I am a die hard Crichton fan. I read anything that comes from Crichton. Simply because of the fact that his books have a large portion dedicated to research material. His writing style is such that even a lay man can understand the science behind these concepts.
However, in this case the name of the book itself is so exciting that it is really very hard to resist reading it. The grossness of the title was the biggest factor in reading this book.
The book is set in the year A.D. 922. The protagonist is an Arab traveler who travels to the North of Baghdad to learn about the people of the North. He encounters a party of Viking warriors on their journey to the barbaric North.
During his journey he learns about the Viking culture - the freedom of expression in their culture, the status of women in their society, the influence of superstitions in their daily lives and many more. The story takes a real turn when he realizes that he is no more a traveler but has become a part of the Viking warriors, who are on a mission in the depths of Northland.
This is a hell of a novel, published in 1976 and is written not like a conventional novel but like a translation of some historic text. Crichton has at places sacrificed the usage of correct English so as to make the translation appear as accurate as possible. This is what makes the book really different from the conventional stories.
The portrayal of the barbarism among the Vikings is simply superb and one really gets a feel of the way of life in those times and in those areas. I have never been interested in history and I find history books really boring. However, if history is portrayed in the way Crichton has done in this book, I think it can become quite an interesting subject to study?