So, I’m a day late with my wrap up post because……well…..I didn’t realize May had ended. A lot of stuff happened in May, but it still felt like it flew by. But it was a good reading month. I finally feel like I’m out of my slump. And I read a lot of books that I enjoyed. I don’t think I gave anything less that four stars. I’ve got a great bunch of books to talk about. Let’s get to my May 2022 wrap up.
The Way of Kings
Synopsis:
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.
One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.
The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.
Speak again the ancient oaths:
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.
and return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.
My Rating: 5/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/05/06/the-way-of-kings-review/
Deserter
Synopsis:
A vengeful family hides an army deserter for eight years after the end of World War II, cocooning him in a false reality where the war never ended. A pair of girls look alike, but they’re not twins. And a boy’s nightmare threatens to spill out into the real world…
This hauntingly strange story collection showcases a dozen of Junji Ito’s earliest works from when he burst onto the horror scene, sowing fresh seeds of terror.
My Rating: 5/5
My Full Review: I love Junji Ito’s work. Deserter is full of short stories and every single one of them is scary. Definitely worth the read.
The Last House on Needless Street
Synopsis:
In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three.
A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time.
A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.
And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.
An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.
My Rating: 5/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/05/16/the-last-house-on-needless-street-review/
Gallant
Synopsis:
Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for Girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal–which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home; it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile, or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.
Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant–but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.
Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?
My Rating: 4/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/05/20/gallant-review/
The Witch’s Tree
Synopsis:
A tale as old as time. A spirit that has never rested.
Present day
As a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises to be the perfect place to forget her problems, and Selena settles into her new home as spring arrives. But it isn’t long before Selena hears the past whispering to her. Sloe Cottage is keeping secrets which refuse to stay hidden.
1682
Grace Cotter longs for nothing more than a husband and family of her own. Content enough with her work on the farm, looking after her father, and learning the secrets of her grandmother Bett’s healing hands, nevertheless Grace still hopes for love. But these are dangerous times for dreamers, and rumours and gossip can be deadly. One mis-move and Grace’s fate looks set…
Separated by three hundred years, two women are drawn together by a home bathed in blood and magic. Grace Cotter’s spirit needs to rest, and only Selena can help her now.
My Rating: 5/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/05/23/the-witchs-tree-blog-tour-review/
Matilda
Synopsis:
Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil, child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security.
My Rating: 5/5
My Full Review: Matilda was re-read for me. I still absolutely love it. Roald Dahl created a story that will be loved for centuries.
Old Wounds
Synopsis:
Old Wounds is a collection of 15 crime stories that twist and turn through every page. Each story involves intriguing characters and a variety of timelines. All coming together to make a crime anthology that you don’t want to miss.
My Rating: 4/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/05/19/old-wounds-review/
So that’s my May 2022 wrap up. Did you read any new favorites this month?
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