A retelling of Beowulf with the Norsemen fighting Neanderthals. Basis for the movie "The 13th Warrior".
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this one i found to be very average, as much as i do like how crichton came up with the idea and how he took an old unfinished document and made a story about it is really cool and there was some good historic moments that were interesting enough to read through. i found the characters were a little flat and the action scenes felt rushed and did not have that detail from other books i read from him. i wish there was more meat on the bones as i feel like there could have been so much more content for such a cool idea.

its not a bad book at all as i was able to finish it and its short enough that it wont feel like a drag but i would not highly recommend it to a first time reading for crichton unless you're a viking fanatic and have read the original document. its sad that this one did not do much for me but i did not hate it at all its just a middle of the road book for me. ( )

Years ago, I saw the movie "The 13th Warrior" starring Antonio Banderas and I was entranced. Something in one of the early scenes (the Viking burial of an old chieftain) and the final battle scene had gotten firm hold of my imagination. (Maybe Anotnio had something to do with it too...maybe...)

I then found out that this movie was based on a book, and I spent years looking for said book because I desperately wanted more of the story. Only recently did I discover, that the book's actual title is "Eaters of the Dead". And so, here I am.

It's a retelling of Beowulf...well, actually, its a fictional re-telling of a 'true' story that may have been the basis for Beowulf. The story is as gorgeous as I remember, and I got all the extra details I craved for, and then some (and then some more).

Now I want to watch the movie again! (Thankfully available in Disney+ ^_^) ( )

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. ( )

Crichton's attempt at Beowulf (and adjusting it a bit). Pretty lackluster overall and quite boring. So far my least favorite Crichton novel that I've read. (It's not a 'horrible' novel; its just kind of boring, predictable, and not altogether interesting and even without going into it knowing it was his attempt at Beowulf - you can tell that's what it is by about chapter 5 and you can tell it will already pale in comparison). ( )