I actually haven't properly seen one, I have looked through and used the information (Internet translations) countless times when completing the ZD Wiki Timeline page, as well as using it for other purposes - out of curiosity. I've seen quite a fair share of the concept art too, so my knowledge on it is fairly ok.
Well we all know it's main selling point; the Official Timeline. Many people criticise it - Three splits, the fact that Link was defeated, obscure placements etc. Well for one, we all tried to come up with our own theories and most of them were flawed and debunked. Nintendo provided a Timeline that actually fits together, yes there was one or two oddities and the fact that there were three splits, but it made sense and that's all that matters. A lot of the placements were actually predicted and well known beforehand, the post Wind Waker games, the first four installments and the Oracles etc. So there wasn't that many surprises considering.
I think a lot of people were annoyed because fans spent ages trying to figure it out only to find out that there was a simple but odd solution (Link being defeated). Now don't get me wrong, there were many crazy theories but I can see why many theorists were disappointed; however, we got we wanted, something official - canon information doesn't come along to often in this form. So the Timeline reveal was a big positive in my eyes, we now had canon information of which to make more logical and structured theories.
There was also information that connected each of the games, they were pretty brief but it did show some acknowledgement. A lot was revised information that could have been collected from in game anyway, but now it was all there in one book for all to see. Basically a lot of the hard work was done, people didn't have to go and research, the information was structured and easy to go through. There were also some other reveals that answered or confirmed fan suspicions, such as the confirmation of the Hero's Shade identity. There could have been more, but still a positive nonetheless.
Now a bit of a contradiction here, but the information given was quite poor in my opinion. As I said, a lot of it was already known about, it was just a pieced together so readers could find it and understand it easier. So there were very few revelations in terms of information for me and I'm sure many people. I was pleased with it, so to say, but I can't help but think they could have tried a bit harder or explained a lot more things. However, that's what I like about the series, a lot of the lore is there to be found and deciphered, this makes for more things to possibly theorise about. I would have also liked more clear and better translations, a lot of statements don't seem to add up.
So at the end of the day, Hyrule Historia was a success in my eyes, a book dedicated to the a series we fans love, filled with interesting concept art (which was probably the best thing about the book), it pieced together a lot of the information and acknowledged a lot of in game races, times and characters. Of course the main draw was the Timeline, I think it was nice to see it being an official source, it isn't as bad as some people made out and it didn't kill theorising, it in fact helped it.
