A review by barium_squirrel
Eifelheim by Michael Flynn

5.0

This is a fantastic hard sci-fi story. It is told in two parts: one part is about an academic couple studying history and physics, the other about an academic mediaval monk whose sleepy village is contacted by aliens. The two stories weave together seamlessly, and I'm a sucker for stories set in academia (I don't know why, Lord knows I hated college). The history is exquisitely researched and the first contact portions raise intriguing questions about the nature of humanity and personhood.