2018 #7: Dark Matter (Crouch)

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the joys of not being a scientist is that I can read a book like this without getting wrapped up in the reality of the science. Quantum physics as a field is something I can barely wrap my mind around, so I am not too concerned with plausibility when it comes to reading this kind of sci-fi. Besides, the take away here isn't really about the sci, or the fi, but instead the fact that we walk the earth as a million possibilities. We've all said "yes" or "no" at those forks in the road, and we live our lives, often in memory of the road not taken.

(Very mild abstract spoiler ahead....)

The narrative wore me down after a bit--I got tired of the multiverse, haha. However, just when I had no "ampules" left (that's about as much of a spoiler as I'll give), Crouch managed to reignite the story and illuminate his point. Sometimes we need to create a whole new world when our present one is too full of regrets and paths we did not choose.

2018 #6: A Discovery of Witches (Harkness)

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've never been a fan of vampires. Of all the occult/otherworldly creatures, those are typically the only ones that give me actual nightmares. But one of the true gifts of this book is that you tend to forget that the characters are witches, vampires, and daemons. Diana Bishop is a scholar (and a witch). Matthew Clairmont is a scientist (and a vampire). Harkness crafts each character with such care and attention that I could hardly put this book down. Anyone who has done archival work already knows of the innate magic to be found in touching pages of history, but this book should be particularly appealing to scholars who also enjoy fantasy fiction genres.