Without warning, the chieftain is ordered to haul his warriors back to Scandinavia to save his people from the "monsters of the mist." Ibn Fadlan follows the clan and must rise to the occasion in the battle of his life. The leader of the group, Buliwyf (who can communicate in Latin) takes Fadlan under his wing.
Despite the language and cultural barriers, Ibn Fadlan is welcomed into the clan. He witnesses everything from group orgies to violent funeral ceremonies. For Fadlan, his new traveling companions are a far stretch from society in the sophisticated "City of Peace." The conservative and slightly critical man describes the Vikings as "tall as palm trees with florid and ruddy complexions." Fadlan is astonished by their lustful aggression and their apathy towards death. During his journey, he meets various groups of "barbarians" who have poor hygiene and gorge themselves on food, alcohol and sex. In 922 A.D, Ibn Fadlan, a devout Muslim, left his home in Baghdad on a mission to the King of Saqaliba. This remarkable true story originated from actual journal entries of an Arab man who traveled with a group of Vikings throughout northern Europe. Michael Crichton takes the listener on a one-thousand-year-old journey in his adventure novel Eaters Of The Dead.
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