Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

First and foremost, I’ve to admit that I’ve been a slog in updating my blog with book reviews. But then, I need to work to earn a living you see :-P (I hope that explains everything). Anyway, I think I’m getting better at speed reading.

In fact, I managed to finish (on average) a 300pager (plus minus) on a one way 3hours flight (excluding transits); that is after deducting off the sleep, the lunch, the toilet visit etc etc etc (I find that etcetera makes me sound more intelligent :-P).

So, here I am, stuck at transit terminal typing the latest book review on a book entitled “Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton”. It should be noted that this same book was previously published as “The 13th Warrior by Michael Crichton”.

“Praise not the day until evening has come; a woman until she is burnt; ice until it has been crossed; beer until it has been drunk” – Northmen/Viking’s proverb

Praise to Michael because this is the kind of book which I actually enjoyed reading. Suspense, thriller, gore and grime all blended together ala tutti-frutti. I don’t know whether to believe references quoted conspicuously as footnote as you read thru the book but Michael did say that “sic”; “the references in the afterword are genuine. The rest of the novel, including its introduction, text, footnotes, and bibliography, should be viewed as fiction.”

This book is supposedly written with reference to original manuscripts/travelogues penned by Ibn Fadlan with sprinkling of ideas taken from Old English epic of Beowulf.

In this book (criss-cross between fact and fiction), we follow Ibn Fadlan; a refined Arab courtier; a representative of the powerful Caliph of Baghdad; on an off-tracked adventure.
He was supposedly sent as an embassy of the Caliphate to the king of the Volga Bulgars but was sidetracked when his badly timed (or sheer bad luck) visit to the Northern wild lands resulting him to be chosen as the 13th warrior; hence the name of the book.

In this book, the Vikings in the Kingdom of Rothgar in the Land of Venden are being spooked, mercilessly slaughtered and cannibalized by “apparitions” in the black mist. Despite being hardy and brave warriors they are, these Vikings are no match for the unseen and “shall not be named” enemy. Hence, King Rothgar’s son, Wulfgar, trekked and sailed all the way to seek help from a hero named Buliwyf to wipe out this menace from their land.

To cut the story short, the 13 warriors grabbed their gears, ate; drank, frolicked and copulated all the way to their destination :-)

When they finally met the creatures in the black mist for the first time, they fought full heartedly and managed to beat them back; only to see the reappearance of the creature in the form of “the glowworm dragon a.k.a Korgon”; which is basically a bunch of horse-riders with fire torch riding as a horde.

Our warriors fought hard and even went deep into the enemy’s territory to complete the annihilation; however, they’re able to do it only when they ventured to the underwater cave/lair to kill the “Big Momma” of the enemies :-P, thus, throwing them into disarray.
Buliwyf and many of the warriors are killed in the end, and our protagonist, Ibn Fadlan escaped with a great story under his belt. End of story.

Whew, I’m so relieved to be able to pen this book review during my transit hours. So, I shall start reading another book after I log off, and hopefully I’ll be able to find time to write another book review on my journey home to “tanah tumpahnya darahku” :-)

Gonna board my ferry now... TATA…

P/s: I’ll be baacck… (voice-over like Terminator)

Personal rating: 8 out of 10

Cons:
None that I can think of

Pros:
1) Good description on the Viking’s way of life. I enjoyed the description of their crude lifestyle which somewhat pales in comparison with the “refined” lifestyle of the ancient Asian cultures
2) Michael managed to blur the line between fact and fiction seamlessly. It is a truly enjoyable read