books, since this one is a very good start. He has a good imagination and created a compelling plot with interesting characters. Recommended for sci-fi fans, but since this is such a mix, it should be enjoyed by a why audience.

I really appreciate the review copy!!

This book needs an editor. At the very least, it needs several beta readers, or even proofreaders.

It is a 39 Clues type of story, where a guy suddenly finds out he's the heir to wealth and secrets he can only receive if he successfully traverses the world solving puzzles. But the 39 Clues were more entertaining and also had better technical writing.

The main puzzle of this book is a list of historical events. William, the MC, has to figure out what his secret ancestors were doing throughout these events and why they're connected. A solid seventy percent of this book is the characters reciting Wikipedia facts. They go through the history of every event in a massive infodump. A specific character provides a helpful infodump about each new country they visit. And then, later, they go through the historical infodump an ENTIRE second time. The occasional chase or fight scenes that are sprinkled in are not nearly enough to make this worth reading.

Outside of infodumping, the most personal, evocative writing we have is the occasional flat statement that "William felt [x emotion]." And then there are the multiple instances of strange grammar and incorrect homonyms. There was an instance of "discrete" being used when "discreet" was actually needed. "Tactfully" was used instead of "tactically."

There's this passage: "One of them reached for his gun and managed to fire off a few shots, which Nikher absorbed eloquently." ELOQUENTLY.

There's this: "'One hundred and eighty million,' William screamed in his head as Nikher quietly laughed in his ear. 'Holy effing moly!'" Painful.

This: "William sat with his mouth wide open. His brain was on fire connecting all these people and events. Electrons fired back and forth between his head and the pages of his old book, searching for revelations. Little fires ignited, starting to clarify what needed to be completed." HOLY cow. This weirdly psychedelic imagery needs to take several chill pills.

This: "Bill sat quietly in thought. 'But it's not real!' he finally cried angrily, leering at the wall." I can only assume that the word 'leering' should have been 'glaring,' or something else that doesn't imply that the wall was covered in pictures of scantily-clad women.

This: "William began to feel tired, as if he'd taken in too much information, kind of like what happens to a computer." Does this happen to computers? I can only assume it's meant to evoke hard disk space running out, and if so I wish that had been said instead of this.

The entire book was mechanically, awkwardly written, both in structure and in language, and is definitely not ready to be published yet. It desperately needs several more rounds of editing.