Eifelheim

#559
Title: Eifelheim
Author: Michael Flynn
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2009
512 pages

Quantum physics, first contact with bug-like aliens, Jesuits, and the Black Death--what's not to like? Sure,  the interweaving of the contemporary and historical strands is uneven at times, and I believe in the reality of the medieval characters and aliens more than the modern-day scholars, but at its best this is the science fiction structural version of Brooks's People of the Book, though frequently more hilarious. Read with any book on the plague, or Willis's Doomsday Book for science fictiony plague goodness, or with Blish's A Case of Conscience (or Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz, or Russell's The Sparrow) for further reflections on the spiritual nature and moral status of aliens.