Michael Crichton takes the listener on a one-thousand-year-old journey in his adventure novel Eaters Of The Dead. This remarkable true story originated from actual journal entries of an Arab man who traveled with a group of Vikings throughout northern Europe. In 922 A.D, Ibn Fadlan, a devout Muslim, left his home in Baghdad on a mission to the King of Saqaliba. During his journey, he meets various groups of "barbarians" who have poor hygiene and gorge themselves on food, alcohol and sex. For Fadlan, his new traveling companions are a far stretch from society in the sophisticated "City of Peace." The conservative and slightly critical man describes the Vikings as "tall as palm trees with florid and ruddy complexions." Fadlan is astonished by their lustful aggression and their apathy towards death. He witnesses everything from group orgies to violent funeral ceremonies. Despite the language and cultural barriers, Ibn Fadlan is welcomed into the clan. The leader of the group, Buliwyf (who can communicate in Latin) takes Fadlan under his wing.

Without warning, the chieftain is ordered to haul his warriors back to Scandinavia to save his people from the "monsters of the mist." Ibn Fadlan follows the clan and must rise to the occasion in the battle of his life.--Gina Kaysen

The year is A.D. 922. A refined Arab courtier, representative of the powerful Caliph of Bagdad, encounters a party of Viking warriors who are journeying to the barbaric North. He is appalled by their Viking customs -- the wanton sexuality of their pale, angular women, their disregard for cleanliness . . .

their cold-blooded human sacrifices. But it is not until they reach the depths of the Northland that the courtier learns the horrifying and inescapable truth: He has been enlisted by these savage, inscrutable warriors to help combat a terror that plagues them -- a monstrosity that emerges under cover of night to slaughter the Vikings and devour their flesh . . .

I'm a history geek and I love Beowulf and those sort of lyrically prose of the olden days but this was just too boring for me. I finished the book just out of principle but I think this one is overrated.

The premise takes quite a while to get under way and the characters are very comic bookish.Maybe I'm being a bit harsh but I wasn't really involved with the story. Didn't grab me, the style was interesting but not nearly enough.

I read this directly after finishing Sphere. It's a very fun book and Crichton does a good job getting you into the culture. Good action and good character development.

Ugh. No wonder it was on the list of "The Great Bores". Michael Crichton had a chance to give it life, yet it still reads just as boring as the original Beowulf. The one fun thing about it was all the "fake" footnotes and sources that he inventively quotes.

This book reads well but leaves you alittle short in parts. This is the book 13th Warrior was based on worth the read in any rate

Its good. In corporating history and science, he did a great job. Superb!!! I hope there's a sequel for it.... (^-^)