Unfortunately, "Eyes of a Hawk" fell short of my expectations. While the premise held promise, the execution left much to be desired. Many readers found the pacing to be sluggish, with the plot dragging on without much payoff. Characters, though initially intriguing, lacked depth and development, leaving them feeling one-dimensional and difficult to connect with. Additionally, the writing style was often criticized for being overly simplistic, detracting from the overall immersion in the story. Despite moments of potential, the novel ultimately failed to deliver a compelling narrative experience, leaving readers feeling disappointed and underwhelmed.

Unfortunately this got into my spam mail and never got to read it, I know I should have checked it but still I'd like to point it out. By the time I wanted to read it it was no longer available.

I read it…do I remember what happened? No…because it was god awful and I’m sad I read all of it. Not my cup of tea sadly. I wanted to like it though.

Reading this, I felt stupid. I couldn't decide if I was being trolled by the author on purpose, or if there was something wrong with me. DNF'd way earlier than I expected, based upon the synopsis.

📖 Title: Eyes of a Hawk: Yggdrasil's Gaze
✍ Author: Sean Crowe
📚 Series: None
🌍 Country of Origin: I don't know, I couldn't find more information on the author.
🔖 Genre: "Ancient Mythology" (?), Adventure, "Retelling"
👥 Favorite character: None.
💬 Favorite quote: “I would say hindsight is a daeva. Maybe foresight is a djinn. But stupidity is a serendipitously sardonic siren."
🌟 Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 1/5 Stars

Tl;dr: This book is extremely confusing, it's not a light read, and I would say it's not even a good read, but you could find some entertainment out of it if you're a very specific kind of person, I guess?

Pretty words don't make for a pretty story. This book reeks of author's ego. Sure, he might be pretty smart and know a lot about the subject and he does know words, pretty words. Big words. He even probably knows the meaning of those words, but my God storytelling isn't one of his strengths at all, in fact I could say it is a major weakness.

We start with the book's several notes (which thank God take up some of the bulk because I could NOT imagine this book being more unbearable and shortening it by adding notes, maps and other stuff takes from the length.) And at first, I won't lie, I was pretty intimidated but I'm always up for a challenge but the more and more I read about this book the less I understood and the more I wondered if anyone read this before publishing and understood it. Maybe they say smart words and went yup that's a good story, it has research and all. But that's not the case, at all.

If you're looking for a mythological adventure, similar to Beowulf or Alcides well let me tell you that you'll have to dig in through an extremely incongruent and confusing language. I thought it was supposed to be some sort of Viking/Nordic myth considering the Yggdrasil was mentioned but they also mention Albanian principalities, use Greek words, mention Indo-European figures such as Daeva and they also mention Djinns, Sirens which add to the confusing nature of... whatever this pseudo-literary work is. I think that the use of so many myths and mixing them doesn't only make it familiar, but it does it so hard it makes it so confusing to the reader that it becomes impossible to even imagine where this is happening while also taking away a lot from the worldbuilding distracting the reader while they try to piece everything together.

Call me crazy but if this supposedly is a translation of an ancient poem then I *highly* doubt the ancient... whatever people are supposed to have written this because the book is so poorly written and the language adds to the confusion, didn't use or even knew words such as 'entopic pixelation', 'kaleidoscopic carrousel', 'concentricity, 'mystical mitosis' and that's just the ones I could take out of ONE page I found particularly infuriating.

There's book that make me feel stupid because I know that if I give it some time I'll eventually understand what's written there, there's some books that confuse me because the prose is bad or the author doesn't know how to tell the story, in this case, sure there is a story but sometimes the events are so excessively 'embellished' by the use of so many adjectives that prove one thing and one thing only. The author has done his research and he's smart, I won't deny it. But seriously Mr. Crowe should consider some lessons in storytelling! Now after going through his vast knowledge of history and myths on a language that probably him and only the Yeli Archaeological Society* understand or care about we go through paragraphs where he used vulgar language and profanity. I thought, well at least this would be mildly understandable just to go back again through several walls of texts that act as a monument to his ego because I can't find out any other reason to tell a story in such a manner that's not to flaunt and be presumptuous.

