Eaters of the Dead
by Michael Crichton · first published 1976
31% recommend69% neutral
Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in AD 922 (later republished as The 13th Warrior to correspond with the film adaptation of the novel) is a 1976 novel by Michael Crichton, the fourth novel under his own name and his 14th overall. The story is about a 10th-century Muslim Arab who travels with a group of Vikings to their settlement. Crichton explains in an appendix that the book was based on two sources. The first three chapters are a retelling of Ahmad ibn Fadlan's personal account of his actual journey north and his experiences with
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See also Crichton's Eaters of the Dead https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7673.Eaters_of_the_Dead
on “Among the Norse Tribes: The Remarkable Account of Ibn Fadlan (1999)” ↗If you fancy a fun piece of fiction that covers Muslim/Viking interaction, Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton is a good read [1]. He blends a re-telling of the Beowulf story with the accounts of Ahmad ibn Fadlan [2] and his interactions with the Volga Vikings [3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaters_of_the_Dead…
on “Arabic characters found woven into burial costumes from Viking boat graves” ↗The Andromeda Strait is one of the best Crichton books/movies, along with The Eaters of the Dead (skip the movie) and The Great Train Robbery. I also have a strange fondness for Congo, but by that time Crichton had gone crazypants.
on “Movies you should own: The Andromeda Strain” ↗It's based on the writings of Ibn Fahad, also posted by someone else below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_ibn_Fadlan And I love the Eaters of the Dead. It's not high art, but I found it an enjoyable read (once you realise that most of the footnotes are fake).
on “Ring brings Viking, Islamic civilizations closer together” ↗Eaters of the Dead is one of my favourite books. Quasi-historical mixture of vikings, arab travellers and Beowulf.
on “Michael Crichton, Science Studies, and the Technothriller (2015)” ↗Eaters of the Dead by Michael Chrichton has Neanderthals as the monsters Beowulf fights. Cool movie as well.
on “Did Neanderthals go to war with our ancestors?” ↗…a big Crichton fan (most of his books spend the first half explaining how smart everyone is, and the second half is always those smart people making terribly stupid decisions) BUT, Crichton did write Eaters of the Dead, a book that is about exactly what this article talks about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaters_of_the_Dead The story follows a Muslim who is sent as an emissary to the Vikings, and all the craziness…
on “Ring brings Viking, Islamic civilizations closer together” ↗And there is also The 13th warrior, a screen adaptation of Michael Crichton’s ode to Beowulf, called Eaters of the Dead.
on “Tolkien was right: Scholars conclude Beowulf likely the work of single author” ↗grendel-as-neanderthals is actually the premise of a novel from the 1970s by michael crichton, eaters of the dead/the 13th warrior
on “When Orcs Were Real” ↗…the Rings films That particular film may not have been made, but it’s not hard to imagine an adaptation being made by someone even in the absence of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, which riffs on the Beowulf story, got a film adaptation (as The Thirteen Warrior) in 1999. The Beowulf story isn’t The Dream of the Rood or other esoteric Old English literature; it has adventure elements…
on “Tolkien was right: Scholars conclude Beowulf likely the work of single author” ↗…wasn't. Disclosure and Rising Sun are controversial for their own reasons, but both have prominent anti-corporate themes. Then there are the novels that seem unrelated to the discussion at all, like Eaters of the Dead which was a retelling of Beowulf from the perspective of an Arab traveler from Baghdad.
on “Michael Crichton: Why Speculate? (2005)” ↗That's the basic idea behind Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead" (made into the film "The Thirteenth Warrior") except he uses it to explain the Grendel myth rather than trolls.
on “Neanderthals may have been eaten by early humans” ↗Damn, just as I was writing my comment. Clearly, this is the guy Crichton based http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaters_of_the_Dead on.
on “Ring brings Viking, Islamic civilizations closer together” ↗In Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead, he re-tells the story of Beowulf with the monsters as Neanderthals. He does also move the story forward several hundred years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaters_of_the_Dead
on “The Real Landscapes of the Great Flood Myths” ↗It was the only version I managed to finish, unless you count "Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crichton (which is loosely based on it and mashed up with the story of Ahmad ibn Fadlan).
on “Beowulf's opening "What" is no interjection” ↗