Eifelheim
Michael Flynn
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    for readers. In 1349, one small town in Germany disappeared and has never been resettled. Tom, a contem…
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June 7, 2024

Eifelheim by Michael Flynn – a stunning page-turner where a reader will learn a good bit about the medieval world and medieval philosophy, about the Catholic church and Catholic theology, about theoretical physics, historiography and mathematical history (cliology), about the clash of values and cultures when a small German village in 1348 makes first contact with aliens from another planet. And, yes, 1348 marks a time when the Black Death stalked great swaths of Europe during the Middle Ages.

Author Michael Flynn packs so much into his epic tale where we're presented with two unfolding dramas:

1) One morning in the village of Oberhochwald, Father Dietrich, learned scholar and village pastor (and the novel's main 14th century character), shivers and hugs himself, musing: Something will happen today. So it does. "A great burst of light washed through the stained-glass lancets in the north wall of the church, casting rainbows." And "An avalanche of thunder followed upon the flash; and the bells in the tower pealed a mad, arrhythmic clanging." All falls silent and Dietrich looks at the cracked windows and knows for certain whatever had been approaching his village had arrived.

2) Historian Tom Schwoerin and his long-time girlfriend, a physicist by the name of Sharon Nagy, sit in their small apartment near La Salle University in Philadelphia. Tom shakes his head; he's frustrated, flummoxed and completely baffled. Why was Eifelheim, a village in the Black Forest abandoned and never resettled? As a seasoned medieval historian, Tom knows it simply doesn't make any sense. Sharon suggests he visit La Salle's library to search through musty old, obscure documents to hunt out the answer he so urgently seeks. Tom does just that which proves the first step in a number of astonishing revelations.

For a reader's ease of reference, Eifelheim includes:

1) a map for Oberhochwld and Vicinity, 1348-1349;

2) a list of fourteenth century characters (including a separate list of individual aliens herein called the Krenken);

3) a list of women and men in Tom Schwoerin's world;

4) Historical Notes;

5) Physics Notes;

6) Terms and Sources.

Thank you, Michael Flynn! There's a wealth of information and ideas to keep track of and these easy references add much to one's reading pleasure. Eifelheim contains way too many surprises for me to say anything further about arc of plot. Thus I'll make a quick shift to a highlight reel:

CONTACT

Dietrich and two other townspeople catch sight of a circular clearing in the forest “as if a giant had swung a scythe through it.” And around a most unusual structure, the trio can see strange creatures “spindly, gangly, misjointed” and “long, hairless surmounted by expressionless faces lacking nose and ear, but dominated by huge, golden, globular eyes, faceted like diamonds, that looked nowhere but saw everything.” The woman with Dietrich walks down among them, cradles one of their number that appears injured and bids the pilgrims welcome to the hospitality of their home. Contact is established leading to much interaction between townsfolk and “the Krenk.” For, as Dietrich observes: “They called themselves the Krenk, or something to which the human tongue could come no closer.”

COMPUTER SCREEN

On his second visit to the pilgrims' clearing, Dietrich watches as one of the Krenk sits before what he takes to be a work of art. “A thin rectangular frame held a painting of a flowered meadow against distant trees. It was not a bas-relief, and yet it had depth! The artist had evidently solved the problem of rendering distance on a flat surface.” And when the Krenk touches the surface and the images change, Dietrich gasps and stumbles backwards. The medieval reaction to various technological gadgets adds a special spice to the tale.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

Readers with a background in either the hard sciences or philosophy will derive great pleasure in all the many dialogues highly educated Dietrich has with the Krenken possessing a comparable high level of conceptual understanding. Scholastic Philosophy meets the world of Isaac Asimov.

SCHOLASTIC CATEGORIES

At one point a Krenk tells Dietrich how, in effect, the Krenken evolved from lower animals over millions of years. And the medieval priest's response to this statement? Perhaps predictably, Dietrich reflects: “Yet, if the Krenken were ruled by instinctus, the rational appetite could not exist in them, since a higher appetite necessarily moved a lower one. Which meant that the Krenken were beasts.” It appears Dietrich is projecting earthly, human preconceived categories on the extraterrestrials, judging them as either animals or “human-like.” As I was reading this section, I wondered how open Dietrich was to the possibility of what we now see as the phenomenon of evolution.

SONG AND DANCE

During one evening's entertainment, the villagers dance to music. The Kranken do not. Rather, the group of Kranken, so much like grasshoppers, begin to leap but not together or in any recognizable pattern. As one of the Kranken tells Dietrich: “Each of us is alone inside his head, with but a single thought 'Because we die, we laugh and leap.'” Now that's food for philosophic reflection! Are the Kranken more cut off from each other than humans are cut off from one another? In other words, do the Kranken live in a thicker, more isolated shell of subjectivity? If so, then this might go a long way in explaining the rather unchristian, Nietzschean ethic they espouse.

I could go on but I'll stop here. Notice all of my highlights relate to the medieval period. What gives this Michael Flynn novel its unique zest is Tom's Eifelheim revelations by way of Sharon's help and his own unflinching scholarship. For each reader to discover.

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*Note: I'm reading Eifelheim for the second time. I'm also listening to the audiobook. The two stories, one in the medieval world and one in our present day, take on a richer, deeper meaning on a second read. You know what's coming and all discoveries Tom unearths hold greater significance. Also, those details in thoughts and actions and happenings in 1348-1349 become even more vivid. What a sensational novel. Like myself, Michael Flynn is a La Salle University grad. He was a few years ahead of me. Dang! I wish I had an opportunity to know Michael.

American author Michael Flynn, born 1947

August 12, 2015

In all fairness, I ought to give one or two more stars to this novel for the following reasons.

The sheer amount of research put into the novel to make a complete picture of a small medieval German town and it's surrounding politics, not to mention the great walk-on parts of Occam and the peripheral references to Roger Bacon, made the novel a true tour-de-force.

Mr. Flynn's well-thought out idea behind hyperspace was explored quite thoroughly and also deserves much praise.

Even the basic premise behind the novel, where chivalrous knights meet grasshopper aliens, where priests are successful in converting bug-eyed aliens to christ, and a humanistic treatise on the nature of charity applied equally to the alien and the human during the horrible times of the Black Plague made the novel shine.

Why I am not giving the novel a 4 star or a 5 star is purely upon me. I was bored. It took an awful long time to get through the novel, for me, and I'm generally very forgiving for every text I pick up. I can usually find great things to say about a novel even if I didn't quite like it.

I'm in a different position for this one. I liked it. I liked it quite a lot. Unfortunately, I wanted more action, more reveals, more melodrama, more something that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps I would have been as happy with the novel without the present day sequences. Perhaps I would have been more happy with a lot more philosophy shaken in to the situation. These are personal preferences, and I know that's such an obvious thing to say within a review. I want to apologize for not giving the book more stars because I feel like it tried so hard and was brilliant on so many other levels. If I were to say that the novel was technically great, I wouldn't be wrong, but it also drops the hint that something was missing.

Perhaps, in the end, what I was looking for amidst the beautiful detailed description of the world he wrote was something as small and juicy as a theme. Perhaps I just wanted a theme that was beyond the good christian alien.

I really feel guilty. It was good. I just have the feeling that something was missing. Maybe it was me.

July 10, 2013

An interesting take on the First Contact story. This one takes place in the Middle Ages, as an alien ship crash lands in the Black Forest of Germany near the small village of Oberhochwald. Tied in to this tale of the past is one that takes place in the present as two researchers (and lovers) try to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the village of Eifelheim (once called Oberhochwald) from recorded history and the implications this may have on their separate fields of study.