*To be fair I'm not even sure that's a real society, I even googled it and found absolutely nothing.

I'm pretty sure artistic liberties were taken but at this point I'm not even sure if this was ever a story that existed and was translated or he just made it up and forgot to tell a story by just trying to make it as pretty and descriptive in ways that would even make the most descriptive author I've ever read, Tolkien, seem like a complete amateur at generating a huge preamble to a small scene.

This book wasn't for me for the start, the blurb is extremely misleading but when I discovered that I was just reading to not DNF this was when I got the chapter "Kyia Me a River" never had I ever rolled my eyes and cringed so hard at a book before. This is beyond "dad jokes" level of humor which makes me wonder the reason for this books existence and what went through the author's mind to ever publish this.

If you take away the pretentious vocabulary, the mixture of mythologies, the inconsistent setting, the confusing names, there's a story told about some guy and some people doing some stuff, like hunting beasts which I might say. But the negative points outweigh the little positives this have.

The structure is non-lineal (I guess?) this book is 90% fluff and 2% interesting story, and the rest is just notes and annotations of a society that might or might not exist. A poem that might or might not be real.

This text has a major problem and that is I see very few people caring about this at all. Add more context, plan the story and just don't throw in pretty words for the sake of it.

But I'm not going to lie, I'd love a signed copy of this book and I'll gift this book to other people and when they come to me asking for an explanation, I'm going to pretend that it's an extremely advanced book from them.

But oh well, I'm going to stop this review which reads more like a rant and just give it a lone star, but if you add the potential hijinks you could do with your friends pretending that this is a book extremely advanced for them it goes up to 2.

⭐⭐

Special Note to the author (In case this ever gets to him): Please make your books more readable. Please make us care. If your goal was to confuse people, then congratulations, in my whole literary life I've never felt so confused or infuriated by a book.

Until the next RydiaReviews!

Toodles~!

Rydia ✨

Eyes of the Hawk sounded right up my alley when I requested it! Described as following Hawk through his duties to confront chaos - against assassins, beasts, the fall of an empire. Dragons are mentioned! Everything I should love! I was even more sold when I saw the author was an archaeologist, because I love reading books by people in my adjacent field, they usually do such great work with research and adding in that bit of life that some books need.

Unfortunately, Eyes of the Hawk fell a bit short of my expectations. The writing was unbearably convoluted. It also reminded me of an archaeology teacher I had who told the class about how he constantly had to ‘dumb down’ his writings so that they were more accessible to students and the everyday people who may be interested in his work. Was this book written by my old professor? Maybe, expect he forgot to tone down his writing to make it accessible. I like description. I also think I’m smart enough to understand what’s being written. But, do I want to spend ages parsing through unnecessary description when this is reading for fun? No, not really.

I’m sure this book will find the right audience, but it wasn’t for me. If you like historical fantasy, and want a very in-depth book leaning more towards the historical side of things, give it a go! If you’re looking for fantasy as a fun escapism read, this is probably one to skip over.

I really was anxious to read this book, but... I DNFd at 20%. This just isn't the book for me. O'm so sorry. The prologue is very good , but after that I could not read anymore.
The writing was so overdone that it felt as it i was gasping for air while reading and still no closer to understanding what was happening.

This really did not end up being the right kind of book for me. The summary looked incredibly intriguing, myth, magic, giants, monsters, etc. The book actually opens like a non-fiction book (complete with historical footnotes and context regarding the translation of the myth). I'm not a non-fiction person, so that was a tough slog, but then the book does transition to the translated poems.

At times I enjoyed the stories of Hawk, but perspectives shift quickly, stories sweep by then slow suddenly and I didn't really connect with the stories. I'm a huge fan of mythology, but just was unable to connect with or enjoy this book.

