The King of May is the second installment in Matthew Tysz’s The Turn series. In this continuing story of a horrific dystopian future, heroes Ashley and Scholar embark on their mission to rid the devastated world of strange post-turn beings of incredible powers. These beings, known as gods, begin to unveil themselves to humanity’s surviving remnants. Each has unique powers over different elements of the world such as the god of forests, god of storms, and god of land. The dictator, Cattleprod, a school teacher turned slave trader, finds his conquest hampered by the discovery of a community created by the god of sunlight. This King of May proves to be a formidable enemy. His city of constantly dancing citizens and his ability to enslave a humanity deprived of true sunlight have created a horrific community of fear and craving. His own sickening appetites and disregard for human life draw Ashley and Scholar into the fray as humanity struggles to reform itself into a functioning society.
Tysz’s writing skills continue to impress. His human characters are greatly detailed and developed. However, many of the gods did not come to fruition as believable. I also experienced some confusion with the relationship between Ella and Scholar. I don’t recall anything from the first novel that would have caused Ella’s murderous intentions towards him. The background of a destroyed and rebuilding world was well expressed. The dialogue was well done for the most part. There is rarely any stiff feel to speaking scenes even when the subject matter is wildly bizarre.
I am afraid that as much as I enjoy Tysz’s writing, I was not enamored of this novel. I actually had a hard time finishing it. The story is wildly complex with many aspects left entirely mysterious. The plot spins off into seriously fantastical realms yet tries to remain gritty and deeply thought-provoking. It reads more like an action movie than I was expecting and I feel the overall theme was lost in this. Towards the end, I realized I had just lost interest. The main characters, as well written as they are, I just did not relate to and ultimately ceased to care how things turned out for them. They are the traditional hero types despite their strangeness and I had no fear that things would end up anyway but with their victory. But, I am glad I stuck it out and finished because the ending twist into cliffhanger was well done.
What I liked most about the novel was the quality of descriptive writing. Tysz has a unique style that I greatly enjoy. What I enjoyed least was the plot that spun off into wildly mysterious and fantastical realms. There was such an overwhelming amount of action, concepts, and character relationships that the story became bogged down before the climax. I can recommend this book to fans of fantasy and dystopian futures as an unusual read. I do not recommend it for young or sensitive readers due to its graphic nature.
Overall, The King of May was a decent read, though not as impressive as Tysz’s other novels, and I give it a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. There were many simple grammatical errors that require me to deduct a star. The other star I deduct for the quagmire of a plot that became tedious reading. Despite this, I remain a fan and still look forward to reading the conclusion of the series.
