Title: Oversight
Author: Dennis Batchelder
Publisher: NetLeaves
ISBN: 978-0-9798056-6-0
Genre: Fiction / Young Adult / Action & Adventure / Survival
Pages: 345
Reviewed by: Arthur Thares
Hollywood Book Reviews
When thinking of science fiction, the mind usually goes straight to the far future of flying cars and killer robots, but there is a fun niche of storytelling that involves technology which doesn’t exist today – though it feels like it should. Oversight is one of those stories which involve a dash of fantasy mixed with technology we don’t have yet, but everything else is so commonplace it feels like this story could be happening right now.
The Overseers are a group of leaders of an ancient organization called Soul Identity who are responsible for driving events worldwide, and Zelly is a seventeen-year-old heir to be an overseer. The only problem is that Zelly worries that her friend Ying may want to be the only overseer.
A mixture of technology and magic allows overseers to jump back into their lineage and experience the same things through the eyes of their soul-line ancestors. Though the experiences are eye-opening, they can also be dangerous, as Zelly soon finds out. As a misunderstanding threatens the entire organization, Zelly must wrestle with her feelings about Ying to save the future of Soul Identity.
Author Dennis Batchelder has done what seems impossible in this day-and-age by creating a refreshing new world. The idea of Viking is such a fun and exciting take on sci-fi and fantasy. The story is entertaining and moves at the perfect pace without sacrificing character development. The best way to describe Oversight is that it is a perfectly balanced book. Mr. Batchelder never spends too much time on any plot point and doesn’t fill the story with frivolous fluff to pad his page count. He doesn’t fall into the traps of other writers who feel they need to insert pointless subplots or overly descriptive love scenes that do nothing to move the story forward. This book has some mature content, but it is handled masterfully and doesn’t become a focus of the story.
Oversight is a new entry into Dennis Batchelder’s Soul Identity Series, and it will make you want to read his other books. Hopefully, there is more to come for Zelly, Ying, and all of Soul Identity. Writing like this is not commonplace, and we need more from Dennis Batchelder and writers like him who are committed to storytelling and producing unique ideas. All readers will absolutely love this story, and even if they are not a fan of the genre, they will become fans of this series.