Rating: Summary: Michael Crichton's TIMELINE ... Review: ... belongs on the timeline of the best books ever written. It is a phenomenal, thrilling, suspenseful and absorbing piece of historical fiction. It's disgusting how horridly underrated this novel is. It has everything: comedy, romance, action, adventure, science fiction - what more do you want? Once again, master suspense novelist Crichton uses his power for keeping you 100% intrigued; he explains the technology so flawlessly, it's as if he were there. TIMELINE is historical adventure fiction at it's absolute best, and is undoubtedly Michael Crichton's finest piece of work yet. Highly recommended - fans of the author won't be disappointed.
Rating: Summary: Very exciting Review: This book was extremely exciting. It had a good plot, and was easy to understand. One of my favorite books of all time. Michael Crichton is a great author.
Rating: Summary: Good, but not really all that good Review: I enjoyed the book for awhile, then it started to get rather boring. I got rather tired of one (or more) of the characters suddenly getting into trouble, only to have another character suddenly appear out of nowhere to come to the rescue, especially when the trouble spot didn't have any bearing on the story, but rather added a page or two to the book. There are many examples of this, but I will not show one as I don't wish to give something away to future readers. Michael Crichton was a new author for me to read. Based on reputation, I was looking forward to it. I'm not really sure I will read another of his books or not.
Rating: Summary: Fun reading Review: One of the best sci-fi books I've read, I couldn't put it down. Of course there are some flaws with the time travel, but I haven't read one book concerning that subject in particular that doesn't, so... I highly recommend it if you want to have a fun time reading and maybe learn some medieval facts.
Rating: Summary: Airplane Pulp Entertainment Review: I have never read another Crichton novel, and I was disappointed after reading Timeline, as I had expected more from his reputation. This felt like a Saturday Afternoon Special for adults. When we finally arrive at the evil plot that precipitated this huge adventure, it's anti-climatic at best and innane at worst. I think I see where he was going, a big-bucks-made-under-your-nose sort of thing. But I felt that it fell flat.
Rating: Summary: What happened?? Review: There's something wrong about this book - it starts out pretty good, with developing characters, their backgrounds, and weaving together a potentially interesting story. Somewhere along the line it all gets lost - wooden characters with no personality or background take over, the action is repetitive and boring, the writing becomes amateurish and rushed. Events from the beginning that clearly were meant to foreshadow later events never really pan out (So how did the old man end up in the desert after all and not back at the lab? Why did he introduce the cop and the doctor, give them backgrounds and make them nosy, and then never mention them again?) Its almost like he got halfway through and was forced the finish the book as fast as possible. I've enjoyed almost all his other books, but this one is strangely not well written in comparison.
Rating: Summary: Worst Chrichton book I've ever read Review: I read this book years ago when it was first published so I don't remember too much about it. All I remember is my complete lack of interest in the characters and the story. I picked up this book with a lot of anticipation after having read Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Airframe, Sphere and The Andromeda Strain all of which I highly enjoyed. There is something about timeline that is just dead, absolutely no depth whatsoever, just a boring adventure and completely uninteresting characters. I have found the author's other books to be highly engaging due to the scientific details that he injects into his books and are a huge part of the plot. I guess I learned a thing or two from this book about quantum theory but the time travel served as little more than a plot device to put the characters in the middle ages. Even if you try to just accept and enjoy the book as a simple adventure you will be bored to tears. If you have never read a novel by Chrichton before DO NOT make Timeline your first, read Jurassic Park instead.
Rating: Summary: Total KRAP Review: Too bad I can't give 0 stars. This is a total waste of time. I can't believe that a manuscript like this could even get published. It reads like a creative writing 101 experiment.There are so many problems with this book I don't know where to start. First, the writing itself is abysmal. If you're used to reading writers such as Ursula LeGuin, Philip Pullman, George R.R. Martin and others who've apparently taken the time to study writing, you'll be appalled at this amateurish drivel. But you could put up with this if the story was even marginally interesting. But it isn't. As another reviewer has already said, the characters are little more than cardboard cutouts used as mouthpieces for completely inane dialogue whose only purpose is to move the ill conceived story forward but never lets you know anything about the characters themselves. And frankly, you don't care. Kill them, don't kill them - it's all the same - just get me through this painfully idiotic story. The funny thing is, I actually finished the book. As a budding writer I was curious as to why such a poorly written, ill-conceived story could actually get published. I still haven't figured it out, other than to conclude that Michael Crichton has enough of a fan base to sell just about anything he puts out. Mostly I finished it out of some morbid fascination, the same thing that makes you slow down to watch the car wreck on the side of the road. Every creative writing student should read this as an example of what not to do. In short, this is great recycling material.
Rating: Summary: Love the story, Hate the subject matter Review: I love Michael Cricthon, and all his novels. TIMELINE is a rip-roaring adventure, however the period of the Knights and the round table wasn't my favorite period, I did enjoy the jumping, fighting, explosions and the technical aspect but the history and language of the times made no never mind to me. But this is not to say that it was bad. I did like it. So SUE me.
Rating: Summary: A Waste of Time Review: Now a major motion picture, as they say, Timeline is about time travel, archaeology and the Hundred Years War. It is also about an evil corporation (again!) trying to profit from off-the-wall science a la Jurassic Park. Being interested in the Middle Ages, I decided to suspend disbelief about the time travel gimmick and see what happened: I put myself in the author's hands. Sure enough, the first chapters involving the archaeology dig in France and the strange accidents and the first time travel scenes were pretty fun. But then the novel went downhill. Having arrived in 1357, I soon wanted to go back to the present and read Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror instead of Michael Crichton's cartoonish world peopled with cardboard stereotypes. Mr Crichton doesn't really have the bent for an historical novelist but he tries to be one for much of the book. If you like medieval history you may find this book only worth checking out of the library; the many historical references in the back of Timeline will send you in the right direction. Otherwise, don't waste your time on this disappointing novel. Two time capsules out of five.
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