Ok....before anybody starts yelling at me for my taste in literature, this was actually a very good book (that had very little mention of eating anybody at all). This is the story that the movie 'The 13th Warrior' (starring Antonio Banderas) was based on.All in all, I give this book 7.5 out of 10 stars. It wasn't the conflict with the Wendol (the bad guys) that really maintained my interest here. Instead, I rather enjoyed reading about the clashing of two cultures - namely arab and norse. I have read about some parallels to 'Beowulf', but the story is mostly based off of the accounts of Ibn Fadlan and his adventure with the 'Rus' (Norsemen) which were documented in his writing, 'Risala'.
If the accounts in his 'Risala' are accurate, then I have a new-found respect for the men of the north. They're outlook on life was admirable at best and interesting at worst.
Some memorable lines...
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- "The rain is cold."
- "How can the rain be cold? You are cold and you are unhappy. The rain is not cold or unhappy."
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- "Allah was wise enough to put death at the end of life instead of at the beginning."
1 comment:
I rate the book a 9 out of 10. it was great.
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