I found the tale in the past to be the more compelling of the two, though they do work well together as a whole. Flynn does an excellent job of bringing to life a realistic Middle Ages that doesn't look sneeringly down on the "superstitious savages" of that age. All of the characters we meet in Oberhochwald are fully developed people, none of whom are simply "good" or "bad". In many ways it is actually they, and not the extra terrestrials, who are the real aliens to the modern reader as we struggle to comprehend the worldview that they take for granted. Despite this I found them all to be ultimately sympathetic, human characters. We primarily follow the story of Father Dietrich, the intelligent and sympathetic pastor of the Oberhochwald church as he first investigates, and then befriends the benighted starfarers, but all of the other people from his village whom we see cover tha gamut of human experience and become more than just placeholders for "character type X".

The Krenk, the insect-like aliens from another world, are by turns humorous and frightening in their interactions with the humans of the small village and Flynn again does an excellent job of making even these non-human pseudo-hivemind creatures into fully fleshed-out "people" (without falling into the trap of making his aliens simply humans in rubber suits).

As the story in the past builds up from a mystery into a full-blown tragedy that both we and the characters of the story see as the almost inevitable outcome of the circumstances in which they find themselves, we can do little but watch in fascinated horror. Despite this tragedy Flynn does not leave us without hope: we see in the heroic actions of the characters of this tale (both human and alien) an acknowledgment that goodness can cross all boundaries and we are given examples of selflessness and love that are truly inspiring.

Next to this tragedy of life, love and death it perhaps isn't surprising that the story of two modern researchers grappling with the intellectual enigma of a lost medieval village and the secrets it may hold pales somewhat in comparison. The modern portions of the story still do hold some interest and are ultimately able to bring the tale full circle to a point of completion that is elegant in its resolution.

Highly recommended.

Also posted at Shelf Inflicted

December 28, 2012

ETA (12/28/12): this one stayed and stayed and stayed with me. Thus, I'm raising it to a five-star book, from my previous waffling and dithering "hovering between three and four for this - so I will think about it for a while" - and this equivocating review.

The Good: unique first contact premise. Making the Krenkish human enough to spark empathy, but still alien enough to be ... alien, and yet believable. The history. The up-close-and-personal look at how the plague devastated communities (yuck. and sad.) The poke at history v. science as a means of truth and fact-finding. The compassion; the selflessness - Dietrich's for the Krenkish; the Krenkish for the Eifelheimers during the plague.

The Not-so-Good: the "coincidence" that joins the two timelines is completely unbelievable. And how much was "undeveloped" - the relationship between Judy and Tom, e.g., which was supposed to provide some kind/enough friction between Tom and what's-her-face, his partner - the physics prof - to keep that timeline interesting. It wasn't. Dietrich's back story (anti-climactic, as was the special "tea" the Krenkish were drinking -- both of those should have prompted horror; instead, they were foreshadowed so much, and tossed off so casually when the time came for the big reveal, they fell flat. The "I" in the narration - who? why? I may have missed something here.

The Plodding: the physics bits - well, maybe that's just me. Some of the 14th C politics -- not enough to add to the story in any real way, but enough that it bogged the plot down.

The Unexpectedly Great: the portrayal of the Middle-Agers in the midst of technological advancement - caught between two worlds, literally! - and their mode of inquiry into the world around them as sophisticated and nuanced. Nice myth-busting, there. The lovely contrast between Fr. Joachim and Fr. Dietrich and their priestly styles. And, not an elf to be found anywhere.

If you've read and enjoyed The Sparrow and/or The Doomsday Book, you will like this one.

July 22, 2023

Now I know how the physicists must feel! It's not often that a work of science fiction engages with history as a discipline, and not just as setting. Which means it’s not often that my training as a historian almost ruins a book for me. Eifelheim opens on a historian convinced his mathematical models prove a particular village in Medieval Germany should be located in a particular spot. He is flabbergasted and disturbed that it is not—and so launches the plot.

This is absurd. Mathematical laws do not govern history. That doesn't mean statistics aren’t useful. But where history differs fundamentally from natural science is that each study is discrete. Spend years analyzing wills to understand inheritance practices in Massachusetts, and what you’ll uncover is precisely that: inheritance practices in Massachusetts. If you want to know about inheritance practices in New York, you'll have to do the study over. The historian’s partner is a physicist with outlandish theories of her own. I’m used to accepting alternate-reality physics in science fiction, but seeing how absurd this so-called historian's ideas were made me wonder how a lot of science fiction must read to physicists!

The characterization in the contemporary parts of the novel is also underdeveloped. There is a love triangle, but clearly it does not interest the author. Or reader. All of which meant that I very nearly set Eifelheim aside. Luckily, the story soon jumps back to the 14th century. Everything that doesn’t quite work in the contemporary part of the novel—the characterization, the science, the pacing—works beautifully in the historical part (which, fortunately, takes up the vast majority of the novel’s page count).

The novel captures incredibly well the way that theology provided the conceptual framework for natural science in the medieval and early-modern world. Most people have difficulty grasping Christianity as a cosmology, because even devout Christians have completely rewritten their weltanschauung around modern science. But before modernity, Christianity was more important as cosmology than as practice. Even someone who didn’t care about or attend church believed that theology explained the universe.

Eifelheim’s protagonist—a village priest with a suspect past—grapples with advanced science in the conceptual language of medieval Europe—and the result is funny, clever, and illuminating. And precisely because the novel is so attentive to ideas, the characters come alive, their conceptual universe throwing their selfhood into relief. It is an old trick, akin to the endless digressions of the 19th century novel. Pages of outdated research on whales is a key part of why Ishmael and Ahab are so captivating; the ways of knowing of their world throw their inner lives into relief. It's a trick literary writers have mostly forgotten, I suppose because outside of science fiction and fantasy readers have mostly rejected it.

This has been an odd little review. But then, Eifelheim is an odd little book. The prose is quite good. Like the best science fiction (don't say speculative!) it is elevated by quality and consistency and attention to detail, rather than flourishes of ornamentation. There is a scene, about halfway, when the aliens—Krenken—attend a dance at the local manor hall. It is absurd and unspeakably delightful. Much later, the plague comes (this is no spoiler), and the absurdity of the fiction renders the absurdity of the truth almost unbearable. The book transcends.

August 6, 2019

Eifelhiem is vaguely reminiscent of Connie Willis and is also similar to the writing style of Geraldine Brooks. One of the best parts of this story is the description of medieval philosophy mixing with contact with an alien race. Like Alienation and Peter Jackson’s film District 9 (and I imagine that Flynn’s aliens resemble the District 9 prawns somewhat) the author also creates an allegory to examine and explore xenophobia in all its forms.

This is a good description of middle ages and the Christian church of that time but elements of a Saturday Night Live-esque dark comedy seems to poke through frequently and I am sure that was unintentional. Told in alternating narratives, the first and most frequent is of 1348 Germany, through the voice of a village pastor and the second is of modern times and of scientists researching the odd history of the little town; Flynn does a good job of changing his writing style to match the perspective.

Interesting and entertaining, it could use some more stringent editing. There are many slow parts to the book, where the narrative dragged into tedium, however, the author provides a good ending and winds up the tale very well, worth the effort to get there.

March 16, 2010

First of all, a shout out of thanks to Ceridwen who, in reviewing this book on Goodreads, introduced it to me. It was a great review BTW and you should read it too.

We don’t often talk of the minor characters in novels: the walk-on parts with a few lines and no names. I think for this review, I just want to focus on two side characters. They are not terribly important, but their stories and the different trajectories they take lend added resonance to the main story. Julie Cao is a researcher and librarian. She comes into the story when Tom Schwoerin shows up in her library to conduct further research on the phenomenon of Eilfelheim. Theresia Gresch is a herb woman and healer who lived in the village of Eilfelheim when it was still known as Oberhochwald some 600 years before Julie.

