Michael Crichton - Eaters of the Dead

Pros: The introduction
Cons: The rest of the novel

Remember the epic of Beowulf from high school? (Or the Cliff's Notes summary, at least?) In this classic anglo-saxon poem, the Danish lands of king Hrothgar are haunted by the giant creature Grendel, who has been creeping into the King's Hall at ...

Pros: Very well written, imaginative and exciting tale.
Cons: Is a bit dry and academic at times.

Eaters Of The Dead is the prize example of just how good a writer Michael Chrichton is, besides being extremely capable of incorporating technology in his stories so it is readily understandable. Eaters Of The Dead is all the more a...

Pros: Lovely piece of literature - Crichton's talent is completely apparent in this take off of Beowulf
Cons: Another book that attempted the leap into the cinema and failed miserably

Interpretations of things that have occurred in ancient history are very susceptible to being told in different ways by different people. In ancient Scandinavia, things were told orally, like folk tales, to have information transported from one...

Pros: Artful melding of fact and fiction to make a surprising point
Cons: Weak plot and style

"Eaters of the Dead" is both worse and better than any other Crichton book I've ever read.

First, the "worse": Crichton has written this book as if it were a compilation and translation of fragments from the nearly lost...

Pros: Lots of action, blood, and humor
Cons: none

In the forward to this book, Crichton says it is based on some ancient manuscripts by Ibn Al Fadlan concerning his journey with the northmen. If this is the case, then the epic poem Beowulf is also based on fact, as this entire book is a wonderful...

Pros: Action packed, educationable
Cons: needs more dialogue

The "Eaters of the Dead(EOTD)" follows the story of Ibn Fadlan, an Arab ambassador under the Caliph ...

Pros: More readable and entertaining than the original Beowulf
Cons: Doesn't seem to tell the same story as the original either

Let me begin with a disclaimer: "This is my first opinion as I have just recently discovered and become a member of epinions." That being said I feel that I am a psuedo-expert on Michael Crichton as I have read all of his fiction books (some of them...

Pros: Very accurate story, Very exciting for a true story
Cons: Translation rough in spots, Slow at start, Difficult reading at times

This translation was very different from any other Crichton work that I've read. This is due to its unique nature of being a translation of a report given to a Muslim noble over a thousand years ago. Even in its academic form it is truly unique....

Pros: straight forward, no describing stuff
Cons: if you like describing stuff, you won't like the book

Eaters of the Dead is an excellent novel in which an arabic emmisary goes into Viking-land and has to go on a quest to stop the horrid, evil wendol, thought to be prehistoric man. Crichton depicts this excellently, and his straight forward writing style...

Pros: great perspective
Cons: pricey

Crichton was bet by one of his colleagues that he couldn't make a story that was interesting about Buliwyf and his band of Vikings. The book is about Ibn Fadlan a Arab courtier from the Caliph of Baghdad. He sent to a kingdom on an errand for the Caliph....

Pros: Great Historical Content and Amazing Story
Cons: You might spit on me

What is the most appealing of this book is that Micheal Crichton did not actually write the story. It's a translation of an old manuscript that for years scholars and many other people like Crichton have been studing. It is the sory of a man sent...

Pros: Good knowledge of viking traditions.
Cons: Cover art is wrong : they never had horns on their helmets! (stated in novel!)

Based on a manuscript written by Ahmed ibn Faddlan, an Arab ambassador who was sent in the north lands, this novel shows many thing everyone should know about the Vikings.

I am a lover of viking mythology and history. I HAD to read this novel... and I was not disappointed. The only sad thing is that since we're following a group of Viking warriors, we don't really see how the "real" viking life was. I mean, they were much more traders and farmers than those barbaric warrior everybody think they were. But still, Crichton shows a very good knowledge of the viking traditions, and it makes the novel greatly interesting.