///// English /////

*Disclaimer: I had received a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/10 – 2,5 stars out of 5

“You see, I was taught that life’s like a river; it flows all around us. We lose ourselves in it, and allow the flow to guide our actions. That’s the key to harmonious living. I guess what I struggle with is that, to me, it seems like life’s a valley. A valley tgat floods with warning signs for floods, and I dig ditces”.

I have several things to say about this book. The first thing is that it was very difficult for me to finish it due to the extensive and lengthy explanations. I usually like the details in novels, but I think that this resource has been exaggerated on this occasion.

Secondly, congratulate the author for the great imagination that he has when it comes to uniting so many different things in a single point.

Third, I feel like I've had a hard time reading because I can't have a completely linear story.

The cover is incredible and talks about many interesting topics, such as the reason for our existence and has certain sections dedicated to archaeological and historical studies. I liked reading those parts, although I feel like they didn't have much to do with the rest of the story.

The images that were attached to the narration also served as the pretext of a scientific text that was intended to be emulated at the beginning.

We have monsters, demons, cults, sects, politics... There is everything, but it is true that it is very difficult to stay in the narrative. I would like to read something else by your writer, but not something so dense.



///// Español /////

*Aviso: Recibí un eARC gratuito a cambio de una revisión honesta.

Calificación: 5/10 – 2,5 estrellas de 5

“Verás, me enseñaron que la vida es como un río; fluye a nuestro alrededor. Nos perdemos en él y permitimos que el flujo guíe nuestras acciones. Esa es la clave para una vida armoniosa. Supongo que con lo que lucho es que, para mí, parece que la vida es un valle. Un valle que se inunda con señales de advertencia de inundaciones, y cavo zanjas”.

Tengo varias cosas que decir sobre este libro. Lo primero es que me ha costado mucho terminarlo por las extensas y dilatadas explicaciones. Los detalles en las novelas suelen gustarme, pero creo que en esta ocasión se ha exagerado de este recurso.

En segundo lugar, felicitar al autor por la gran imaginación que tiene a la hora de unir tantas cosas diferentes en un solo punto.

En tercer lugar, siento que se me ha dificultado la lectura por no poder tener una historia completamente lineal.

La portada es increíble y habla acerca de muchos temas interesantes, como la razón de nuestra existencia y tiene ciertos apartados dedicados a estudios arqueológicos e históricos. Me gustó leer esas partes, aunque siento que no tenían demasiada relación con el resto de la historia.

Las imágenes que se adjuntaban a la narración servían también al pretexto de texto científico que se trataba de emular al principio.

Tenemos monstruos, demonios, cultos, sectas, política… Hay de todo, pero es cierto que cuesta mucho mantenerse en la narrativa. Me gustaría leer alguna otra cosa de su escritor, pero no algo tan denso.

I wanted so badly to like this book - look at that cover, it's so beautiful, however, I just couldn't do it. I ended up DNFing around 40%, I just couldn't push myself any further when I really wasn't enjoying it. The writing was really bad. I tried and hoped that it would get a bit better, but it just didn't.

I wanted Norse mythology, and I got Norse mythology! This book has phenomenal backstory and worldbuilding- which I CRAVE in a book! It was a tad intimidating and word-y in the beginning and took a bit to get into- due to the story building, which I can easily forgive. The story building was necessary and I was really glad that it was incorporated.

The fantasy world that was created by Sean Crowe was incredible and I really enjoyed the world he transported me to. The fact that there was heavy Norse mythology but Crowe made it his own at the same time really shows his skills at writing and keeping that originality.

Fans of mythology will eat this book up. I would highly recommend it. Even fans of fantasy alone that love a sprinkle/inspo from mythology, I would recommend.

Truly loved this book and look forward to reading more from Crowe.


Thank you to NetGalley and Matador for sending this book for review consideration! All opinions are my own.