Both meet the aliens, the Kranken. Theresia meets them in the flesh; Julie only via documents and the stories told in them. Although perhaps it would be closer to the truth to say that Julie is the one who truly meets the aliens through her empathy and her imagination as Theresia never really sees them at all. All she sees, all she can see, are the images of devils in her head, put there by her religious beliefs and the rape she suffered as a child.

That Michael Flynn so thoroughly fills out the inner lives of these two side characters is testimony to one reason why I loved this book. That their divergent stories so heartbreakingly echo the story’s theme of the need to reach out with empathy, to try to connect regardless of how cracked a glass it is that we look through, that was the other reason.

June 24, 2010

3.5 Stars. Rich, detailed writing. Michael Flynn is a very good writer and this book was meticulously researched. I am someone who really likes books that pay attention to detail and spend the time to develop the world of the book and this one does that. The major drawback for me (and the only reason the book does not rate higher) was that the 1348 parts (which were the majority) got a bit boring and tedious. Though well written, I just found myself begging the author to move the story along. The "Now" parts with Tom and Sharon were excellent but were simply too short.

That said, the author did an excellent job of weaving the various story-lines together to reach a very fulfilling end. This is one of those books that I liked better after finishing it and assessing the story as a whole then I did while I was actually reading it.

Nominee: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2007)

Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2007)

September 22, 2012

Oh, jeez. This sounded right up my alley. Contrary to other reviewers, I think Flynn spent too much time on the main characters - as uninteresting as they were, maybe it would have worked better if he stopped trying to say anything about them and just let them be stock plot vehicles. No, instead he goes on at bizarrely indulgent length about these self-satisfied characters. Vaguely pathetic husband who thinks he's better than he is; vaguely modern Wife With A Real Job who thinks she's better than he is too; Good-Hearted Religious Figure who also sees value in science, in order to be friendly to the modern agnostic/spiritual sci-fi reader; simple peasant who acts as a vehicle for GHRF's vague feel-good religiousy wisdom. Listening to any of these characters talk to each other is a singularly miserable experience, made worse by how Flynn really thinks he's providing insight on complex characters. And oh, how brilliant he thinks he is.

His biggest crime, though is the peppering of the text with useless tidbits out of the English in order to make the book sound more intellectual. (For disclosure: while I'm only fluent in English, I grew up with a fair bit of Spanish and a smaller bit of Hebrew, later learning a bit of Mandarin Chinese and Yiddish, and teaching myself to read Cyrillic characters; with the appropriate language dictionary I can make quick work of short pieces of text in most languages I've dealt with so far, and my biggest obstacle to polylinguality is lack of persistence in retaining vocabulary.) There are a few reasons to switch language in the middle of a text:

* There is a specific need to use a word or words in the specific language (this is why when Nabokov is translated, specific words are not). Maybe the word doesn't have a good translation, and so its usage by other-language speakers is something that happens with some commonality. Maybe it's normally said in that language despite capacity for translation, and to say it otherwise would be strange. Sometimes it's just logical for the character: one might say "That's the way it is" while another might say "Cést la vie", and if saying the latter, the reader will usually understand that the character is making a choice to say it in French, and will probably understand what it means or at least be able to infer its meaning.

* The intended readers will understand the language used, or at least most of it. For example, a book in Spanish and English written to be accessible specifically to people with the experience of growing up bilingual in those two languages. For that matter, certain academically specific language fits into this definition too. This gets into complicated author choices, and unless you really know why you're not translating or defining, you should err on the side of translating or defining, or make it clear that the book comes with prerequisites of knowledge (again like many academic texts, which may state a brief definition of some terms while stating that other terms should be familiar to anyone with ____ knowledge).

* It's necessary for the characters or story, and translated as necessary for the reader to be involved; if not translating because it's expected that the readers won't understand and don't need to, readers who do understand should be kept in mind. It's not a book, but Firefly is a great example of using a different language as it was necessary for the characters and story in a way that didn't require translation, while totally ignoring what it's like to actually be someone who understands that language. What the show got right is that with a word here or there, context fills in meaning if the reader doesn't understand those words; for those who do, hopefully, if there's any additional information in the translation it's unimportant to the plot and not distracting from it due to the author using a word that actually has a completely different and irrelevant meaning. The more text not in the primary language, the more a reader who doesn't understand the text has to be prepared to skim through what they're going to read as avaoxdn snelau s nvavsvvvv afelivserlv, scowense murisadc.

It's not a bad thing to include language outside of whatever the book is written in, but when you do for no apparent reason, you sound like a pretentious tool and, often, are a pretentious tool. After yet another instance of Flynn having a character remark to themself several sentences in German or Latin or something - perhaps a logical choice for the character because of their background - and then not translate it at all, I wondered what the purpose of the language switching was and came up dry. As near as I could tell, the sentences were some sort of commentary on the character's outlook on the world (which, as mentioned, was already a waste of text), and there was no apparent reason to put a block of text in where a few words would impart similar meaning and depth, other than to up the word count.

I gave up. After a few chapters any bit of plot that I was interested in was so loudly drowned out by the overwhelming pretentious twittishness and utter lack of anything to be pretentiously twittish about that I couldn't do it any longer. Is there something worthwhile to pushing through this book? Other reviewers tend to suggest nothing that can't be found elsewhere done better, but I don't know for myself and with luck I never will be so lacking for something to read that I do find out.

November 4, 2023

This reading serves as a tribute to the author, who recently passed away.

It can be said that this novel places us in two environments that are quite alien to us: the first, in the late Middle Ages, with the omnipresent weight of religion that shapes every human experience, but in which ideas begin to germinate that they will take us to the Renaissance and ultimately to the Enlightenment, that is, the triumph of reason and science over religious ideas; On the other hand, the author shows us a way of life with a very different evolution from what we know on our planet.

The author excels in the portrait of the Middle Ages, it is clear that there is a lot of information work behind it, as he himself points out at the end. This novel has reminded me at times of the also fascinating The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, due to the philosophical-scientific discussions between the scholarly protagonist and the visitors from another world. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis also, because it also describes the devastating effects of the terrible Black Plague, but the similarities in the two cases end here.

the most fascinating to me are the interactions between the scholarly protagonist, Father Dietrich, and the aliens; and the perplexity that each feels when sharing their respective worldview: the Christian vision of the world of the former and the knowledge of the universe of the latter. Also worth highlighting is the description and behavior of the characters, very well depicted in my opinion.

A very original science fiction novel that I admit I should have read a long time ago, and that I recommend if like me you haven't read it yet.

August 23, 2009

This book and I had a frustrating, love-hate relationship. We went to the movies and out to nice dinners. We went for long walks along the river. Then we battled over who should make the bed and who should empty the dishwasher. We fought and said hurtful things. But we also had some great make-up sex. The only thing as memorable as the love in this relationship was the enmity. Hence the three stars in my rating.

First, the things I hated:

Mr. Flynn apparently speaks several languages, including German, French, and Latin. He might also be familiar with Ancient Greek and Middle High German. That’s great for him. I am impressed by, and envious of, people who know lots of languages. I do not, however, appreciated it when those people show off their ability to me. I don’t speak or read German or French. I certainly don’t speak or read Latin, Ancient Greek, or Middle High German. So when Mr. Flynn writes entire sentences (in some instances entire paragraphs) in those languages I don’t know what he’s trying to tell me. Sometimes I can figure it out from context and but often I can’t, and I simply don’t have the inclination to pull up my web browser every time I hit some German or Latin and look it up. Maybe Mr. Flynn’s use of languages doesn’t bother you; maybe you know some of them or you don’t mind looking them up every three pages. But it really bothered me. At a couple of places it turned me off so much I had to put the book down ... and I almost didn’t come back.

