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Summary: Crichton, King of the Mass Market Novel...
Review: What can I say? Crichton writes books that are wild, imaginative, thrilling, and fun. TIMELINE is no exception even if it does borrow the skeleton of JURASSIC PARK. This time around, you've got a rich guy who's busy trying to design theme parks around time travel. He sends a group of archaeologists and historians back in time... where they get stuck in the medieval dark ages, where they must survive for the next few days until they can make it back home. If that's even possible. Crichton wastes no time in getting the story going and, while characterization may be slim, the story races along quickly, pulling the reader forward in time as the characters themselves struggle in a history they've known only through books. A great little romp and a fun little read.
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Summary: Action packed... almost to the point of being ridiculous
Review: First let me say that I enjoyed this book a great deal. It was a fun read. The science was a little laughable, but it's allowed. The historical details about medieval Europe were the most interesting part of the story for me, and the sense of wonder over the past coming to life that Crichton is trying to convey comes across in wonderful rich color. There is a bit much of the almost-solving-everything-then-another-disaster-happens plot twisting for one to really suspend disbelief, but then, it's an action novel, so I can forgive it. If you like time travel stories, you will enjoy this. If you like fantasy stories about knights in bloody armour, you will like this. It will appeal to those with an interest in archaology, architecture, history, medieval France, and many more. I'd suggest picking this one up if you are looking for something not too serious and quite entertaining.
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Summary: A great book but don¿t hold your breath for the Movie
Review: I have no knowledge in medieval history. However, this book took my interest in sci-fi and wrapped it nicely with a curiosity I'll have to quench by further reading about Medieval times. Though not expert enough to critique historical fact, I'm well read enough to know a good book and good research when I see it. His attention to detail and facts make this apparent in the story. Additionally I would say that Crichton is the master of literary foreshadowing in his plots. It is especially apparent in this story when you sense a foreshadowing of a future event in the plot but not quite sure what it could be...driving you to read further and trade sleep for reading. I am impressed with this writing skill of Crichtons and it is especially valuable in this book. Crichton may not be considered a Literary Master in the present tense but no doubt in the future his books will still be around and well-read as possibly newly discovered genius in the 22nd Century. To his credit I bring to your attention his brilliant savvy at technological drama is his writing on the Television show E.R.. I would go out on a limb to recommend this for those who might enjoy a bit of sci-fi and who might be a closet History buff. The plot is a little reminiscent of the "Mad Tycoon" of Jurassic Park fame but there are enough variations to the theme to make this a good book, particularly if you are already a Crichton fan. It's certainly a page-turner and while reading this on a car trip I was inclined to read some passages out loud to my fellow travelers. Nobody begged me to stop and later asked me how the book ended. Rumor has it that this will be made into a Motion Picture. Based on my experience of turning Crichton books to Movies, I won't rush out to the theatre when it comes out. I say this out of the experience of his past Novels "Jurassic Park" and even "Sphere" which were both a great reads but lousy movie adaptations. (Saved only by Jodi Foster's good acting talent in "Sphere") Perhaps though it is merely a testament to Hollywood Machine of bad screenplay adaptation than to this author's screen writing skills. If it does I will be surprised but I don't think Hollywood can do this plot justice.
Rating: 
Summary: The pseudo-professor strikes again
Review: Okay, this was a good book. Crichton is exciting and makes you want to read the book as quickly as possible so as to get to the end. But you get to the end and that's it. In this tale of modern day science/scholarship meets medieval times one is exposed to a lot of information. The story proceeds at a fast past with twists and turns at every chapter. But once the exciting stuff ends, the story is over. Yes, there is that thing at the end, but it really does not explain anything, its just a sweet way to end the book. While I am not expecting Crichton to have a nice tidy wrap up at the end, I would prefer that possible problems not be brushed aside. It would seem that all the things that occur in this book would cause some major time paradoxes, but Crichton basically ignores that issue. He brushes time paradoxes aside by saying that they just can't happen. But why not? It just seemed like an easy way to ignore the issue. But I guess not having the characters worrying about how every action might affect the course of history all the time was a way to make the story more interesting and give the characters more freedom. In the book, you get good action sections alongside typical Crichton teaching passages. He goes into lecture mode when anything scientific or historical comes up. While it helps understand the situation, it makes one feel that one should be taking notes and that Crichton is just repeating the basic explaination he got from some professor somewhere. But the book is still good. A good weekend read or at the beach book.
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Summary: Another exciting Chrichton novel
Review: Timeline is a terrific book. Chrichton does a great job of teaching us all about time-travel and life in the 15th century. This book is exciting from the beginning and hard to put down. I think it ranks among Chrictons best novels, Jurassic Park and Lost World. Highly recomended
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Summary: Unputdownable
Review: Another great book by Mr. Crichton. It takes a while to get going , but once you reach page 40 or so, you simply cannot put it down. I have always been a fan of Mr. Creichton. Read it only if you want to stay up all night
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Summary: Medieval Park?
Review: I picked up this book because I've long been a Chrichton fan, enjoying Jurassic Park, Congo, etc. Here, Chrichton takes some promising technological musings about the direction present research into quantum theory could take, and this part is thoroughly enjoyable, vintage Michael C., developing a methodology for travelling between alternate universes and timelines. The problem with this novel is that it then drills into a billionaire techno-genius' obsession with eploiting the past by creating historically accurate theme parks beginning with a mid 14th-century French fuedal landscape, right in the middle of the 100 years war between the English and the French. The reader is really left at the end of this novel feeling like more should have been done with the time travel concept (instead of the entire action sequence of the novel occuring in one 37 hour period in the year 1347). I kept thinking what a more hard core SF writer like David Brin or Fred Pohl could have done with the premise and created more sweeping and grand story lines, intersecting the great events of humanity. Also, in order to create the technology of time travel, Chrichton has the billionaire's company invent quantum computing (where all 32 theoretical states of an electron are used for computation, rather than just the two spin orientation states we use today), and he does not explore the incredible implications of this hardly at all. Imagine devices a billion billion times more powerful than the fastest supercomputers today! All in all, the novel is worth spending a weekend reading just to explore the quantum theoretical aspects; the medieval story line is first rate swashbuckling, and historically well researched. But as a hard sci-fi work, the reader will find much lacking. I can't help but think Chrichton wrote this thinking about the eventual ease with which it will be converted into a movie script, computer/video games etc. Mike, did you really need the money, or did you not want to spend the time writing a book worthy of your considerable talents?
Rating:
Summary: Good book if...
Review: This is a good book, but you'll think so only if you don't expect it to be literature (it's just a thriller) and if you can get past all the science stuff. Crichton explains it well enough to understand the basics, and the story itself is a page turner. I read it in one sitting because I couldn't put it down!
Rating: 
Summary: Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad
Review: This book was really bad. The only reason I finished it was because a friend told me it was great and I wanted to arm myself with as much critical material as possible. Well, thankfully, Mr. Crichton came through with the goofiest, most absurdly dissatisfying ending. When I was done, I threw the book in the trash and turned on a much more historically accurate depiction of the 13th century, XENA - WARRIOR PRINCESS. BATTLE ON XENA!
Rating:
Summary: Amusing that some expect this to equal great literature
Review: Michael Crichton writes fiction for entertainment. I seriously doubt that he considers himself a great literary figure. While I found this book somewhat less satisfying then his more fact based novels, and was surprised that this was more of a science-fantasy than science-fiction story, there is a good deal of entertainment value to be had from this book. Of course, one must have the ability to suspend belief and I would guess that many die-hard Crichton fans are not tolerant of this deviation from his usual formula. It is a quick and easy read with a very amusing twist at the end.
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