Eaters of the Dead

I wasn't impressed by this book, and I thought that it could have been much shorter. Traditionally I'd like Michael Crichton book (i.e., Jurassic Park are some of the best fiction books IMO), but this book had a tremendous amount of "context setting" in a seeming effort to make the world seen real, instead of telling the fictional story that I was looking for. Furthermore, the only context setting was sexual in nature. Sexual 'jokes', stories of interactions with women, it seems that the only context this book used was sexual in nature and added nothing to the story itself.

Disappointing. Sometimes Michael Crichton's detailed explanations add depth and clarity to his stories, but eaters of the dead is a disservice. Reading the book honestly feels like a chore. I understand that he is trying to imitate the prose of an actual person, but it's difficult to believe that anyone could be so static while narrating life or death experiences. It would be different if this were a true biography; but eaters of the dead is solidly within the realm of fiction, and yet Crighton refuses to entertain or encourage the reader to continue reading.

Amazing work from Crichton, as usual. Admittedly, the style. of writing is a little different- intended to emulate the travel writings of Ibn Fadlan, but instead of finding this off-putting I think it only makes the illusion of this being a recovered text (almost like found footage) more interesting. I genuinely got excited every time I saw an asterisk denoting a footnote- it's fiction, but the footnotes give it a scholarly air and build the strange society Ibn Fadlan finds himself in.