The priest, Dietrich, is way too clever. Not just too clever, but too enlightened and too open-minded for a Catholic priest in 14th century Europe. I had to suspend disbelief to take Dietrich seriously. But, that wasn’t so bad. I rolled my eyes a few times but it didn’t piss me off like the languages.

The different writing styles used to fashion the medieval storyline and the modern storyline. I actually enjoyed both storylines and felt, for the most part, that they intertwined and connected pretty well. But it also felt like they were written by different authors. Maybe that was intentional? I don’t know. But instead of coming across as thoughtful I thought it came across as lazy, like Mr. Flynn just cut-and-pasted from his earlier novella of the same name. I haven’t read the earlier novella so I don’t actually know.

The final thing I didn’t like: the end of the book felt sudden and rushed. It was like the author just got tired of writing, or maybe ran up against the publisher’s deadline, so he threw the remaining plot points in, put the cap on, and called it a book. The last 20 or 30 pages just didn’t seem as thoughtfully or carefully written as the rest of the book. Unfortunately this meant the book ended on a bad note for me, which probably contributed to me giving it three stars instead of four.

Now, the things I loved:

I’ve never read historical fiction that did such a good job of portraying the “alien” mindset of humans from another time period. Flynn understood something I had never given much thought: that humans living in another time period can be just as “alien” as any aliens. Just like plenty of sci-fi authors make the mistake of putting human brains in alien bodies, plenty of authors would make the mistake of putting 21st-century human brains in 14th-century human bodies. Flynn didn’t make that mistake. The medieval humans in Eifelheim were at least as alien to me (more alien in some ways) than the extra terrestrials. I don’t know how Flynn did that, but it gave me no end of fascination.

Next, I loved the conflict between the medieval villagers. I loved the parallels between their conflict and the conflict in the modern storyline. Even more, I loved the parallels between the medieval villagers’ conflict and the conflict in our society today ... and this brings me to the thing I loved most of all about Eifelheim ...

THE LOVE. Some of those medieval Christians exhibit love that ought to shame many a modern-day “Christian.” Dietrich and a few others take the command to “love your neighbor” very seriously.

So many people forget that Jesus gave us two unambiguous, incontrovertible commands to hold above all others: love God, and love your neighbor. (Matt. 22, v. 34-39.) Dietrich recognnizes that Jesus placed no qualifications on his command to love your neighbor. Jesus didn’t say to love only those that look like you, talk like you, and think like you. So Dietrich embraces his new neighbors with unconditional love. I believe this is a message of which we all--regardless of personal faith--can use a reminder now and again. Perhaps it's the message that, more than any other, if it’s really taken to heart by people of all creeds, can save humanity from itself. I know, I know ... that’s cheesy, unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky thinking. But so what. I say love your neighbor and see what happens. What have you got to lose (besides getting the plague or being burned at the stake)?

June 7, 2023

Dedicated with affection to Julie Davis, Jorge Sáez Criado, Manuel Alfonseca, the members of Catholic Book Club and Victor Carpetano.

Well it's funny, but lately before the criticisms of the books, which I read. I am always telling my story with the book, I'm going to add a comment, and this has a very interesting history. Years ago kept as it could not be less in a collector of Catholic writers. With the writer Julie Davis, and talked about many interesting things, and many books. Recommended me good books "the captain of Castilla" of Samuel Shellabarger https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... & from_search = true "Cruel beauty" writer Rosamund Hodges) This I liked more than "the captain from Castile". Ya_que it was their personal interpretation of the author of the story of beauty and the beast in a parallel world similar to the Greco-Roman society with echoes "while not have face" of C.S. Lewis, and the poems of T.S. Eliot) https://www.goodreads.com/book / show/15839984-cruel-beauty? ac = 1 & from_search = true

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... & from_search = true

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Spanish users interested can find Rosamund Hodges novel published by Kiwi https://www.edicioneskiwi.com/libro/b... . Returning to the excellent recommendations of Julie Davis, there was always some but which prevented me to give their recommendations five-star. Already know the Spaniards are masters at finding fault with the work of creation. In this case the literary creation. But in the end Mrs. Julie Davis had to hit. The name of Michael J. Flynn came when Mrs. Julie knowing collector wishes me about Michael J. Flynn, and his novel "Eifelheim". The argument Let's say it was promising to meet some aliens with a German population of the middle ages. I did everything possible to get it, but take long time. The only copies the Barcelona library Gigamesh sold them, and did not have anyone who went to Barcelona for the book-(.) Over trust people like Pol Gines did more than speak well of this book, and talk about the possibility that the poor aliens were not only not burned by the Catholic Church, but developed by his own will to the same. I had to get it as it was. So I went to my bookstores which for me is the best library of Valladolid the tree of letters https://www.elarboldelasletras.com/ (al´´i buy almost all of my books), and finally, after years of fruitless searches got me to do with this copy.

I can only say one thing to the users of Goodreads, the effort was worth it. There are few times, but it happens, you get the feeling before reading that an author is exceptional, and then you discover when you get the book (which is rare), it's even better than I expected. This I step with the writer Shusaku Endo, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... _ is curious, but this book reminded me of one of his novels (the most autobiographical) "scandal" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/ 25207.scandal in which a Japanese Catholic writer writes masterpieces, but fails to capture another colleague writer. In this case called Kano (Yes, as one of the villains of Mortal Kombat) he says, who, despite his novels of martyrdoms, and the Catholic faith, and torturers, which resembled the same Kano (always asked me who would be Kano, perhaps out Mishima (, or some other Japanese writer), however, sure the protagonist (alter ego of the own Shusaku Endo) finally gets to write the work, which finally allows you to understand Catholicism, and to realize that sure is a great writer. The same thing happened to me with "Eifelheim" Michael J. Flynn finally my friend Julie Davis was right full in its recommendations. He could finally put a five to a book, which she recommended me, but also finally allowed me to realize, and understand the middle ages.

Dear users of Goodreads I am a historian, and I never thought the hoaxes of Liberals left, and materialistic right against the middle ages. It is in fact not entirely correct to think of the middle ages as an age of backwardness and intolerance, although many do so. But on the contrary, as an era of hope, in which humanity, like that in the century i. met a great joy. Despite whatever the Dan Brown's turn. It was a century where humanity was supervised by the Catholic Church, and had since the 11th century - 13th best Kings, and it was a great splendor. Interestingly it was the left who claimed the middle ages, as that such a glorious period I think Jacques Legoff, or July Valdeón Baruque among others, who returned modern age half your dignity. But let us be honest I who am a follower of g. k. Chesterton https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Hilaire Belloc https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Christopher Henry Dawson Dawson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . We have long been in which intellectuals, and even historians (which led to an interesting debate to me and the writer Manuel Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... this took place from reading (from "Imperiofobia, and black legend" of Maria Elvira rock Barea, I also recommend https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... & from_search = true ) my friend recognized, that had lost much of their faith in the history, but I recognized, that other scientific disciplines were equal. I must confess, that though conversely I must admit my guilt on this fact. That has been due to historians have ceased to treat history as a discipline, and have turned it into an ideological weapon, influenced by the zeitgesia, or the prevailing view of the times. More than scientific research, and documents have left us because of fashion writers, and prejudices. The politicization of the own historians has also contributed to, and with ominous education plans, this has led to a crisis in the field of literature and the humanities. Also has influenced negatively particularly in Europe have followed ideological currents, and philosophical most destructive ever since the 16th century has gone from bad to worse. Particularly the last years of the secularizador and Marxist may 68 have been an age of lead for Europe, and Western culture. Historians, and other sciences we should sing the mea culpa. We have forgotten the primordial intention of those who created this social science Leopold von Ranke Protestant (and wrong on many things, as in his view of Catholicism), influenced by Sir Walter Scott https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... Walter_Scott and his vision of Carlos fighting Temeraire decided that it was very interesting, and decided to study it for yourself. Am not going to deny the authority Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, which holds that it was Gian Batista Vico who think history https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , however both men had something in common (before the) positivism will hijack the history), and is that history was the action of God with man through time, and Ranke and Vico history allow us to understand, and to love God. Clear, which before were Herodotus, and Thucydides, but not frequency until the end of the 18th century, beginning of the 19th century. As explained during the race, emerged several trends, which reduced history to statistics, it made her unbearably boring, or as in the case of certain trends subordinated it to a repulsive ideology. In Europe we believe that everything collapsed with the fall of the wall of Berlin. We follow diagrams wrong Marxism, the Dray, the liberalism of Francis Fukuyama https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... & from_search = true with his grim book, already passed by subsequent events · " The End of History and the Last Man". As ideologies failed, we thought that the story was sinking with those ideologies. So I'm talking about the end of the story, and the only good thing is that there was freedom, and each one has acquired the approach that has given him the win. The problem is that this can lead to relativism.