I unfortunately was not able to finish this title. I was intrigued by both the cover art and the description of the book and truly thought this book was going to be right up my alley. However during my time trying to read this, I found it to be a bit confusing and it felt like there was a lot of extra filler. I began to struggle to read it. While I can see it's appeal to other readers, it was just not for me. I don't believe it deserves one star as I do see the appeal for other readers but for me this would only get three because of how much I struggled.

DNFed TEMPORARILY.

The author has a way of appealing to the senses, I was taken away by the descriptions which painted such a beautiful picture. I, however, could not finish the book in time. I would not categorise it an easy read as it is rather complex but no doubt well written thus far.

Didn’t DNF, but quickly realized that there was no way I was going to be able to finish this book in time for the archive date.
So far I am actually enjoying it. It is very complexly written, which I enjoy, but in order to really understand what I am reading it is one that needs to be chewed on. Not something I would recommend for a quick, light read.
However, that being said, I can’t wait to delve further into it and enjoy the world building.

How people tell stories is a fascinating topic, as old as humanity itself. The tools the tellers use to add emphasis and veracity live alongside the executive decisions translators make to emphasize (or de-emphasize) certain aspects of the story for this generation's retelling. Look no further than Cornelia, history's perfect woman—the nature of whose perfection depends broadly upon who is translating her story and in what era.

Eyes of a Hawk: Yggdrasil's Gaze is a story of stories: not just the tale of Hawk, its legendary central hero, but of the people who come after. The book is bookended by fictional notes by fictional scholars, making reference to other figures of this real world. While we spend most of our time with Hawk, following him on his century-spanning adventures, these future readers are always in the backs of our minds.

Sean Crowe's writing style for Eyes of a Hawk is not only intriguing, but also shows a legitimate deep knowledge of early poetry. Much of the book, while not arranged in verse (a decision noted in the fictional translator's prologue), maintains alliterative meter for emphasis. What's intriguing, though, is that this Old English writing style butts up against decidedly modern verbiage. Fictional items of our own world—such as adamantium and Silmarils—are blended into the metaphors. Brash language takes the reins, and occasionally falls into the alliterative verse itself. Several other modes of wordplay are all at work, weaving in and out of each other.

I haven't mentioned the actual story yet, which is because (as interesting as it is) it feels almost secondary to itself. Hawk is a mighty warrior in the employ of the Guild. His world contains dragons and dragon riders, magic alongside an awareness of some version of quantum physics, and has regrown after multiple ice ages. There are ancient legends that sound like and unlike our own. He fights literal and figurative monsters, gets wound up in politics, and—by the end—is in well over his head as he and his equally mighty wife Ilyia see her colossal aspirations through to the end.

Hawk's stories may well contain the fingerprints of centuries of translation and interpretation in his own world, as is hinted at in the prologues and epilogues. But it also, whether ironically or deliberately, has a COVID Chapter. Plagues are nothing new in either fiction or reality, but—much like the adamantium and Silmarils—the treatment of this chapter's subject matter claws its way off the page, reminding the reader of the here and now. Considering how deft Crowe is with mimicking this aspect of ancient literature in the fiction itself, I would like to believe that this was a deliberate move. The metaphor clawing its way through layers of worldbuilding to flick us in the forehead, to remind us that no translation will ever be pristine, that every modern writer will always lean into The World Now while interpreting The World Then. After literal months of reading the expected wave of COVID Books, each less cathartic and more depressing than the last, I want to give him that credit. So I shall.

As I was reading, I noticed something: I was desperate to understand how this setting came to be. The anachronistic metaphors, characters with names just slightly similar to mythological figures I knew, ice age upon ice age... I began to wonder what the deep, rich prehistory of this world was. But the more I looked for clues, the less I found. And I realized that I was becoming another of these historians, desperate to inflict my own meaning on the book rather than to engage with it. Again, I have no idea whether this was a purposeful move, but I will give Crowe the benefit of the doubt here.

