IGX

I don't read much current SF, but my wife picked this up at the libbery so I stole it and read it over a few nights.

It's a bit disjointed. 90% of the book takes place in 14th century Germany, where some insect-like aliens crash their "hypospace" ship near a small village in the Black Forest. This is the better part, as the local priest (former scholar at the Sorbonne, student of Ockham) decides that they're not demons, just very odd-looking "men," with souls, from very far away.

Some of the best stuff concerns his attempts to reconcile the "Krenken's" existence and what he learns of time and space with his current knowledge of natural philosophy and religious dogma. He's still dealing with 4 elements, bodily humors, etc.

At times Flynn's research into the era gets the better of him and there are long, boring digressions in which folks debate the current political/religious instability. You really didn't want to know this much about medieval Germany.

The other 10% is lame, taking place in the modern day, in which a historical researcher is trying to figure out why a village in the Black Forest was abandoned in the 14th century and never resettled.

The ending is very unsatisfying and feels tacked-on. It just sort of... ends.

So in short, the parts in which the aliens are trying to fit into medieval village life, and vice versa, are a lot of fun. And anyone who has an interest in medieval history, especially intellectual and religious history, will probably enjoy it. But it does bog down.

I picked this up but put it down a while back. Didn't interest me at all.

Shaf wrote:I picked this up but put it down a while back. Didn't interest me at all.

The aliens sucked me in, so I had to finish it.