It is therefore more necessary than ever recognize errors, and combat prejudices. For example despite the debt I have with Umberto Eco https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... & from_search = true . In 2007 it was desolate, because the thesis and the thesis is choked me, and was made powder by a personal problem. Then my father knowing the gloom in which I found myself. I recommended "How to write a thesis" was enough to help me, but as a novel "the name of the rose" me taste I recognize that it was written with the worst of intentions. Attacking Christianity, as Umberto Eco was a notorious anticlerical, and crush thought medieval Scholasticism, while Eco postulated modern secularism, and heresies. "The name of the rose" had been an entertaining Gothic thriller with flecks of detective novel, Sherlock Holmes-edged (William Baskerville was not more than that, and also Adso of Melk was a transcript of John Watson) in this case were one denunciation of medieval fanaticism, while served as the author, for their personal vendettas in this case with Jorge Luis Borges (in Friar Jorge de Burgos). This led to Juan Manuel de Prada to his brilliant writing "Echoes of echo". With this novel echo, which was a good writer I think a literature https://www.religionenlibertad.com/ec... of suspicion, which in the end I just creating a literature of the suspicion, that has led us to Gnosticism, new age, and a invented Christianity, to divide the Christians at the same time, attacking the hierarchy. Inheritors of all this are Katherine Neville, Dan Brown, and a lot of English writers, and German. In some cases people's ideology of left-wing, to continue crushing the Catholic Church has put together, also these people believe in the black legend against Spain, which began in Italy, and was developed by Protestants, Calvinists, enlightened, liberal deists , and izquierditas. In this case we have the case of Ken Follett. This group of writers Juan Manuel de Prada satirizó them brilliantly in his novel "white Blackbird, Black Swan" (soon I'll write a review on it). https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... through the character of the witch Alferez. Lessons of historicity, and what should not be done, I would recommend people read "Europe and the faith" of Hilaire Belloc, who recommended avoiding the prejudices of the present, and get into the mindset of someone of the period we are studying. The same G.K. Chesterton in the story of "the curse of the golden cross", in "the incredulity of Father Brown", where a group of people are fooled by the murderer, making them believe, that will die because of the curse that occurred in the 13th century. Father Brown is to speak of history, saying that it can not die for something that did not occur in the 13th century, and has not ever happened. Everything the assassin told them bag it of novels, and prejudices, as I would say in the economic history of the present time (economic materialism). G. k. Chesterton, who wrote (something you know a history of England, and "Everlasting man" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... & from_search = true https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1....) Do The_Incredulity_of_Father_Brown? ac = 1 & from_search = true by what will know something. It gives us another tip to part of the democracy of the dead, and is studying those which we live, and we have achieved this prosperity. I think unfortunately in writers such as Derrida Said, that have done so much damage out to the West. Of course, that we have made mistakes, but I certainly believe that this continuous self-flagellation does not solve problems, it aggravates them, and only serves, so that unscrupulous people handle people, to carry out their shady purposes. This Europe, which makes a mockery of the middle ages, is no better than these people. It is now sacrificed children, practiced euthanasia, does not move a finger in the drama of immigration, it is leaving entire continents to die of hunger, and exploited their resources without moderation, while hypocritically inserting its ideology in these regions. That, think, with more abortion, and forcing those countries to not have children will be happier. When we have seen, that the Malthusianism has failed, and if kept is because certain plutocracy waters of moneys to parties of both ideologies, who defend these aberrations. Dictatorships, already knew it will insult the past, and is loa the present, while talking about the future, that takes us to where is a dark age. Those who warn us against this are stigmatized, and pushed into a corner.

However, as I'd say Tolkien https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... sometimes with fantasy you can tell us the truths, that political correctness us denies, who has interest in keeping us in this State are the jailers. But thanks to this genre, you can tell the truth. I acknowledge, that all little, that I know of history, part of my debt with my father, Professor Ramón Bayarri Oliván, and my university professors I owe is to books, and novels. Precisely you learn much correcting their mistakes.

This makes it brilliantly "Eifelheim" as I said on twitter, finally not wrote a criticism of the "Crown" of Nancy Bilyeau https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... & from_search = true https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Michael J. Flynn offers me a nice consolation. Tell the life of a priest Dietrich (normal), which is not a hypocrite, an abarraganado priest, a modernist, a fanatic, skeptic. He is not a man of his time. In fact, it is a scholastic. Here want to go against the great writer Orson Scott Card sci-fi https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , comment on his blog (I recommend the interesting review of Barcelo), that "Eifelheim" It was the new "in the name of the rose". Totally false, since it is exactly the opposite. As a good science fiction novel there are two timelines (which makes this novel is revindique from a historical point of view) is the story of Hochwald (future Eifelheim) with its intergalactic contact (something that Carl Sagan would have dreamed of another anti-Catholic) notorious), and then there are the investigations at present carried out by Tom Schwoberin, Sharon Nagy, and Judy Cao regarding what happened to Eifelheim, and why it's a cursed place, or gone. Mrs. Julie warned me, that that was what could displease me, but on the contrary I like. Because it is a sample of archaeology, and reconstruction of a historical period is an investigation. To reconstruct the history of this medieval town, Flynn has made a titanic effort, surrounding sources, and writings of the time. This novel is an ode to the scholastic, resurrected by León XIII, and the Abbot Mercier. Quoted to Santo Tomas de Aquino, Roger Bacon, Pietro Areolus, to Buridan (the master of Dietrich), to Nicolás Oresme, even the reviled Guillermo Ockham has an onset, and Flynn, shows it as it is. I.e., a man, superb , and egocentric, but a great sage, which paradoxically is going to reconcile with Rome (surprising for defenders of the current nominalism). It is also very brave Flynn in the position of the Jews, of course there was persecution, but for the most part, they were defended by the noble, and the clergy. In fact, it speaks of brave decision of Clement VI to defend them. Says matters, of which I knew things, but little. The existence of the Kingdom Kazaro, Franciscan trips to China as William Rottbruck, before Marco Polo. Chinese trip to Europe. Heresies are mostyrdas as what they are mostly seen in the case of Joachim, as ravings of madmen. He gets to Joachim of Fiore, for what it is. An illuminated, with frustrated Futurist trends. Attacked the Archelder (as different from the vision of the spiritual echo), in fact, Dietrich, protects its pupil of this people, and cares as a daughter. Dietrich, despite being a retiring man, and shy is made with love as the reader. Equally, the people of Hochwald. In fact thanks to its Scholasticism, gets to communicate with aliens, and be arranged, so that this does not end in tragedy. Because there are outbreaks of intolerance, by both seiners. According to the ideal of Universitas Christianas are made efforts to keep the peace on both sides. Dietrich does for charity, Joachim the enlightened, it is your opportunity to become demons. It also shows the complexity of the policy of the 14th century in the Holy Roman Empire, and throughout Europe. It is true that the own Flynn takes liberties, and ahead of the facts. For example the speech of Manfred that noble so different from which painted us Follet in their hatred of classes) against Falkenheim. Flynn is not left guided by their ideology, and their prejudices, and talks about what she likes the reader human conflicts, and human nature. Conversions there dream come reality of father Francisco conversion of aliens.

