Product Description

Whilst on a mission up the Volga, a representative of the ruler of Baghdad meets a Viking chieftain who has been summoned back to Scandinavia by his besieged relatives. The two men journey together northwards to engage in mortal combat with the dark, hairy brutes who threaten to empty the land.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20616 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
Almost "verily," the amazing Michael Crichton has presented the manuscript (922 A.D.) of an Arab, Ibn Fadlan, emissary of a Caliph who recorded his three-years among the Northmen with the "tone of a tax auditor, not a bard, an anthropologist, not a dramatist." It is of course much livelier than that and accompanied with assorted annotations and scholarly paraphernalia (mostly for real) which thin the lines between truth and fabrication to mere wisps of conjecture rising from those dread black mists filled with the eaters of the dead. Now it would appear that Ibn Fadlan, having met some Northmen near the Volga, was chosen to make up the company of thirteen - one to be an outlander - which was to return home with its leader Buliwyf to defeat the hairy fiends who fed off humans. Ibn Fadlan's account, which ends in the cave where the legendary Buliwyf will meet his death while meting out the same to the mother of the creatures, is full of inventive incidentals - be it only the stomach-boggling description of their ablutions or their spectacular funerary practices. Minor Crichton but verily, verily a diverting send-up which you'll read faster than you can say qurtaq. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

Nothing Like 13th Warrior
Yes, 13th Warrior was based on this book, but don't expect them to be the same. In fact, if you saw the movie before you read this book, you may be shocked by the differences. The vikings are not portrayed in such a nice light as in the movie.

Faldan's manuscript, well-known to scholars, provides one of the earliest eyewitness accounts of Viking life and culture, in C.E. 922 - a lot of people like to believe this is where the story of Beowulf came from, but they need to do some fact-checking.

However, Michael Crichton's book provides an exciting combination of the two sources, even if he does exaggerate those facts quite a bit, but we could expect nothing less from the author. Anyone would enjoy this story about a Viking chieftain defending his country from the monsters in the mist.

Fiction Presented as Fact
This book presents itself as a historical account from translations of the adventures of one Ibn Fadlan a Muslim living in Bagdad in AD 921. Ibn we are told was a real historical figure, sent on a mission by the Caliph, he was then effectively kidnapped by a group of "northmen" (vikings) and forced to go with them back to their native land to assist them in defeating a grisly sub-human group of cannibals that are attacking farmsteads in the area. One is of course then amazed by the story believing it to be to some extent true. It is only at the end that Michael Crighton suddenly lets on he was pulling our leg and that although Ibn was a real character the story is largely fiction. I personally don't approve of presenting fiction as fact and was annoyed by this as it seems rather silly. But all the same even as a fictional work it is still undoubtedly a good read, well written with interesting insight on how life may have been at that time (just like the Clan of the Cave Bear). It is every bit as good as the film (although it is probably best to see the film first so you can visualise the wonderful Antonio Balestairos writing it!!)

Short, sharp and savage
I decided to read this book after watching the flawed but fun film The 13th Warrior which was based on Crichton's book. Crichton's book is, of course, based on the slightly tall tales of Ahmed ibn Fadhlan and the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. Confused? Don't worry, it's better than it sounds as Crichton weaves his clever web of comradeship, heroism, faith and cannibalism where his central character swallows his pious pride to take up arms alongside pagan barbarians to fight a savage, relentless and unnameable enemy. Make no mistake, this isn't one of Crichton's usual techno thrillers as there's not an atom of scientific hokum in it, which might explain its comparative brevity, but the reader is plunged headlong into the scrapping and skullduggery.

A cracking yarn that would be ideal reading for dark winter nights to give you a scare or two and make you think twice before mentioning the Wend-... no, I won't say it in case I summon them up. Go on, read it if you dare.