Who's Afraid of Beowulf?

This is a light fantasy novel about a young American archæologist called Hildy Frederiksen who goes to Scotland and finds a bunch of Vikings who've been in suspended animation for 1200 years.

It's told in a mildly amusing way, and I think it contains Viking in-jokes that would be more amusing if I knew more about the old Norse sagas. However, it has nothing to do with Beowulf, who appears only in the title.

It feels like a story for children, although there are no children in it. Perhaps it's best regarded as a children's story that can be read by adults. As a story for adults, it seems to me rather lacking in substance, although it has a certain charm.

Overall, it's not one of my favourites, but it's pleasant enough that I reread it occasionally.

After reading it for the second time in 1999, I commented that it seemed like a collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, neither of them at his best.