Debris will come by the plague, which will be as lethal as the flames in the movie flares, and end up being the end of a dream. Here unlike other novels if matter who dies, and who lives, and each death is felt and mourned by the reader. I am sure that my friends Alfonseca, and Jorge Sáez Criado will like https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . Alfonseca can not resist to amend the theses of Sharon Nagy, and I hope that this book will become one of his classics. In short, an authentic, enjoyed, a book counter, I do not understand as it has no better note by users, nor do I understand, why in my country not were more copies? Flynn is in a glorious group of writers of fantasy that Dean R. Koontz

April 7, 2010

I can't say this enough: I love stories that start with a simple premise (e.g. in Eifelheim aliens crash-land near a small 14th century German village) then follow the characters as they react and interact with the situation.

I'm really wavering between 4 and 5 stars for Eifelheim. Yet another conundrum due to the Quantized GoodReads Ratings. Let's lay out the case for each:

Five Stars:

I was really mourning the end of this book because I felt like I was so thoroughly immersed in the 14th century German village. I loved the characters, and even the minor ones had back stories. I wanted to share a mug of beer and natural sciences discussion with Dietrich on Frau Honig's porch and have Theresia blend me some herbs for my headache. I wanted to go to one of Herr Manfred's fetes and dance and laugh with Mannfred, Max, Gregor, Lorentz and Trude.

The aliens were well and truly alien: from their way of speaking, their systems of logic, their mating and their sense of justice. It made for a rich first-contact story.

I found the occasional use of German (and alien-translated German) really natural and entertaining. I spent a year in a German-speaking Kantonschule in Switzerland, so Tom's Germanglish felt amusing and natural. When Flynn literally translated German words into English, it made the Krenken really sound translated and foreign. One example was "to oversit" was used for "to translate", where the German term is Übersetzen.

Final evidence for giving 5-stars is Tom and Judy's modern day historical research fit the 14th century pieces nicely together.

The evidence to drop a star:

Sharon and Tom's relationship in the modern-day interludes. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Why are these two together if they have so little respect for the other person and their life's work? I was so excited to read this knowing there was a female theoretical physicist (rock on!), but Sharon was self-centered, shrill and rude. OK, she's brilliant, but I'm shocked someone hasn't smacked her in the face sooner. This cosmologist emphatically does not want to be friends with Sharon.

Also, I was hoping for a little more stitching of Sharon's sci-fi discoveries with the alien race. The sci-fi end of the modern-day pieces felt wildly disconnected to the overall story until the last possible moment.

Since my gripes really are about a fraction of the modern-day pieces, I'm going to give Eifelheim the benefit of Quantized GoodReads Ratings.

QGRR=5

November 27, 2023

This was my first work by Flynn, and while I really enjoyed parts of this, there were other parts that dragged. First off, Flynn really tackled a doozy issue here-- aliens landing on earth in the 14th century, square in feudal Europe (what is now Germany). Flynn juxtaposes two time lines throughout the novel-- 'now' and feudal times, around the time of the Black Death. While I really enjoyed the feudal era and characters, the 'now' part I found wanting.

The now features a couple; one a historian and the other a physicist. They are an odd couple to be sure, always pursuing their own research and hardly seem liked a couple at all. The historian, Tom, is trying to figure out why a part of Germany was never repopulated after the Black Death; according to his statistical models, a new town should have emerged there. Meanwhile, Sharon is deep into the cosmos, trying to (basically) theorize a new understanding of the universe.

The aliens are intriguing, but basically almost a 'Star Wars' type-- hominid, but called 'grasshoppers' due to their long legs and chitin, but basically 'human' regarding their motivations and so forth. When their ship crashed landed, they first hid out, but were eventually discovered. Some people in the nearest town thought them to be demons (of course!), but the local priest was more accommodating, seeing them as stranded travelers. The interactions among them and the town folk was fun, as was the attempts to explain science terms to feudal era people. I thought the town folk to be remarkably 'advanced', especially the priest; they seemed almost modern rather than tradition bound peasants.

As the tale from Germany goes on, we keep flipping back to 'now' and Tom and Sharon's musings. This part of the novel could have been cut completely, but it does play a role later in the story. As much as I enjoyed the aliens and Germanic people, the now part was always a bummer to get back to. Tom and Sharon's obsessions just grew old rather fast. Overall, a really novel story to be sure, but not sure one I would recommend outside of people interested in historical fiction. 3 alien stars!

December 26, 2020

This was such a walk down memory lane, that I can't review it objectively.

Yes, there is a lot of description of medieval life in the Black Forest that draws out the story and isn't exactly necessary for the plot. But what the hell! The whole medieval part is set in places where I grew up and have the fondest of memories of. I got so homesick listening to it that I loved every minute.

So, if you didn't grow up in the area of Freiburg and the Feldberg in the Black Forest (or have a profound interest in history of the late 14th century of that area) it may be a bit long winded in parts.

But apart from that this was a very refreshing take on the first encounter SF topic. At least I have never read an SF novel set in the Middle Ages. A village pastor encounters aliens whom he first considers to be victims of the plague that slowly spreads through Europe. The 14th century part of the novel tells of Christianity and demons, of benevolence and mistrust and the (im)possibility to embrace the other.

In an alternating plotline a contemporary historian tries to figure out why the Black Forest village "Eifelheim" disappeared, while his girlfriend, a theoretical physicist, works on a possibility for alternative space travel.

I was more interested in the medieval plot, because the philosophical and religious questions fascinated me. Yet both lines work well together and come to a satisfying conclusion.

"Eifelheim" isn't an action packed or exciting tale. It is more for readers who like philosophical topics in their SF. This together with the Black Forest setting was a perfect combination for my taste.

January 7, 2012

The gap between the supernatural and the natural narrows in this brilliant science fiction chronicle set in medieval Germany. The universe is both a cruel and beautiful place. Life is truly miraculous to overcome both, the black death and deep space travel. Reality is not categorized between science and faith but encompass both. These are just some of the thoughts you have after reading this book.

There is so much I would like to say about this book, but will not because I want each person to discovery the hidden treasures buried within. Make no mistake there are treasures buried within, but keep in mind they are buried. What I mean is this is not the easiest book you will ever read, but it is well worth the effort. Two elements of “hard science” and “hard history” are used to set the stage for some very real characters that find themselves in some unbelievable hard places.

This book mixes two genres, historical fiction and science fiction in a seamless fashion. This is not an alternate history, but apart of our past that remains unknown. You have to be willing to “get into” the past. You are submerged in medieval Germany, but you toggle to modern times with a little subplot that pulls together in a very satisfying way.

Take your time and enjoy...

August 9, 2015

Fascinating book! This is a blending of sci-fi and historical fiction: a first-contact scenario that takes place in a 14th-century German village. The villagers must deal with aliens among them while the threat of the Black Plague presses in from all sides; meanwhile modern-day researchers are trying to unravel the mystery of a medieval village that was abandoned and never resettled.

The premise is a little far-fetched but the book is so well written that you hardly notice. I'm definitely going to seek out more of this author's work.

** Mild spoilers **

It's a little hard to swallow the idea of medieval villagers tolerating the presence of aliens that look like giant insects. I don't think our instinctive aversion to such beings would be so easily overcome even now.

