Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

Joe's comments:

Eaters of the Dead is a translation of a medieval manuscript written by an emissary to the Caliph of Baghdad in the year 922 A.D. Though the character Ibn Fadlan did exist, and perhaps did actually visit the Vikings in the tenth century, his story is most decidedly fictional in nature.

Readers of Michael Crichton might not be familiar with this text, which is unlike any of his other works. Crichton's interest in medieval cultures led him to write Eaters of the Dead, which reads like a fairy tale and looks like a scholarly work-complete with detailed footnotes.

The actual story follows Ibn Fadlan as he is sent by his employer to meet with the Bulgars. Instead, he finds himself swept up into the clutches of the Vikings, who are traveling on a suicide mission to slay an ancient beast in the cold mountains of Scandinavia. Fadlan is reluctant, a God-fearing man who fears going into battle for the wrong reasons. He finds the Vikings to be heathens, but as the story progresses, he becomes one of them and adopts their customs.

This book was made into the 1999 film "The Thirteenth Warrior."

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