This was a really interesting story by Michael Crichton focusing on the history of Vikings and their Gods. Odin made an appearance with his ravens on each shoulder. He did a really good job of making the Vikings come to life.

Έχω δει την ταινία, που ήταν πολύ καλή, αλλά ήθελα να διαβάσω και το βιβλίο. Και αυτό πάρα πολύ καλό. Η ιστορία είναι γνωστή και βαριέμαι να την αναφέρω. Ιδιαίτερα καλογραμμένο μυθιστόρημα, με εξαιρετικές περιγραφές τοπίων, ανθρώπων, γεγονότων, αλλά και των εθίμων και των ηθών κάποιων λαών που συνάντησε ο Άραβας πρωταγωνιστής της ιστορίας, με κάποιες ιδιαίτερα δυνατές και σκληρές σκηνές, και φυσικά με μια πολύ ωραία ατμόσφαιρα. Έχω διαβάσει αρκετά βιβλία του Κράιτον, και αυτό μέχρι στιγμής μάλλον είναι το καλύτερο. Πολύ ταλαντούχος ο Κράιτον, τα κατάφερε καλά και στο fantasy/ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα. Θα μπορούσε να γράψει κάποιες πολύ καλές sword and sorcery νουβέλες.

Szerintem ez egy mestermunka!
Akik kedvelik a fikció határán egyensúlyozó irodalmi és egyben intellektuális játékokat, azok tobzódni fognak ebben a (részben fiktív) történeti forrásokon alapuló (fiktív) tudományos szövegkiadásnak és szövegkompilációnak álcázott kvázi kalandregényben.
Nagyon jól szórakoztam, igazi kikapcsolódást jelentett Ibn Fadlán kora középkori, úti beszámolója.

I enjoy it but it's not what I expected it.

It’s interesting, and a fun read. But it’s not something I thought was terrifically engaging like Crichton is when he’s firing on all cylinders. Beach read material really, and that only if you enjoy the “gag” of a fake scholarly work with footnotes.

And I can see all the parts they reworked for the movie adaptation, which is a really good and enjoyable movie. If you watch that you don’t need to read this.

Not a bad read at all. better than the movie to me due to the inclusion of alot of historical data. Recommended

Ahmad Ibn Fadlan was a tenth century Arab traveler and diplomat, best remembered as the author of the earliest known anthropological description of Vikings. He encountered them, far from their home and his, in modern Russia. Just one tantalizing scrap of Ibn Fadlan's account survived to modern times. Back in the early 1970s, a young writer named Michael Crichton copied that scrap. Then, in a berserker fit of inspiration, he unleashed his powerful imagination on it, transforming Ibn Fadlan into the protagonist of an epic adventure.

Crichton’s version of the Arab traveler tells the tale of how his Viking hosts invited him (that is, compelled him at the point of a sword) to join them on a mission back to their Scandinavian homeland. They are called upon to defend a tribe of Northmen against a terrible and apparently supernatural threat: a horde of savage monsters who erupt and kill from the cover of the thick northern mist: the horrifying "Eaters of the Dead." The story that unfolds is by turns gripping and gruesome, a delicious blend of action, violence, horror and suspense that builds to surprising yet logical conclusion.

But Eaters of the Dead is more than just an effective thriller. It's also an ingenious piece of metafiction. In an “academic” introduction, the novel presents itself as a work of scholarship, the "true story" of Ibn Fadlan's historical journey. Crichton pretends to be the editor, not the author of his tale. He claims to have painstakingly reassembled his narrative from disparate sources, and rendered it all into modern English. "Scholarly" footnotes interspersed throughout the text add a sense of verisimilitude. (Crichton mischievously implies that Ibn Fadlan’s account is the historical source of the legend of Grendel and Beowulf.) If I’d been just a bit younger when I discovered this novel, I probably would have taken the framing at face value. It’s a splendid touch, deftly executed, and an indication of the serious depth of the author's research.

I find myself revisiting Eaters of the Dead about every five to seven years. Each rereading has only confirmed my admiration. I feel more confident than ever to assert this heterodox opinion: Crichton was superior to “serious” historical novelists like Gore Vidal when it came to depicting people of the distant past. Crichton imbues his medieval Arabs and Northmen with rare sense of authenticity. Vidal’s ancient Romans and Persians come across almost like twentieth century cosplayers by comparison. The literary artistry of Eaters of the Dead remains underappreciated.