June 26, 2012

Mike,

I liked your review and read the book because of it. So I'm very grateful.

I agree with everything you say, especially the clunkiness of the "Now" parts - what made that so bad was that the characters were completely one-dimensional and unconvincing and, well, annoying. I wondered whether there was any point in a contemporary counterpoint to the main story. Perhaps it did something - the idea of the few surviving signs of the story being around, and being understood, as when they find the Grasshopper Last Supper painting near the end, was moving.

But the main narrative just blew me away. One thing you don't mention, Mike, is that the book is also deeply about religion and love.

Besides LeGuin, what other first-contact novels are there, of the "anthropological" variety?

January 6, 2012

I'm afraid my review here will be brief - the book is due back at the library today and, to be honest, I've been distracted by a very sick cat and haven't had the time or inclination to focus on reading.

That said, overall I found Eifelheim an interesting book and would recommend it. As other reviewers have noted, it's a parallel story: The first part is set in the "Now," where Tom, a historian, and his lover, Sharon, a physicist, are pursuing the elusive answers to mysteries. In Tom's case, it's why the village of Eifelheim (nee Oberhochwald) was abandoned during the Black Death but never resettled; in Sharon's, it's the TOE ("theory of everything"), the Holy Grail of modern physics. It turns out the answers are related.

The second story (IMO, the more interesting) takes place in the aforementioned Oberhochwald from 1347-1349, and recounts the First Contact between humans and the Krenk. Flynn's evocation of Medieval society is brilliant, and his characters are fully developed and distinctive, including the aliens.

There is an overreliance on coincidence to move the story along (especially in the "Now" chapters), which diminished my enjoyment of the story, but I did like the philosophical debates and found a kindred soul in Father Dietrich, the village's priest.

September 16, 2019

After a slow start, I rather enjoyed the book. Without giving too much away, I really appreciated the portrayal of medieval people not as pitchfork-wielding dumb rednecks, but as reasonable and, at least in part, well-educated and smart people. The dialog of the main protagonist, Dietrich with his visitors were very well-written and plausible, indeed.

This also has to be one of the best researched books I've read in a long time. Both the medieval and the modern strand of action were very plausible and well-drawn, and despite the massive amount of detail, there was nearly nothing that made me even raise a mental eyebrow. Only the last segment, in the modern Black Forrest setting, disappointed me a bit. I'd be really surprised if anyone can find two workmen named "Sepp" and "Gus" with drooping moustaches, descended from a long line of fishermen (in the case of Sepp Fischer) and stoneworkers (in the case of Gus Maurer) who are willing to ride without seat belts on the open back of a Japanese pickup truck on German public roads for hours...

Despite this nit-pick, a very good bock. I would have given it 4.5 stars, but decided to act in dubio pro reo...

June 17, 2016

Somewhere in here in a good idea. The notion that first contact happened, not after the industrial revolution, not after we'd already achieved or were even dreaming of space flight, but rather in a time period where the very notion wouldn't even have made sense, is provocative and interesting. There are some good things in this book, but they were marred by a tendency to be far too cute, and the fact that the historian in the present annoyed the fuck out of me.

Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

August 7, 2010

When I realized that several days had gone by that I hadn't picked up a book because I was dreading the idea of finishing this one, I realized it might be time to just send it back to the library. The print was so tiny that it kept giving me headaches, and the pacing was glacial. From reading a group discussion about the book, I desperately wanted to read the interesting bits, but it just wasn't meant to be.

November 17, 2007

A researcher investigating the disappearance of a Bavarian village (Eifelheim) in 1349 learns that a spaceship crashed in the area several months before the area was abandoned. It sounds preposterous but it's absolutely wonderful.

May 9, 2023

The plot of Eifelheim relies on two huge coincidences. First of all we have Sharon, a theoretical physicist with a special interest in an obscure branch of mathematics which may one day, she believes, make travelling between universes possible; sharing an apartment with Tom, a theoretical historian, who is the first to notice a hole in the map, a medieval village—Eifelheim—which should still be there today but isn’t. And, second, we have an alien ship crashlanding on Earth at precisely the time and place—Europe in the 1340s—that the Black Death was wiping out as much as half the population.

Eifelheim’s medieval name was Oberhochwald, one of many small villages deep in the forests around the town of Freiburg in southern Germany. Through the eyes of its priest, Father Dietrich, we get a pretty detailed picture of what daily life back then was like: its cottages and huts surrounded by the classic strip-cultivated land; its mill and forge, castle and church. Dietrich himself is intelligent and open-minded, well-versed in fourteenth-century philosophy and science; although a believer and clearly devout, his role as pastor in a Black Forest backwater also gives him the solitude and time to contemplate, not only his God, but Nature and universe too.

I guess this latter is a third coincidence, now that I come to think of it, because it is into the very parish of this rational and imaginative man that something otherworldly intrudes early one August morning. In the pre-dawn gloom Dietrich notices a strange glow on a nearby hilltop; he feels…odd, then notices the hairs on his bare arms standing on end and sparks snapping and arcing from a pair of copper candlesticks. To most of the locals these would be supernatural phenomena, but to the modern eye (and Fr. Dietrich’s too) they’re clearly electrostatic effects. Later, a “building” is discovered deep in the woods, and later still there are glimpses of what to many of the villagers are “demons”. To our modern eyes again, accustomed to science-fiction novels and films, this is a wrecked ship and its alien crew; and as word spreads, while some fear these “demons”, others go to aid and feed the injured.

This is more historical fiction than science fiction really, and for me the story itself got bogged down at times in some of the details of medieval politics for example. On the other hand, its depiction of daily life is fascinating—like an alien planet in itself in some ways. One detail I particularly liked was how alien (i.e. modern) technology might have looked to the medieval mind. Less imaginative, though, are the actual aliens, who could have flown here directly off the pages of C S Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet (the seroni, or what Ransom calls “sorns”) and, again for me, the most unforgettable thing in the entire book was something all too Earthbound: its ghastly descriptions of people suffering and dying from the baffling horror of the Black Death. Beside that (and I think perhaps this was the point) a shipful of strangers from another world paled to insignificance.

October 23, 2021

ENGLISH: A good historical-science-fiction novel about Germany and Europe in the fourteenth century, at the time of the Black Death. The science of the time is well described through the memories of a priest in a small village near the Black Forest. The description of the mode of operation of the Inquisition is correct, and devoid of its Black Legend.

I have noticed a single scientific mistake about the fourteenth century: they "prove" that the Earth cannot revolve around the sun because the fixed stars don't show a parallax. But the distance between the Earth and the sun and the distance to the "fixed stars" were approximately known since before the Christian Era, therefore they would know that any parallax, if it existed, would be undetectable for the naked eye.

The "NOW" part is also science fiction, for the "science" described is not exactly current. Therefore rather than "NOW," this time should be called "TOMORROW" or "SOMEWHAT IN THE FUTURE." There are ramblings about the speed of light not being constant, and about a "polyverse" (additional space dimensions). Sharon speaks as though string theory had been confirmed, which is has not. Her "eleven dimensions" add one to the ten of the M-theory, an imaginative extension of string theory, which postulates just nine dimensions (eight for space plus one for time). Those extra dimensions probably do not exist. But the reactions of other physicists to Sharon's theory give a good picture of how new theories must fight the scientific establishment. Cliology is an invented science, more or less the same as Isaac Asimov's Psychohistory in his The Foundation Trilogy. This is another science fiction element in the "NOW" time.

In summary, I liked better the part of the novel set in the fourteenth century than the "NOW" part.

