Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: If you didn't like this novel or compared it to earlier required reading materials, you missed the point. It is a great tale that consumes your interest and places you amoung those in the quest for survival in northern climates and terrains. Don't let the name alarm you. It's not a tale of an ancient Donner party
Rating: 
Summary: Ever read Beowulf in HS humanities class?
Review: Pretty much a translation of Old English folklore, "Beowulf," which I happended to have read in a HS English class. Another one of those "I'll read it only because MC wrote it," (well he didn't _exactly write_ it) but "glad I read it" books.
It's much more fun to read w/o "thou" and "thee" everywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Dissapointing
Review: As a loyal Crichton fan, I'd have to say I was very dissapointed and at times disgusted with this book. It was extremely fake and pointless, not to mention dull and boring. If your planning on reading a Crichton novel, get Jurassic Park or Sphere (true classics) and forget this book exists
Rating:
Summary: Brain candy for Crichton fans!
Review: One of Michael Crichton's earlier works, this entrancing tale is part history, part mystery, and all-out adventure. A masterful blend of fact, fiction, and opinion, Crichton skillfully recants the story of Ibn Fadlan, an ambassador to the Caliph of Bagdad as he journeys North in A.D. 922. Join Fadlan as he accompanies Buliwyf, a legendary Viking chieftan, on his return home to Scandinavia. Buliwyf and his clan must battle the "Wendol", or "monsters of the mist", who threaten to destroy the Norse homeland. With Eaters of the Dead, Crichton has created an entertaining interpretation of an ancient manuscript, captivating the reader with Ibn's hilarious caricatures of Viking life. True to Crichton form, there is a twist to the tale, resulting in an ending that packs a powerful punch.This books literally contains the "stuff that legends are made of." Read for yourself and find out
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Summary: Beowulf meets A Thousand And One Nights
Review: Michael Crichton, never at a loss at putting a whole new slant on the tried and true, has given us a fascinating tale that combines some of the best elements of what might have happened if Sharazad had met up with Beowulf instead of the sultan Shahriyar. In "Eaters of the Dead" (an unfortunate title if there ever was one), Crichton introduces us to Ibn Fadlan, the story's narrator, a young Arabian who has had the misfortune to capture the heart of the young and beautiful wife of a rich old merchant. Ibn Fadlan is unwillingly sent out of harm's way on a mission to the faraway kingdom of Saqaliba. En route to his destination, he meets a group of Scandinavians, led by a brawny warrior called Buliwyf (the ancient spelling of Beowulf?). Ibn Fadlan thinks the Scandinavians are beyond gross; their habits are disgusting, they're little more civilized than animals -- but he finds an affinity with Buliwyf who can communicate in the common currency of the Latin language, still alive in the 10th century when this story takes place. Buliwyf convinces Ibn Fadlan to come with him and his men to Scandinavia, where they are being terrorized by a mysterious and monstrous entity that emerges from the mists and leave carnage and bloodshed in their wake.In "Beowulf" this entity was, of course, Grendel, but in "Eaters of the Dead" the monster turns out to be a group of cannibalistic Neanderthals who sow terror everywhere they appear, and with good reason. As in "Beowulf", there is a battle to the finish in which only one side can survive. During Ibn Fadlan's stay in the Scandinavian village, while preparing for the final confrontation, he learns a lot about his new friends and discovers that, while they may not be as cultured as his Arabian kinfolks, they are far from being the barbarians the first appeared to be. Ibn Fadlan tells us his story as entries in a journal, each one more fascinating than the next, and the ending reads like a journal broken off, for reasons we never find out. The last words are "Now it happened that..." What happened? Crichton's genius as a storyteller is leaving us wanting to know more about this Arabian world-traveler and what kind of subsequent adventures he met up with before he returned home -- if he ever did. Crichton, whose interests seem to be encyclopedic, based this book on a real manuscript by an Arab traveller called ibn Fadlan who in the year 921 A.D. traveled from Arabia to Bulgaria as an emissary of the Caliph. The manuscript is available in several modern translations, including English, but Crichton's book is probably a lot more fun to read. "Eaters of the Dead" was a sleeper, originally published in hardcover (I still have my copy) but it didn't take off until years later, after the release of the film "The Thirteenth Warrior" with Antonio Banderas playing the protagonist. In making two ancient cultures come alive for the reader, Crichton shows himself again to be a master storyteller.
