In the near future, motorsport battlegrounds are skybound in the SkyRace Grand Prix. SkyRacers is a fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping, wild rollercoaster taking you on an edge-of-your-seat ride that you don't want to end. Forty-eight courageous pilots hurtle through the heavens in electric racepods, defying gravity and risking their lives for glory and sporting immortality. Sisters Aleeza and Olivia Martin share a powerful bond and a passion for the skies. As prodigious skyracers on the same elite racing team, they push the limits of speed and skill, captivating audiences around the world. Themes of sisterly rivalry, betrayal, and the repercussions of relentless ambition careen towards a climactic clash. How far are they willing to go to chase their dreams? Discover the thrilling fusion of a Formula E race car with a precision racing plane and helicopter as you buckle up for an electrifying journey in the race of a lifetime when motorsport takes off in SkyRacers.
When detailing the near-future world of SkyRacers, Watters is alive in his passions, creating a believable sport and its traditions from scratch, while always ensuring readers feel up to speed with what’s happening in the race for the championship. Passages detailing the global racing event—its construction, the technologies at play—demonstrate a clear enthusiasm and focus, and the racing itself is fleet, vivid, and exciting. Still, heavily expository prose means that the imaginative world is developed with greater power than the core drama. The breakneck pacing, both during races and outside them, finds characterization taking a back seat. The crisis in the Martins’ relationship—spurred by an airing of secret race recordings by Olivia—unfolds passively, as do several other key dramatic elements, leaving readers who favor character over tech and concept too little to cling to.
There is a living, vivid world full of excitement and drama lurking under the hood of SkyRacers, developed with care and convincing detail, plus compelling scenes of race action—including moments of great danger and surprise—that truly warrant the term “high-octane.” The prose is crisp, and the technology and racing points system are developed with extraordinary clarity and care, right down to charts of pilots’ official standings.
Takeaway: A dramatic, high-flying sci-fi racer with vivid, convincing worldbuilding.
Comparable Titles: Shey Stahl’s Racing on the Edge series, Matthew Reilly’s Hover Car Racer.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A
5-Stars
“Punchy, fast-paced and well-written, with an air of authenticity. Watters cleverly bends a typically ‘boys’ book, embracing all readers by throwing his plot wide to encompass the lives and loves of his characters, and dabbling with more feminine aspects of life as his characters move through the racing season. Keeping us hyped with a neck-to-neck leaderboard and fast-paced nail-biting race sequences, he has us totally enthralled and invested in a fantasy sport of the future, whilst convincing us of its reality. An exhilarating novella from start to finish, ‘SkyRacers’ is cleverly constructed and highly recommended.” Bookviralreviews.com, August 2023.
5-Stars
“A turbocharged adventure fueled by sibling rivalry, angsty athletes, and unadulterated adrenaline. Competition collides with familial bonds in a story where more than a trophy is on the line. Readers are offered the best seats in the house in a narrative powered by aerial excitement and pulse-pounding close calls. With so much excitement in so few words, you’ll feel like you’re in the freefall part of an epic skydive and the parachute won’t open until the very last moment. Meticulously described rotocraft octocopters and state-of-the-art accompaniments will appeal to gearheads while evolved societal ideals and fiery relationship turmoil makes the story approachable for a wide audience.” RC Gibson for Indies Today, August 2023.
5-Stars
“The thrill of NASCAR meets futuristic aviation in the imaginative novella SkyRacers by Matt Watters. Although this story takes place decades into the future, Watters describes the SkyRace competition with such detail that it feels as real as any contemporary professional sports racing league. I appreciate the story's pacing, as so many unique characters and suspenseful events are packed into a relatively short book that there is never a dull moment. An exciting sci-fi tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page, SkyRacers explores intricate character relationships within the high-flying world of ultramodern aerial motorsports.” David Korson for Reader’s Favorite, August 2023.
Apple Books has secured the audiobook publishing rights to "SkyRacers". The audiobook will be released in October 2023 on Apple Books and distributed worldwide through various library purchasing platforms.