The aliens are supposed to be technically advanced enough to be able to perform interstellar travel. However, their theoretical and practical science is at the level of the "NOW" science. They mention Einstein's equation about the equivalence between matter and energy; they use computers, microphones, radio-communication, explosives, pistols, and a few other things we also have now. And they know about Sharon's "heretic" scientific theories, which are supposed to be used for interstellar travel.

The extra-terrestrials "marooned" on the Earth are described as giant insects, similarly to other ET species in literature, such as those in Ender's Game (buggers) or in The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells. Human fantasy has limits, and to describe really alien intelligent species we must resort to well-known animal forms, such as insects, the octopus, or hairy worm-like beings, such as those in Legacy by James Schmitz or in my novel Under an orange sky.

The science-fictional part of the past is well blended with the historic part of the novel, rather than being an eyesore, as I have found in other books.

ESPAÑOL: Una buena novela histórica y de ciencia-ficción sobre Alemania y Europa en el siglo XIV, en la época de la Peste Negra. La ciencia de la época está bien descrita a través de los recuerdos de un sacerdote que ejerce como párroco en un pueblo pequeño cerca de la Selva Negra. La descripción del modo operativo de la Inquisición es correcta y ajena a su Leyenda Negra.

Sólo he detectado un error en la ciencia del siglo XIV: "demuestran" que la Tierra no puede girar alrededor del sol porque las estrellas fijas no muestran paralaje. Pero la distancia de la Tierra al sol, y la distancia a las estrellas fijas, eran conocidas aproximadamente desde antes de la Era Cristiana, por lo que tenían que saber que cualquier paralaje, si lo hubiera, sería indetectable a simple vista.

La parte "AHORA" también es ciencia-ficción, porque la "ciencia" descrita no es exactamente la nuestra. Por lo tanto, en lugar de "AHORA", este tiempo debería llamarse "MAÑANA" o "HACIA EL FUTURO". Se habla de que la velocidad de la luz no es constante, y sobre el "poliverso" (dimensiones espaciales adicionales). Sharon habla como si la teoría de cuerdas estuviera confirmada, pero no lo ha sido. Sus "once dimensiones" añaden una a las diez de la teoría M, una extensión imaginativa de la teoría de cuerdas, que sólo postula nueve dimensiones (ocho espaciales y una temporal). Esas dimensiones adicionales probablemente no existen. Pero la reacción de otros físicos a la teoría de Sharon nos dan un buen ejemplo de la lucha de las teorías nuevas para imponerse a la ortodoxia. En cuanto a la cliología, es una ciencia inventada, más o menos lo mismo que la Psicohistoria de Isaac Asimov en su The Foundation Trilogy. Este es otro elemento de ciencia-ficción en el tiempo "AHORA".

En resumen, me gustó más la parte de la novela ambientada en el siglo XIV que la parte "AHORA".

Se supone que los alienígenas son lo suficientemente avanzados técnicamente para poder realizar viajes interestelares. Sin embargo, su ciencia teórica y práctica está al nivel de la ciencia "AHORA". Mencionan la ecuación de Einstein sobre la equivalencia entre materia y energía; usan computadoras, micrófonos, radiocomunicación, explosivos, pistolas y poco más, todo lo cual lo tenemos ahora. Y conocen las teorías científicas "heréticas" de Sharon, que se supone han utilizado para realizar viajes interestelares.

Los extraterrestres "varados" en la Tierra son descritos como insectos gigantes, igual que otras especies extraterrestres de la literatura, como la de El juego de Ender (los insectores) o Los primeros hombres en la Luna de H.G. Wells. La fantasía humana tiene límites, y para describir especies inteligentes realmente alienígenas debemos recurrir a formas animales conocidas, como insectos, pulpos, o seres parecidos a gusanos peludos, como los de Historia de dos relojes de James Schmitz o los de mi novela Bajo un cielo anaranjado.

La parte de ciencia ficción del pasado se funde bien con la parte histórica de la novela, en lugar de ser un pegote, como en otros libros que he leído.

August 11, 2022

Good Story 7. Scott introduces his "cousin" from the other side of the woods. Julie can't help wondering why he reminds her of a grasshopper.

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2022

I'm rereading this for the first time since 2011. My goodness it is super duper good. I'd forgotten that it is written with such intelligence and depth and humanity.

Here's my original, albeit brief, review below. (Here's a very good, in-depth review.)==========

Imagine that in the 14th century a little village in the depths of the Black Forest has an alien space ship crash nearby. The aliens look like giant grasshoppers. Naturally, many of the local peasants think they are demons. Others, however, especially the village priest who was educated in Paris, take into consideration what makes a creature "a man." In other words, what constitutes a soul and therefore makes it incumbent upon us to treat aliens as we would wish to be treated?

Flynn does an excellent job of recreating the 14th century mindset so this is not simply a story told with modern sensibilities in a long ago setting. As well, there is a brief modern-day story investigating the village of Eifelheim that seemed fairly superfluous until the very end of the book.

Likewise, a seemingly extraneous character, Judy, is the one that gives the long-dead villagers and aliens their final humanity. This did take me a while to finish as it might be called "cerebral science fiction" but it is well worth it, especially to those who enjoy seeing Christianity treated with respect in such a setting.

April 17, 2010

A clever concept, but something about the style put me off. The pacing was odd, and there were too many characters (and many of them with multiple or similar names). The scenes set in the present, which apparently served as the original novella, featured two characters whose relationship seemed forced. They spoke to each other in intellectual jargon that just didn't feel real. The untranslated foreign phrases - a conceit that was charming in Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America - felt like an affectation. An interesting read, but not one that will linger.

April 24, 2009

A blend of semi-hard, semi-sweet science fiction with historical fiction, Eifelheim comes across as intelligent yet smug. Michael Flynn concocts a "perfect storm" of coincidences, particularly for the two present-day main characters, to carry his narrative. While every story will rely on coincidence in some fashion or another, Eifelheim's plot resembles a meticulously constructed house of cards built in the windiest location on Earth (a quick Google search turns up no consensus on this point).

The present-day chapters are tiresome, their characters flat and largely uninteresting. Flynn hints at relationship strife between Tom and Sharon when Tom begins spending more time with a librarian, Judy, who joins him on a quest to research the mysterious disappearance of Eifelheim. However, there's no resolution to what I considered a very interesting aspect of the plot. In the epilogue, Tom and Judy visit the site of Eifelheim, with only a passing mention that Sharon is "busy" elsewhere. Both characters seemed too self-absorbed to ever have entered this relationship in the first place--not that we would know about that, since Flynn provides scant details on their pasts.

In contrast, the historical setting of Eifelheim (then known as Oberhochwald) and its protagonist, Pastor Dietrich, are at least more complex. The conflict over Oberhochwalds unexpected extraterrestrial tenants becomes tense and heated toward the end, as the Black Death descends upon the village. Dietrich's fondness for logic and dialectic invoked fond reminders of The Name of the Rose including Postscript to the Name of the Rose!

Both the contemporary and the historical segments share a common flaw: the entire book is too didactic for my tastes. Now, the aforementioned The Name of the Rose was also didactic. It, however, was carried by a truly interesting mystery. The "mystery" of Eifelheim is mysterious only for the dullest reader. As such, all we're left to observe is the book's smugness as coincidences converge upon Dietrich in Oberhochwald and Tom and Sharon in the present.

Flynn's treatment of science fiction is supposedly "hard", but its edges are kind of squishy. I don't begrudge him the squishiness. He attempts to mate physics with medieval natural philosophy--it's an interesting comparison undercut by the weakness in the story and its characters. Those interested in logic and medieval philosophy are better off reading The Name of the Rose. Arthur C. Clarke has a treasury of short stories, and some of them include pre-20th century first contact, if I remember correctly. In short, Eifelheim is far from a terrible book, but there are many other books that do more justice to its themes.

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.