Review by Winter Swan -- The King of May by Matthew Tysz
-
Rita Baadom
- Posts: 37
- Joined: 26 Jul 2020, 21:26
- Currently Reading: The Freedom Building
- Bookshelf Size: 36
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-rita-baadom.html
- Latest Review: Protectors of the Black Prince by Curtis Stephen Burdick
Review by Winter Swan -- The King of May by Matthew Tysz
[Following is a volunteer review of "The King of May" by Matthew Tysz.]
The King of May by Matthew Tysz is the second book in 'The Turn' series. It tells the story of two men – Ashley, a rich egoistic womanizer and Scholar, one of the best assassins that America has ever produced - who had made it their sole quest to kill all gods after the world as they knew it changed drastically in a post-apocalyptic event they call "the turn". Apparently, an alien being took it upon itself to ‘save’ the world from itself and caused an event that would cleanse the Earth and prepare the few that survived this cleansing for a better world. But the dreams of this being were cut short by our two gallant heroes, thus causing the world to be stuck in a place of gloom, sadness, and hopelessness with no idea of what the future would look like.
The path that these two chose throws them into the middle of a war between two beings – one a human called Cattleprod and the other a god who calls himself The King of May. A war between conquerors of worlds and people. A war that will determine the future of Earth.
The story told was indeed a unique and interesting one. There were times when the suspense was so strong that I couldn't wait to find out what would happen after the current event being read about. This curiosity made me unable to put my tablet down and I was forced to finish the book in just a few hours after I started reading it.
I noticed that the style of naming each chapter after a main character, a style that was used in the author's "We are Voulhire" series was also employed in this book. He even went on to employ his usual first-person and third-person narrative in this book, which I must confess, I really liked as this gave an insight into the minds of some of the characters. The first-person point of view made it easy to see and appreciate events through the eyes of some of the characters. It also made it easy to connect with them because of their pain, torment, and all other feelings that were stripped bare for all to see. This made the characters come alive in my mind.
What I liked most about the novel was the author's graphical depiction of the emotions of many of the key characters like Scholar, Ashley, and Ella. The depiction of the feeling of love and care that the god-slayers Scholar and Ashley had towards each other was just refreshing. I have not read many books where two male characters who are neither siblings nor romantically involved love and care about each other with the intensity that these two characters do and the most beautiful thing for me is that they both knew how they felt. I can't count how many times I was almost moved to tears just reading about the struggle that they felt within when they were temporarily separated from each other. It was truly beautiful.
One of the things that I dislike about this book was the lack of a climax to it. Towards the end of the book, a war broke out between good and evil and both parties came out gun blazing to face their opponent. This was supposed to be a major climax in the story, but I didn't feel like it was one. Part of the reason is that the author bounced around events that were happening at different places but at the same time a lot. Because the narration of each event was short and lacked in-depth details, this left no room for me to emotionally appreciate the happenings, and the feeling that comes with a climax was lost on me.
What I liked least about the book was the author's failure to answer very important questions that would naturally come to the minds of readers. Some of those questions are; "What is really the Turn?" "What caused it exactly?" “Why exactly did the people who were governed by the King of May dance nonstop?” "What really happened to the sun?" The last question really had me confused because apparently, the sun in this post-turn world still shone, but it wasn't like the sun of old and as a result, a gloomy mood was cast across all of Earth. I guess that answers to some if not all of those questions are given in the first book of the series titled; The Turn. I didn’t read the first book before I jumped on this, and I think that is why I was so confused and finished the book with a feeling of dissatisfaction.
In summary, The King Of May by Matthew Tysz gets a 3 out of 4 star rating from me for the captivating storyline, the beautiful writing style, and the almost non-existent typographical and/or grammatical error in the book. 1 star was knocked off the rating for me because of the dislikes mentioned above.
I recommend this book to readers of 13 years and above who are lovers of post-apocalyptic stories. I however advise that you read the first book titled “The Turn” as I’m sure that it answers some of the questions about characters and events that may come up in your mind in the course of reading this beautiful piece of literature.
******
The King of May
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The King of May by Matthew Tysz is the second book in 'The Turn' series. It tells the story of two men – Ashley, a rich egoistic womanizer and Scholar, one of the best assassins that America has ever produced - who had made it their sole quest to kill all gods after the world as they knew it changed drastically in a post-apocalyptic event they call "the turn". Apparently, an alien being took it upon itself to ‘save’ the world from itself and caused an event that would cleanse the Earth and prepare the few that survived this cleansing for a better world. But the dreams of this being were cut short by our two gallant heroes, thus causing the world to be stuck in a place of gloom, sadness, and hopelessness with no idea of what the future would look like.
The path that these two chose throws them into the middle of a war between two beings – one a human called Cattleprod and the other a god who calls himself The King of May. A war between conquerors of worlds and people. A war that will determine the future of Earth.
The story told was indeed a unique and interesting one. There were times when the suspense was so strong that I couldn't wait to find out what would happen after the current event being read about. This curiosity made me unable to put my tablet down and I was forced to finish the book in just a few hours after I started reading it.
I noticed that the style of naming each chapter after a main character, a style that was used in the author's "We are Voulhire" series was also employed in this book. He even went on to employ his usual first-person and third-person narrative in this book, which I must confess, I really liked as this gave an insight into the minds of some of the characters. The first-person point of view made it easy to see and appreciate events through the eyes of some of the characters. It also made it easy to connect with them because of their pain, torment, and all other feelings that were stripped bare for all to see. This made the characters come alive in my mind.
What I liked most about the novel was the author's graphical depiction of the emotions of many of the key characters like Scholar, Ashley, and Ella. The depiction of the feeling of love and care that the god-slayers Scholar and Ashley had towards each other was just refreshing. I have not read many books where two male characters who are neither siblings nor romantically involved love and care about each other with the intensity that these two characters do and the most beautiful thing for me is that they both knew how they felt. I can't count how many times I was almost moved to tears just reading about the struggle that they felt within when they were temporarily separated from each other. It was truly beautiful.
One of the things that I dislike about this book was the lack of a climax to it. Towards the end of the book, a war broke out between good and evil and both parties came out gun blazing to face their opponent. This was supposed to be a major climax in the story, but I didn't feel like it was one. Part of the reason is that the author bounced around events that were happening at different places but at the same time a lot. Because the narration of each event was short and lacked in-depth details, this left no room for me to emotionally appreciate the happenings, and the feeling that comes with a climax was lost on me.
What I liked least about the book was the author's failure to answer very important questions that would naturally come to the minds of readers. Some of those questions are; "What is really the Turn?" "What caused it exactly?" “Why exactly did the people who were governed by the King of May dance nonstop?” "What really happened to the sun?" The last question really had me confused because apparently, the sun in this post-turn world still shone, but it wasn't like the sun of old and as a result, a gloomy mood was cast across all of Earth. I guess that answers to some if not all of those questions are given in the first book of the series titled; The Turn. I didn’t read the first book before I jumped on this, and I think that is why I was so confused and finished the book with a feeling of dissatisfaction.
In summary, The King Of May by Matthew Tysz gets a 3 out of 4 star rating from me for the captivating storyline, the beautiful writing style, and the almost non-existent typographical and/or grammatical error in the book. 1 star was knocked off the rating for me because of the dislikes mentioned above.
I recommend this book to readers of 13 years and above who are lovers of post-apocalyptic stories. I however advise that you read the first book titled “The Turn” as I’m sure that it answers some of the questions about characters and events that may come up in your mind in the course of reading this beautiful piece of literature.
******
The King of May
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Protectors of the Black Prince by Curtis Stephen Burdick
