Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

Rating – 7 / 10

One of the first of Michael Crichton’s books, Eaters of the Dead circles around the lives of Vikings, their customs and their wars. This book is basically a more exciting version of the manuscript of Ahmad Ibn Fadlan. Faldlan was an Arab who, on one of his expeditions for his king, met with a group of Northmen i.e. Vikings. The Vikings decided to let go off Fadlan’s fellow travelers, but Faldlan is taken along as the thirteenth member (to bring good luck) on a hero’s quest to fight the ‘mist monsters’ in a North country. This book gives a detailed description of how Buliwyf, the leader of this team, plans and fights off the mist monsters and eventually kills the leader of the mist monsters, to save his people from these monsters. In this attempt, Buliwyf also gets killed but Fadlan survives and eventually leaves for returning back to his country.
This book is nowhere close to the thrilling science fiction books that Crichton writes, and is famous for, today. It was certainly not one of his best works but certainly does give a detailed description of the Arab and the Viking communities, a thousand years back.

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