Books Received in May 2026

Many thanks as always to the publishers that allowed me to read advance copies of their books. These books were all sourced via Netgalley.

Treasures of the Vikings by Tom Horne - If you're interested in Vikings and want a nice overview, this is your book. There are numerous photographs of archaeological finds and the book covers the full range of Viking activities. Out now.

Treasures of the Vikings explores the material culture of the Viking Age, and the raiders and traders who plundered and purchased across Europe and Central Asia.

From battles in Estonia in the mid 8th-century and the apocalyptic Viking attack on the monastery at Lindisfarne on the remote northeast coast of Anglo-Saxon England in 793, until the demise of Scandinavian control of Shetland in 1472, Viking groups played a central role in history, as pirates, traders and mercenaries, leaving a trail of destruction, settlements and treasure from Newfoundland to the shores of the Black Sea.

In between, Vikings traded along the great rivers of Russia and Ukraine, conquered in Britain and France, settled in Iceland and Greenland, and enriched Scandinavia with loot.

Marvel at a Frankish Ulfberht high-carbon steel sword, prized by Viking warriors for its strength and lightness, and see the remarkable walrus ivory and whale tooth Lewis Chess Pieces, found on the eponymous Scottish isle in the 19th century.

Packed with photographs of fascinating objects and sites, Treasures of the Vikings is ideal for any enthusiast for all things Viking.

Healthy Living High-Protein Cookbook by Toby Amidor - This is a great cookbook if you're trying to get more protein into your diet. There's a nice mix of recipes using meat and vegetarian options. I've tried several of the recipes and they've been delicious. Out June 16. 

Support Your Strength. Balance Your Metabolism.

Feel stronger and support your health—one delicious meal at a time. The Healthy Living High-Protein Cookbook helps you meet your health goals with easy, satisfying meals powered by protein. Whether you’re strength training, navigating metabolic shifts, or preserving muscle as you age, this book delivers practical, science-backed solutions tailored to your needs.

These delicious, balanced recipes diversify your protein sources to naturally strengthen muscles and improve body composition—creating a foundation for long-term vitality without sacrificing flavor or time in the kitchen.

Invest in Your Strength—At Every Age 

4 Ready-to-Use Meal Plans: Take the guesswork out of your week with plans tailored to different life stages and activity levels.
Total Body Support: Higher-protein recipes designed to support lasting energy, lean muscle, and healthy weight management.
85+ Recipes from Breakfast to Dessert: Enjoy protein-packed bowls, easy dinners, snacks, and even guilt-free desserts.
Hassle-Free Cooking: One-pot and sheet-pan meals that deliver maximum nutrition with minimal cleanup.
Expert Meal Planning Tips: Learn professional strategies for grocery shopping and prep so you never have to wonder what’s for dinner.

From Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, FAND—award-winning dietitian with over 20 years of experience. Toby proves that food for strength and metabolic health can also be food you truly enjoy.

Monumental by Simon Warrack - I'm currently reading this. I thought it was going to be more about the art of carving and the work of a stonemason but it's a standard biography. Having said that, Mr. Warrack has led a fascinating life, and he peppers his narrative with interesting asides inspired by his Renaissance history degree. Out Sept 8

Discover ancient stone wonders and the secrets of architectural preservation through the eyes and hands of one of the world’s greatest stonemasons.

Around the world and across time, the buildings of the gods and royalty have mostly been made of stone. For more than forty years, the eminent stonemason and conservator Simon Warrack has worked on many of the greatest of them. In Monumental, Warrack takes readers on a charming journey to some of the most extraordinary places where he has plied his trade, including the dazzling churches and palaces of Venice and the celebrated fountains of Rome, the vast temple of Angkor Wat in modern-day Cambodia, the glorious arches and cloisters of Canterbury Cathedral in England, and the ancient, elaborately carved Obelisk of Axum in modern-day Ethiopia.

Everywhere he goes, Warrack finds a communality through stone—a shared desire to conserve and maintain heritage that has spanned continents, cultures, religions, and millennia. He captures the joys and the challenges of working with various kinds of stone—marble, granite, limestone, sandstone, travertine. He describes stonecutters’ tools and techniques as they’ve been passed down through centuries, and the sheer wonder of working so intimately on monuments to human ingenuity and divine belief. And he approaches his work with the passionate belief that conservators must be guided by the spirit with which people built, carved, and cared for their monuments. Without this, form and beauty may endure, but their spirit is lost.

Monumental is a thrilling account of historic conservation at the level of chisel and stone, and a powerful argument for safeguarding our shared history.

History Book Review: Treasures of the Vikings by Tom Horne

The book has 7 chapters in addition to the introduction: Playing games: growing up a viking; Production and consumption; House and home; Clothing and adornment; Weapons and war; Trading and raiding; Faith and death. There's an index, a bibliography and picture credits at the end.

The book is heavily illustrated with each chapter having numerous pictures of relevant archaeological finds. It emphasizes the ubiquity of viking culture despite its geographic expansion. I loved the inclusion of so many items from daily life.

The chapters are fairly short, covering a decent amount of information in a superficial way. It's a nice introduction to the life of Vikings, but if you've researched the topic before you won't learn much new.