Eyes of a Hawk: Yggdrasil's Gaze is a lot. If you're not a fan of ancient mythology and legend already, you may find yourself adrift in the words. But I still recommend giving it a try. If you are well-read in these areas, it's a must. Crowe shows a deft eye and hand for the writing of both the ancients and their modern interpreters, creating a work of fiction that simultaneously lauds and critiques its source.

As a child, I loved following the exploits of Jason and the Argonauts and other heroes, In my college years, I fell in love with Middle Earth when reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. This is the vein that colored my expectations of Eyes of a Hawk.

However, Eyes of A Hawk is a novel of its own. More reminiscent of Beowulf than LOTR, it is apparent that the author was inspired by the verses of Homer. With language more flowery that I typically prefer, the author loves leveraging literary vehicles. Metaphors abound in the pages of this novel. Although the level of details is appreciated, at times it did become difficult to follow the plot.

Despite having a love of fantasy, Eyes of a Hawk was not my favorite. For readers who enjoyed reading epic tales written in the style of Plato and Homer combined, Eyes of A Hawk might be a good selection.

Thank you for providing a copy of this book however I DNF'ed it by 46th page. There are too many descriptive words , like get to the point. It took a whole paragraph before the actual scene. I'm sorry but I can't move any further on this book. Too much adjectives!

Eyes of a Hawk by Sean Crowe


Summary:
Leaf bound by Intrif II, a maddened delinquent obsessed with the early Hedonistic Historians, the ancient poem ‘Eyes of a Hawk’ follows the demise of the woeforging, lifedraining, soulsearing Valestian Primacy at the sword-bitten hands of Ilyia, Hawk, and their amassed force.

In the final battle abreast the snow laden fields of the Untyal Valley, under the watchful eye of the eternal green emerald-dragon Yggdrasil, the blinding judgment of an eternity is unleashed. Their arduous journey through smouldering conflict simmers over a century, taking Hawk from the petty and poverty-stricken colonial hinterlands of Askilt, along the vivid and blossoming village steeped forests and bird stoked steppe lands of the Shorelands, through to the plague-ridden and flame-stained city of Yeli, before its tragic fall and violent purge.

Fighting monsters and giants, demons and despots, aberrations, cultists, soldiers, and tyrants, Hawk in his duties as a member of the Guild is forced to confront the chaos of crises in command. From blackouts to plague-pox, ambushed by assassins, beasts, and climatic tavern fights, the catastrophic fall of the Valestian Primacy is the slow death of an empire founded upon violence and subjugation, sealed, and incinerated, as all are, by a divine, celestial force.

Review:
I’m sad to say this was a DNF for me and here’s why. The different fonts used hurt the eyes of this senior who wears bifocals. They needed to be a larger size. Need to remember not everyone has good eyesight. I understand the reason behind using different fonts and I can say what I read was well thought out and the flow was great.

I really wanted to love this book. I DNFd at 20%. This just isn't the book for more.
The excerpt really piqued my interest but the writing was so overdone that it felt as it i was gasping for air while reading and still no closer to understanding what was happening.

DNF at 16%
I requested this because the premise and description sounded really interesting. And to be fair the framing we got in the "prologue" bit did pique my interest even more. However, it ended up really not being for me.
I can't even say that must about plot, narrative, themes or characters, since the writing to me was so bad that I didn't even get 2 chapters in.
The writing was so overladen with descriptive words, adjectives and adverbs that it was almost impossible for me to follow what was being told. It also made the writing feel really forced and stuffy, rather than going in the direction of flowery purple prose, which i think was the goal (and which, if done well, I really enjoy).
Aside from that the dialogue was littered with cursive to show words that were stressed and it completely threw the rhythm off and made all conversation really awkward.
(the star rating is to be taken with a grain of salt, bc I didn't even get a fifth into the book. However, netgalley forces me to rate it. I will give it 2 stars as a curtesy, but what I read of it was more a 1 star for me)