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Summary: When Crichton told stories, and they were good
Review: In recent years, Michael Crichton's work has not been to my taste. This has been due entirely to his tendency to intersperse what are essentially treatises in his fiction. Indeed, there are times when the action of his stories quite literally stops as his characters engage various hypotheses and philosophical points. Wasn't it amazing how everyone seemed to have some vague grasp of chaos theory in "Jurassic Park"? Did anyone find the pages of dissection of gorilla communication through sign-language just a bit prosaic? However, as I have been discovering Crichton's earlier work, I find this problem virtually non-existent. He was using the "mock non-fiction" approach in his novels. But it felt less intrusive and simply enriched the novel proper. Case in point, "Eaters of the Dead". This gem, published in 1976 (ironically, just before "Congo"-the change must have happened over night), is a completely successful attempt to tell the "true story" of the English epic poem "Beowulf". The narrative structure is based on the memoirs of one Ibn Fadlan, a courtier to the Caliph of Baghdad. Ibn Fadlan was a real person, and Crichton has blended aspects of the true memoir into his fictional novel. Ibn Fadlan is on a mission to Europe, but is sidetracked when, during a visit to the Scandinavians, he is drafted by a chief, Buliwyf, to aid the kingdom of Rathar against a fearsome tribe of cannibalistic marauders, the wendol. The strength of this novel is the writing. It reads as such documents read. Matter of fact, largely candid, with certain turns of phrase that are dated. The action sequences are quite chilling. But so are Ibn Fadlan's experiences of the Northmen's culture, as we learn what exactly went into a Viking funeral-it wasn't just burning ships. Crichton creates a fanciful tale, but manages to ground it in reality. At the same time, he is always mindful of his source material. Anyone who has read "Beowulf" will recognize various nods to that poem, which will enhance reading pleasure. However, one needn't a degree in English lit to appreciate this book. Overall, this novel made me feel nostalgic for a time when Crichton's main goal was telling a good story through the integration of historical fact, rather than disguising non-fiction works as novels. Definitely a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Crichton imagination, yet slower-paced
Review: Eaters of the Dead shares Crichton's imaginative powers with other excellent novels such as "The Andromeda Strain," "Jurassic Park," and "The Lost World." However, written as an historic manuscript, Crichton locks himself into a necessarily slower-paced work. While at times this means that the reader is absolutely convinced that Crichton is dealing with a true historical work, leaving the reader disturbed and questioning what he or she has long assumed, at other times it means that action sequences cannot be written as the fast-paced thrill-packed scenes that we became familiar with in Crichton's other works; rather, the manuscript-approach to this novel means that all of it -- including the action sequences -- must be written as a report, a kind of re-telling of the story. For fans of Crichton's work, this book is certainly recommended; however, for those new to or unfamiliar with his other books, this would not seem to be a good starting point. Nonetheless, I was still left with a certain quantity of chills at the end of the book...
Rating:
Summary: Resurection of a Long Dead Adventurer
Review: If you would like to learn more about how people from another place and time lived and thought, then this would be a good adventure for you. If your looking for a fast paced novel with sound byte lines and sub-plots then you will find this book boring. This is more to real life than a mere novel. When I read this I had to laugh for I saw the same reaction by the arab Ibn Fadlan here as Senica the Roman had in his essay on the Germans. But, does not human interaction and shock make life interesting? Often reading very old text can be tiresome but, Crighton makes this trip more fun to the Regular guy or gal by editing out mundane list of villages Fadlan traveled through on his way to meeting the vikings. And, Crighton makes his translation easer to read. You may asks "How do we know this narrative is credible?" And, we have no absolute knowledge on this. However, I found this narrative to be much more candid than other old works i've read. Fadlan avoided supernatural exagerations in his account. This candid approach makes this story more interesting to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Kinda Snoresville
Review: As a Michael Crichton fan, I have to say that for once, the movie was better than the book. The information was interesting but bogs you down till you find out you've been staring at the same page for 15 minutes while wondering if you started the dishwasher or not. However, the movie was well done.
Rating:
Summary: Wow was this book bad
Review: I hafta say, Crichton is by far my favorite author. I love all of his books, but this one was possibly the worst I've ever read. I actually couldnt finish it. I got about halfway through, and I wanted to shoot myself. It is told in the most boring way, and the names are long and hard to remember. I don't understand where this came from really, seeing as how the rest of his books are really good.
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