While the book has information about the objects depicted, and credits for the included photographs, I often wanted to know where the objects were currently housed and that's hard to figure out. Some of the photos are credited to institutions where they're presumably held, but others have Alamy or individual photographer credits, which is less helpful. I may be in the minority for wanting this information though.

It's a great primer on Viking life.

Book Review: Platform Decay by Martha Wells

Pros: entertaining new characters, snarky commentary, excellent world-building

Cons: muted action

Murderbot and Three break onto a gigantic planetary torus so Murderbot can rescue several humans important to Mensah. But their escape is complicated by the unforseen need to rescue more humans and navigate the surprisingly complex torus.

This is a much quieter adventure for Murderbot. While there are some fights, due to the nature of the mission and the presence of kids, it needs to keep the killing and mayhem to a minimum. Instead, there are a lot of quick decisions, directed hacking, and clever manoeuvres. The new humans are interesting and their interactions with Murderbot entertaining. The book has a number of unexpected twists.

The world-building is fantastic as each zone in the torus is run by a different group and so has its own transportation, feed, security, etc. None of which Murderbot knows in advance. It’s ability to plan on the fly has greatly improved.

A new feature in this book is Murderbot’s attempts to deal with its trauma by running occasional (and sometimes frequent) ‘emotion checks’. These provide some nice comedic asides as well as showing Murderbot’s growth as it realizes things about itself and the humans.

It’s an enjoyable read.

Book Review: Chai and Charmcraft by Lynn Strong

Pros: interesting world building with a mix of Egyptian deities and catfolk, conversations feel realistic, highly descriptive

Cons: very long chapters, slow pacing, some confusion about the world and untranslated terms

After a lifetime of following the rules and causing no trouble, the God-Emperor's brother and prophet, His Imperial Highness Nur-ul-Shuruq Faraj al-Nadhir, sneaks away from the palace in which he lives to visit the proprietor of a bathhouse from his prophetic visions, in the Catsprowl for a night of unbridled passion. When his lover is forced to resummon his cat familiar, Faraj ends up accidentally summoning his own spirit-summoned familiar, a pregnant cat. But the palace doesn't allow cats, especially not ones tied to the soul that can be used to harm or spy on members of the royal family.

The book's stakes are fairly low, trying to change things so cats - or at least Faraj's familiar - are allowed in the palace, and hiding the identity of Faraj's low class lover, so he can't be used against the prince. As the book progresses, there is a decent amount of talk about political maneuvering, especially around the various priests congregating in the city. There was one fairly tense dinner scene, but for the most part the book maintains a low key, cozy feel to it.

The world building is such that the place feels lived in. There's a real ambiance to it based loosely on medieval Egypt. I absolutely loved the catfolk and the complex mix of gods and goddesses worshipped. The author sprinkles in a lot of untranslated terms that are mostly understandable from context. Though it did take me most of the book to realize that kulhad were cups holding chai, rather than denoting a drink. Some things about the world weren't really clear to me. I was confused by whether the priests of Upaja and Bastet worshipped in the same temple or had their own distinct practices. I also questioned a few aspects, like the priests of Upaja were said to carry no coin and collected alms so they could cook and provide food to the poor. These priests are also said to be rotund and when the High Priest serves Faraj he has access to high end snack foods. While the citizenry apparently joke about their weight, no one accuses them of eating the offerings themselves thereby taking food from starving supplicants. When orders devoted to poverty start having overweight clerics, that's usually a sign of corruption and lax devotion.

There is a vocabulary and condensed character guide at the end of the book, though a lot of terms, like kulhad and haveli aren't included. Though the guide is mentioned in the table of contents, I didn't realize it was there until I finished the book. The guide does go over a bunch of terms and the identities of the priests, so it's a good reference. There are also recipes and some other end notes.

The prologue contains an off page gay sex scene. There are mild flirtations and some foreplay, but there's nothing detailed beyond kissing. Later in the book there's some more flirtation and innuendo, but it's otherwise a tame book.

For some reason the first chapter is called a prologue. Prologues are generally set off from the text by time, distance, or character point of view. So it's really strange that the author put the events that kick off the plot in one. Apparently some younger readers are skipping prologues these days, feeling they're unnecessary, and will find themselves very confused if they do that with this book as chapter 1 picks up the morning after.

The early chapters are very long and while the conversations feel realistic, they often stall the story's momentum. The prologue and first chapter set-up the scene, but then it takes several chapters for Faraj to arrive back at his palace and anything new of interest to happen. Scene changes were nice, and the first few pages of each chapter were interesting, but quickly got bogged down in long-winded chatter. I found on the whole that the second half of the book was much more engaging as it brings in a lot of political intrigue. There may be too much intrigue if you're looking for a relaxing cozy, as it made me think about justice, laws, and fairness in society.

There are some sweet scenes of people preparing food together and seeing the kittens of the Catfolk ask Furaj for treats was fun. Faraj and his lover, Asharin, are both very kind and I was hoping to see more of them together in this book. My favourite character was the heretical Archivist Najra who steals every scene she's in.

Overall, while I thought the book had some good points, like interesting characters and detailed prose, the length of the book became a hindrance for me.