Rating: 
Summary: ok, but not great
Review: i have read SPHERE and RISING SUN by him, and i must say, i didnt like TIMELINE as much as the other ones. i was waiting for more intelligent twists, more philosophical ideas, the subject of time travel could make for a much more interesting story than a mere medieval adventure, imho. for example, a more complex relationship between Decker and the heroes could have been interesting. also, from the movie back to the future, he could have 'stolen' some ideas, especially the matter of how the future can be modified in the past.
it's an entertaining book, for sure, but a little disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Science meets 14th century France
Review: Timeline was great. This book is packed from beginning to end with information, adventure, and a group of fine characters. I have several friends who will not read Michael Crichton's books since they are always made into movies. This book is also supposed to be a movie this winter, but it will not be the same. There is far to much packed into this great book to be shown in a 2-hour movie. So I'm happy I took the time to read this book and enjoy the magical world of science combined with 14th century France.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to Crichton's Standards
Review: As an avid reader of Michael Crichton's novels, I was disappointed when I read "Timeline". This latest book is an attempt to postulate what it would be like if humans were able to travel into the past. Crichton, as usual, has researched this area of science and created a plausible story around a fictional company, ITC. This company has the technology to send people back inot the past. But, as usually happens, something has gone wrong. A group of scienctists are charged with the task of rescuing their professor by returning to the late 14th century French countryside.While the story is a good one, the novel has many bad points. The novel seemed chaotic and poorly put together. It jumped back and forth between the two differnet time periods. It was rather annoying to be engrossed in one time and then jarred back into another. I also felt that the story dragged a bit. The scientists were caught and escaped way too many times. They seemed to be very lucky throughout the novel. Many parts of the story could have been explained more. For instance, the involvement of Robert Deckard. It just seems like Crichton did not edit this story. Almost like he turned in his first draft and it was published. The book was o.k. I'm sure when the movie comes out this fallmany things will be different. Unfortunately, Crichton allows many changes in screenplays of his books. That, and this book are quite a dissapointment.
Rating:
Summary: another great Crichton book
Review: I've read all but two of Crichton's novels now and this is as good as most of his other books. As another reviewer said, it is structured a lot like Jurassic Park. A new technology ultimately leads to a problem that soon escalates out of control. Like in Jurassic Park, the characters are being chased and are racing the clock. But I enjoyed Jurassic Park, so the similarities didn't bother me. Some of the scientific stuff in Timeline was over my head, but I did learn a little bit from it. A very exciting book that I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Good, Entertaining Fun
Review: When you start a Michael Crichton novel, you go in knowing that you won't be getting something that's too literary. Crichton's writing is very simplistic and, yes, very cinematic, which is why his books tend to adapt to the screen so well. Timeline is no exception to the rule. While the book is never anything more than a mere escapist fare, it's a step above some of his other recent misfires (Airframe, The Lost World and Congo come to mind). This time around, Crichton brings us back to the middle ages. Scientists have found a way to bend time to do a sort of time travel that brings people back in time by using parallel universes (as one character explains, it's kind of like faxing a person from one universe to the other - what you get on the other end is a copy of the message, not the original). When a professor and archeologist goes missing in the Middle Ages (during the 100 years war between France and England), it will be up to three graduate students to go back in time and get the professor before he is trapped in the past forever. Sounds simplistic? That's because it is. Timeline is nothing more than one very long, very intricate and very entertaining action sequence. The characters are very typical of the Crichton novel; you have Chris, the young, shy guy who soon becomes the hero, Andre, the action hero-like historian and Kate, the underdeveloped and underused female protagonist. Heck, you even have a young computer wiz who comes in to save the day. But there's nothing wrong with familiarity when the book is so much fun. You can always count on Crichton to do his research. This book is very detailed, although his description of medieval times can be questionable at times. Still, he gives a more accurate version of the period than most other novels of this kind do. I had a great time reading this book. Once you are able to get past the flimsy premise and avert your eyes from all the plot holes, you'll realize that this book isn't bad one bit. Timeline is the one book that comes close to equaling Crichton's Jurassic Park. It's a great beach read that will make a very good, entertaining and action-packed popcorn movie. Good time guaranteed.
Rating: 
Summary: Put Your Thinking Cap On
Review: I learned more than I probably ever wanted to know about science, technology and archeology in this book. I thought it was an extremely interesting book and very suspenseful. The last 50 pages had my heart pounding. I enjoyed the technological aspects of time travel, and the archeological/scientific dig portion immensely as Michael Crichton tells us the specifics about each and is very descriptive. I think though, unless science is your "thing" you may have to go back and reread a few passages at times, just to ensure you're getting the picture. Sometimes the information can be confusing.
