Eifelheim
Oct 2006 · Macmillan
4,5star
17 reviewsreport
eBook
321
Pages
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About this eBook
“Carl Sagan meets Umberto Eco. . . . Bursting with pungent historical detail . . . this dense, provocative novel offers big rewards to patient readers.” —Entertainment Weekly
The alien world of medieval Europe lives again, transformed by the physics of the future, by a winner of the Heinlein Award.
Over the centuries, one small town in Germany has disappeared and never been resettled. Tom, a historian, and his theoretical physicist girlfriend Sharon, become interested. By all logic, the town should have survived. What’s so special about Eifelheim?
Father Dietrich is the village priest of Eifelheim, in the year 1348, when the Black Death is gathering strength but is still not nearby. Dietrich is an educated man, and to his astonishment becomes the first contact person between humanity and an alien race from a distant star, when their ship crashes in the nearby forest.
It is a time of wonders, in the shadow of the plague. Tom and Sharon, and Father Deitrich have a strange destiny of tragedy and triumph in Eifelheim, the brilliant science fiction novel by Michael Flynn.
“Heartbreaking. . . . Flynn masterfully achieves an intricate panorama of medieval life, full of fascinatingly realized human and [alien] characters whose fates interconnect with poignant irony.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Meticulously researched, intense, mesmerizing novel . . . for readers seeking thoughtful science fiction of the highest order.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Eifelheim may turn out to be the best science fiction novel this year.” —Orson Scott Card, Hugo Award–winning author of Ender’s Game
The alien world of medieval Europe lives again, transformed by the physics of the future, by a winner of the Heinlein Award.
Over the centuries, one small town in Germany has disappeared and never been resettled. Tom, a historian, and his theoretical physicist girlfriend Sharon, become interested. By all logic, the town should have survived. What’s so special about Eifelheim?
Father Dietrich is the village priest of Eifelheim, in the year 1348, when the Black Death is gathering strength but is still not nearby. Dietrich is an educated man, and to his astonishment becomes the first contact person between humanity and an alien race from a distant star, when their ship crashes in the nearby forest.
It is a time of wonders, in the shadow of the plague. Tom and Sharon, and Father Deitrich have a strange destiny of tragedy and triumph in Eifelheim, the brilliant science fiction novel by Michael Flynn.
“Heartbreaking. . . . Flynn masterfully achieves an intricate panorama of medieval life, full of fascinatingly realized human and [alien] characters whose fates interconnect with poignant irony.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Meticulously researched, intense, mesmerizing novel . . . for readers seeking thoughtful science fiction of the highest order.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Eifelheim may turn out to be the best science fiction novel this year.” —Orson Scott Card, Hugo Award–winning author of Ender’s Game
Ratings and reviews
4,5
17 reviews
Lance Cornish
- Flag inappropriate
25 November 2022
There are two stories in this book. The main storyline set in medieval Germany deals with a prolonged encounter with intelligent aliens shipwrecked on earth. This main storyline is truly exceptional and it is definitely worth reading for this alone, and indeed you could actually skip the second storyline chapters altogether. The second storyline is set in the present and it is not so interesting and has too many conveniences, and for me at least it sometimes pushed the suspension of disbelief a little too much.
Tricia Pelkington
- Flag inappropriate
25 September 2022
a good story line but some of the historical details and foreign language use could use fine tuning.
About the author
Michael Flynn lives in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is the winner of the Robert A. Heinlein award, and a Hugo Nominee for Eifelheim. He is the author of the Firestar series of novels, and is an Analog magazine alumnus whose fiction now appears regularly in all the major SF magazines.
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