Eaters of the Dead “Eaters of the Dead” by Michael Crichton is a
fiction but with historical background. Through this piece Crichton
hopes to express the way of life for the Vikings in the year 922 AD
while at the same time creating an entertaining story. Using a
manuscript written by Ibn-Fadlan Crichton pieced together a book filled
with adventure and excitement. Michael Crichton was born in Chicago,
1942 and always knew he had a talent for writing. He attended Brown
University and has since published many books such as “Jurassic Park”,
“The Rising Sun”, “Disclosure”, and many more. Several of his books
have been made into movies, for example, “Jurassic Park”, “The Lost
World”, “Sphere”, “Congo”, and “Eaters of the Dead” is coming to
theatres this summer starring Antonio Banderas. Michael Crichton is
also the writer of the hit TV show “ER”. Ibn-Fadlan is a refined Arab
courtier representing the powerful Caliph of Baghdad and the whole
story line is based on his travels. He is a Muslim and is sent to the
Bulgar land to instruct the king in the Islamic religion, acquaint the
king with Islamic laws, and build a Mosque in the city. Little does
Ibn-Fadlan know where his travels will lead him. Wyglif is the present
chief of the Northmen (at the time) he has fallen ill and is believed
to have no chance of recovery. Once he dies, shortly after becoming
ill, Buliwyf is made the new leader. Buliwyf is a young noble chosen to
be the Northmens new leader once Wyglif dies. He is a courageous
warrior, very tall and strong, and skin, hair, and beard of pure white.
Herger, one of the Northmen warriors, also became Ibn-Fadlan’s friend.
He helped him to translate the words of the Northmen and also helped
Ibn-Fadlan become accustomed to their way of life and how to act around
the Northmen. “The Wendols” are characters in the story who, as told by
Ibn-Fadlan, do not seem fully human. They ride on the back of a black
horse and have the head of a bear. They are extremely fierce warriors
and are quite vindictive. They give off a stench so strong it hurts to
breathe because they consume human flesh and it is always on their
breath. They come with the mist, a dark fog that encircles the land
when the Wendols come. Mother Wendol is the leader of the wendols and
said to be extremely old. To finally beat the Wendols, one must kill
her. She lives in the cave by the sea surrounded by coiled serpents all
the time. She makes an almost painful sound when she screams and smells
the worst of them all. Ibn-Fadlan is an Ambassador to the Caliph of
Baghdad and has been sent to teach the King of Bulgar the Islamic way
of life, and to build a Mosque in the city. On his way to Bulgar, he
stops with his party in the land of the Northmen. Being extremely
hospitable people they welcome the Arabs to their homes and provide
them with food, clothing, and shelter for a few nights. As it so
happens, their chief is very ill and while they are there, he dies. The
Northmen will not let the Arabs leave their land until after the
funeral and ceremonies. During this long process, kin of the new leader
arrives and asks for the Northmens help in defeating the Wendols.
According to the Angel of Death, an old woman said to have magical
powers, thirteen warriors must go to the land of the wendol, one of
them not being a Northmen. Buliwyf, the chief of the Northmen demands
Ibn-Fadlan to accompany the men in their battle and become the
thirteenth warrior. He will not take no for an answer, and so,
Ibn-Fadlan’s journey begins. Twelve other warriors accompanied Ibn,
Buliwyf, Ecthgow, Higlak, Skeld, Weath, Roneth, Halga, Helfdane,
Edgtho, Rethel, Haltaf, and Herger. With them, Ibn traveled across the
oceans and fought many battles. Ibn learned their culture, way of life,
and their language. He formed many friendships and gained a new
perspective on life. Though there were many difficult tasks to
accomplish but Ibn managed well and didn’t realize what he was really
in for. Warned many times about the wendols Ibn shrugged it off. He
didn’t realize the severity of the situation he was in. They fought the
wendol several times, only killing off a few and pushing the surviving
wendol to want revenge. After being beaten badly, Buliwyf announced
their new plan, to attack the wendol at their core, Mother Wendol. They
would go to the cliff above the cave and climb down, taking the back
entrance in. From there they would attack the wendol when they least
expected it and hopefully kill their leader. Upon arrival at the cliff,
Ibn knew he was in for something extreme, just climbing down the cliff
was something he thought would bring him to his death. One by one, the
Northmen went down the cliff, with only the rocky shore below. Finally
they reached the cave and attacked. After many wendol had been killed,
Buliwyf went for the mother wendol. He stabbed her many times, all the
while Ibn fought off the other wendols. No matter how many times she
was stabbed, mother wendol would not fall. Finally Buliwyf struck with
the fatal blow and the mother wendol collapsed over dead. As Buliwyf
turned around, the remaining warriors noticed a silver pin in his
stomach that the mother wendol had stuck into him. As he pulled it out,
a gush of blood came with it, and after being reassured of the slaves,
horses and treasure he would be allowed to take into the afterlife,
Buliwyf passed away. But the wendol came back. They knew of the
Northmens leaders death and took advantage of the Northmens weakness.
As Ibn put it “no words can describe the final attack of the wendol in
the mist, no words will say what blood was spilled, what screams filled
the thick air, what horses and horsemen died in hideous agony” After
the day passed, and the devastation was taken care of, Ibn remained
with the Northmen for several weeks. After a while he began to long for
his homeland and told the Northmen of his situation. With a warm
farewell the Northmen bade Ibn-Fadlan goodbye and sent him off to
Baghdad, home at last. “Eaters of the Dead” was written in first person
and was written in a positive manner. Even with all the death and
destruction the tale had its good times. Ibn conquered many demons,
including most of his own. He had good times with the Northmen and
learned so much, it was a new experience and showed him a whole
different point of view. The language in the book was very formal and a
lot of good vocabulary words were used. Dialect was used in accordance
with the Northmen tradition. The length of the book was just right, not
to short or too long. It kept my interest the whole time. I think the
book was well written and interesting. It had a lot of historical
information but was extremely entertaining at the same time. I gained a
better perspective on the way of life for a culture I never knew I
would learn anything about. Though they were different from us, the
Vikings had many good attributes to their society and it intrigued me
to learn about them. DOWNLOAD PDF (0.23MB) http://www.zshare.net/download/151079037fd85b7c/ or http://rapidshare.com/files/128873675/eaters-of-the-dead.pdf