All the characters are great, and throughout the book you are pulling for all of them in hopes all turns out well for each one of them. I highly recommend this book and heard it is being made into a movie. I can't wait to see who will play Andre.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Wait for the Film!
Review: This novel is one of the best Crichton has produced. Yes, it's another time travel book, and I found the science/physics explanation of how the characters are able to travel backwards in time more than a little obtuse, but it is a gripping adventure that's definitely worth reading. I also enjoyed the characters: Professor Edward Johnston, Andre Marek, Chris Hughes, and Kate Erickson are all three dimensional protagonists who make the sometimes fantastic plot developments plausible. The plot concerns a major corporation that has been bankrolling archaeological research in France, coordinated by Johnston. When it's discovered that the corporation seems to have more information on the archaeological site than the field team has, suspicions are aroused, and Johnston and his assistants travel to New Mexico, where it's revealed that time travel to 'alternate' versions of earth is possible. The drama comes in when first Johnston, then the others, are trapped in the 14th C during the Hundred Years' War, when France and England fought for dominance. It would be a shame to reveal all the plot nuances, but historically this is an accurate depiction of what life was like in the Middle Ages. Definitely a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Give him a B++++++++++
Review: After the disastrous Lost World, I was expecting and prepared for the worst. What a turn around! From the first sentence I was captivated with the story of quantum displacement (not Time travel as the title implies). All the comments about the "absurdness of the plot" or " that the idea is not clearly explained" misses the point. This is a sci-fi chase tale on which literary and scientific license should be bestowed. As in all Chricton novels, the weakness is in the characters. The conversations are very surface and never serve as an integral part of the plot (which is primarily action; no real relationships emerge - just people thrown together by events. The habit of "movieizing" the book is becoming annoying. One can almost visualize the director yelling "Cut" or "Action". If the middle had not degenerated into a castle chase tale this book would rate an A+. As it is, it's great escapist fare for a cold night. A last word on the "scientific" aspect. The author's novels are always more intelligent and deeper than the movies. The pattern continues here and it is unfortunate that it will not be present in the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Suspend your disbelief...
Review: It's been a long time since I read anything by Michael Crichton, but I remembered liking the stuff I had read. When I recently saw the trailer for the upcoming "Timeline" movie I thought, "Hey, that doesn't look bad... I better read the book first, though." The book was a well-told, if somewhat conventional time travel story. A group of historians and students are sent back in time to rescue their professor, who went back on an earlier trip and somehow was lost. Crichton obviously put a lot of research into the customs, traditions and language of the era he writes about, and it shows through in a pretty good action story. The first hundred pages or so kind of drag, though, and the explanation for time travel STILL gives me a headache. "So wait... if they're really travelling through alternate universes how did they end up in the 1400s? How did the professor leave the message? Where did... ARGH!" Eventually I gave up on understanding it and just accepted it the way I accepted that a kid bit by a genetically-altered spider would get superpowers or that a scientist who caught a dose of gamma radiation could turn big and green instead of get cancer and die. After that, I enjoyed the book a lot better. Suspend your disbelief for this one and you'll do fine.
Rating:
Summary: Time travel and a whole lot more
Review: Books like Timeline are the reason I like to read so much. I read fiction to be engrossed and as a means to escape into another world. Timeline delivered this in spades. It is easily one of the most fulfilling novels of fiction I have ever read. The first 100 pages or so of the novel deal with a professor and his graduate students studying a historic site in France as part of a school thesis. Or so they think. The professor soon finds out that the project is in reality funded through a corporation by the name of ITC, whose motives smell rather fishy to him. Upon learning this, he promptly flies back to America to have a word with the CEO of ITC. Meanwhile, the students at the site are dumbfounded about the professor's dissapearance. They don't hear anything for a while until a representative of ITC informs them that the professor is stuck in medieval France in the year 1357 and on the same site they've been researching as a result of an experimentation gone wrong using ITC's qantum travel equipment. ITC needs their help. Since these students have spent the past two summers researching the site and know it so well, ITC enlists a small group of four of them to go back in time to retrieve the professor and bring him back safely to the present time. From then on the book turns into a full blown fantsy action adventure as good as any I've ever read. Not only is this book fun as hell, Crichton educates the reader on a wide range of topics: science, anthropolgy, quantum physics and of course tons of history. What amazes me is how he is able to explain these complex concepts in simple terms. The characters are very well drawn, although I found Chris to be a stumbling and bumbling idiot. If there is one thing that bothered me slightly about Timeline is that it sometimes felt to me as though Crichton was writing a movie script. As we all know, every single book of his gets the movie treatment. It will be interesting to see how Hollywood treats this novel (the movie is slated for a November 2003 release). Hopefully it will be better than "Sphere", that's all I will say on that.
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