Book Blog #362: Merlin's Tour of the Universe by Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Title: Merlin's Tour of the Universe

Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson

# of Pages: 381 (hardback)

Genre: Non-fiction, Science

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: In Neil deGrasse Tyson's delightful journey through the cosmos, his fictional character Merlin responds to popular questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin, a timeless visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has observed first-hand many of the major scientific events of Earth's history. Merlin's friends include the most important scientific figures and explorers of all time--da Vinci, Magellan, Newton, Einstein, and Hubble. While Merlin occasionally recounts playful conversations with these luminaries, all questions are answered with authentic science, infused with wit, wisdom, and an occasional rhyme. With the help of intermittent humorous cartoons, Merlin clarifies the details of familiar phenomena like gravity, light, space, and time, and travels to distant stars and galaxies to describe what makes them tick, rotate, explode, and collapse.

Review: This is the book for you if you:

1. Already interested in astrophysics (any level!)

2. Enjoy Neil deGrasse Tyson's unique voice (I recently watched Mythical Kitchen's Last Meal video with Neil deGrasse Tyson and loved how he explained things in a simple yet engaging and entertaining way).

That being said, I am not the type of person who would typically read an astrophysics book recreationally. Neil deGrasses's (as Merlin) fun yet informative responses in this Q&A compilation make this read bearable, but I wouldn't have been able to get a from cover to cover in a timely manner on any book on this topic otherwise.

The Q&A style might actually be best digested one question at a time, slowly over a longer reading period (if maximizing on learning). As a beginner in the astrophysics world, there were some questions (which range from easily searchable questions to meatier topics that require Merlin to distill it down into a digestible answer) that were clearly from people who are starting at a more knowledgable point on the topic, and is responded to in turn. Since I wasn't interested in diving too deep here, I just tried to absorb what I could from the book alone. Despite being a bit frustrated that I felt like I couldn't full appreciate the contents, I do think I came out of it knowing more than I did before, which I consider to be a win!

This could have easily been a 4 stars because I think it mostly achieved what it was going for, in the chosen format for the information. I am giving it a 3 mostly on my personal experience with the book: how much I felt like I got out of it (enough, but maybe not as much as I wished) and how much I enjoyed it (maybe I would have liked it better in audiobook format to feel more of Merlin's personality).

Book Blog #361: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

 

Title: Bride

Author: Ali Hazelwood

# of Pages: 410 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again... Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was…. Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

Review: If I'm being honest, Bride is not a well written book.

If I continue to be honest, I still really enjoyed reading it. 

I've been a sucker for paranormal romance for years, and this was no exception. I was looking for an easy to read, romance heavy story, and this mostly fit the bill. My main complaint is that the build up is really slow (took days to chip away at the romance-less first ~50% of the book, but flew through the last half in one sitting). 

This book is definitely not going to be for everyone. Unlike the Shadow Falls series (young adult paranormal romance books), Bride is closer to The Fourth Wing in that large parts of the book are pure smut. Pair that with the simplistic writing (if only I had a dollar for every time Alpha Lowe's "pupils dilated" upon seeing Misery), sometimes these scenes came off as a bit cringey.

I read in Hazelwood's bio that she likes incorporating STEM topics into her books, but having Misery be a "software engineering major" and calling herself a "hacker" and throwing out random buzzwords ("fuzzly logic circuit") to prove how tech savy Misery was also pretty cringe and felt like Hazelwood didn't fully do her research to write about some in that field.

Characters also like to go on long expositions to tell you exactly what is going on or as an easy way to do character/world building. This makes it easier to follow along but doesn't exactly feel like an organic way for characters to actually interact with each other.

If you're a big fan of paranormal romance or romantasy like I do and want an easy read, this is a good book for you. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.