The Thirteenth Warrior, the film adaptation, is a mixed bag. I like the casting of Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadlan. I like its handling of the language problem, and certain of its visuals: for example, its Viking ships battling against the stormy sea. But the film doesn’t come close to achieving the hair-raising horror of the source material. It doesn’t feel as deep or real. I understand why it's a cult classic. I’d call it good, not great.

The beginning of this book was pretty slow but it did get better after the first couple chapters.

Can't say as I thought it wonderful. I didn't like the pseudo non-fiction style of the story, it kept making me think it was real and I had to remind myself that it was pure fiction.

I did like the Norsemen, despite the lack of development to these characters, they still managed to have personality. More as a group than as individuals but the essence of their personalities was very clear. And I like Ibn Fadlan's foreignness compared to the rest of the cast, it made the story for me.

i really enjoyed reading this book, i loved the film. i have never read anything written in this style at all. it reads like a travelogue. its a slow start but the stories flow draws you in, the paces picks up half way Through the book.

please read or watch the film or do both which i highly recommend to all who read this.

Eaters of the Dead

Όταν έπιασα το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο θεωρούσα ότι θα είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα γεμάτο αίμα και φανταστικά τέρατα. Μάλλον, έπεσα κάπως έξω, αλλά δεν δυσαρεστήθηκα καθόλου!

Το βιβλίο είναι πολύ ενδιαφέρον και αρκετά σύντομο θα έλεγα σαν ανάγνωσμα, που θα το χαρακτήριζα περισσότερο "επικό" με ό,τι αυτό μπορεί να σημαίνει. Η ιστορία ενός ανθρώπου που ταξιδεύει στο πλευρό των Βορείων για να αντιμετωπίσουν τους Νεκροφάγους. Πολύ ωραίες λεπτομέρειες σχετικά με συνήθειες, ήθη, έθιμα και πολιτισμούς εκείνων των χρόνων, ωραία γραφή που ντύνει εξαιρετικά την όλη ατμόσφαιρα, ενώ και οι διάλογοι είναι απολαυστικοί. Οι αναρίθμητες σημειώσεις από άλλους συγγραφείς και η παρουσίαση πληροφοριών για την στήριξη ή αντιπαράθεση υποθέσεων είναι το κερασάκι στην τούρτα!

Το βιβλίο πρέπει να διαβαστεί ειδικά από τους φαν του είδους, καθώς ορισμένες στιγμές μάχης είναι τρομερές.

"...has a movie or TV adaptation"

This was a really cool book. I never read it back in my “devouring all of Crichton’s work the library had and reading them til 3AM” days of 20+ years ago. I did however, see the 1999 movie starring Antonio Banderas ages ago (because it had a vaguely medieval look to it which was and still is, my jam). Come to find out, the first part of the book is actually based on the real-life manuscript of Ahmad ibn Fadlan as he journeyed among the Volga Vikings (or the Rus) and the second part is a retelling of none other than Beowulf, (I cant escape Beowulf).
The whole thing is basically told in manuscript form with little footnotes and such to the point that it feels like it’s 100% historical fact, I really enjoyed that. Recommended for fans of Arab travelers, Vikings, and Beowulf.

An Arab ambassador finds himself headed to the lands of the Northmen against his will to help fight an evil menace. Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton is a historical fiction retelling of the Old English poem Beowulf as seen through the eyes of real-life noted Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan.

Conceived to make the story of the hero Beowulf not boring, Crichton combined the real-life experiences of a historical traveler and imagined how he would have written an account of the original poem in his own style. Narrated as if a scientific commentary on an old manuscript, Crichton created an interesting take the well-known story as well as making the antagonists relic Neanderthals which at the time of the original publication were emerging from under the shadow of the Victorian description of “brutish primitives”. Given my reading of annotated history texts, I found this book right down my personal lane and the fact that I watched the adaptation, The 13th Warrior, meant that it would have had to be awful for me to dislike it.

Eaters of the Dead is a different way to look at the epic tale of Beowulf and was impressively written by Michael Crichton.