Eaters of the Dead

from DidIReallyReadThat

Based on a manuscript of 10th century person who traveled from Baghdad to Scandinavia. It describes his experiences and impressions of the Vikings in approximately 922 AD and blends into the Legend of Beowulf. I enjoyed this book because it was a time period that I had not read much about and it ...

from DowntownDave

I loved this book and tore right through with excitement only to find out in the 'Factual Notes' at the end that the whole story (footnotes and all) was 80% fiction. Although, I understand where Crichton was going with it and can understand how it would have been a great story from which Beowulf ...

from RandyStafford

My reactions to reading this novel in1999. Spoilers follow. This is a not at all disguised retelling of Beowulf with a science fiction rationalization for Grendel. The names are slightly altered, but the setting is still Scandinavia in the Viking age. Crichton's conceit is that this account is th...

from brettjames

This is my second favorite Crichton, after Jurassic Park. He said he wrote it after having an argument with someone at a party about if Beowulf was an exciting read or not, and he set out to write the book to prove that it was. It's also nice because he writes it very differently from the rest of...

from jerry-book

This is a quick read. Crichton does a re-telling of the Beowulf story in order to make it exciting for the modern reader. I think he succeeds to some extent. I like having an Arab as the narrator. This gives him the opportunity to contrast Arab and Viking customs. The footnotes are a bit of a dis...