Rating: 
Summary: Typical Crichton
Review: Crichton at his usual best. I became interested in Crichton during the release of Jurassic Park. His attention to detail is great! Hope to see more.
Rating: 
Summary: Jurrasic Park with armored people instead of armored lizards
Review: I am a dinosaur fan and I liked this book more than Jurrasic Park. That's the good news. However, this book follows the same formula as Jurrasic Park -- it starts the same way (some character who only appears in chapter 1 finds a person who dies but gives a clue that something weird is going on), it has a air of mystery before they get to where the action is, and after that the main characters run around like hell dodging sharp pointy things. I give this a better rating than JurassicPark because there were a few clever things in the second half of the book that were kind of fun, and the ending was neater.
Rating:
Summary: Take it for what it is
Review: I basically enjoyed this book. I tend to be a pretty big Michael Crichton fan, and although I don't disagree with other reviewers who point out some of the author's shortcomings in this book, well, heck, I was entertained, and that's what I paid for. The problem of whether they are actually in our universe's past or just a very, very, very similar past in an alternate universe is a real issue, but readers should be aware that in the author's note at the end of the book, Crichton specifically disavows any pretense to being scientifically "on the ball" in this book. People are probably offended that Michael Crichton, of all people, would have truck with such shoddy science, but the fact is that this is primarily a work of historical fiction, ultimately intended for the big screen. Although Crichton is one of our ablest practitioners of the art of science fiction in many respects, the fact remains that he is at heart an entertainer, and in this case he just threw together a quasi-scientific rationale that let him send people to the 14th century. Unlike, say, in "the Andromeda Strain", the science here is just a means to an end, not the end in and of itself. That said, although this is basically not a terribly complex work, Crichton does try to bring a few historical issues to the readers attention that many readers might not have contemplated. Lady Claire is a very strong female figure, using sex and all her wiles to politic and intrigue her way through the dangerous courts of crazed warlords, trying to hold onto her inheritance... The architectural stuff is pretty engrossing -- not a lot of historical fiction deals in such depth with these matters... There are a few cool little extra elements thrown in -- the game of proto-tennis being played in the monastery; the sketchy-but-interesting overview of some of the technological precursors to gunpowder; the general view of knights not as "knights-in-shining-armor", but as incredibly dangerous, frequently insane, always HEAVILY armed killers, constantly on edge and on the prowl in an uncertain, deadly, lawless environment... I think the Plague should have been accorded a more prominent role -- although the action in this book takes place 7 years after the worst years of the plague, the fact is that it was still a major source of terror, having only recently killed half of Europe, and it kept cropping up repeatedly throughout the 14th century, and for long after. It is hardly even mentioned in this book, except in passing, and in a sort of twist at the end... Another thing -- the native american doctor and the young cop in the early chapters of the book strike me as being left over from an early draft of this story, one which was mostly set aside. Mark my words -- if ("when", I should say), this is turned into a screenplay, the director will somehow incorporate their lines, their roles, into the roles of the real main characters, Marek, Kate and Chris. All in all, it has its flaws, but it's still entertaining, and realistically speaking, it will be the only book a lot of people ever read that goes into this much detail about that period of history.
Rating:
Summary: Science BS, Adrenaline-Pumped Story
Review: The closest Crichton book I can compare this with is Jurassic Park/Lost World. Again with Timeline we have Crichton attempting to astound us 100 pages of astrophysics, quantum physics, and whatnot. By no means am I an expert in these fields, but if this book was actually a piece of science fiction as I had originally thought it to be, then there shouldn't have been 100 pages dedicated to persuading us readers that this is actually possible. Nonetheless, the story was decent, and personally I felt that the excerpt from the history on the Hundred Years' War was used well by Crichton in sculpting his story. It is an exciting ride through fictional history, but it is also just another one of those "Crichton books."
Rating: 
Summary: Best Book I ever read
Review: This is the greatest book ever written!!!! It is interesting and I really got into it! I couldn't put it down!!!!! It is definitely the greatest book I've ever read! My favorite parts were when it was in present time and they were all worried about the people in the past. I really really liked the end but i can't say what I liked about it or I would give away the whole book. All I can say is read it. I'm sure you'll like it!
Rating:
Summary: Great New Research, Same Old Format
Review: It has been a very long time since I really enjoyed a Michael Crichton novel. His last three "Airframe", "Lost World" and "Disclosure" made me think that Crichton had lost a step or two in the creative process. He does come back with "Timeline", which is a very well researched and compelling story. "Timeline" moves quickly and is has a lot of action for any reader, but readers of Crichton will see one glaring aspect that costs the novel in the ending. "Timeline" is about a group of historians who get send back in time to find there mentor. Through the use of quantum physics a "microsoft" type company is trying to exploit the past for profit. This is until things start to go wrong. There head historian goes back to the 1340s and never returns. The young historians all agree to go find him. Of course the Hundred Years War is going on, and the story plunges through the days of knights, seiges and trickery. The young historians find themselves right in the heat of the battle. The constant "will they get back to the present day" is the major antagonist throughout the book. Once again Michael Crichton proves that he is one of the best at researching for a novel. "Timeline" makes great efforts to truly show what the 1340s were like. In addition Crichton explainations of quantum physics are easily understood and do not take up the entire book. The one thing that bothered me was the fact that the story runs the sameline as "Sphere". If you have read "Sphere" you know how it is going to end, and who gets killed. Very rarely was I fooled by an outcome. Time to get a new timeline Michael.
Rating:
Summary: An incredible story
Review: This was one of the best books I have ever read. I read it in under four hours and then I read it again. And again. And again. Each time I read it I noticed something I missed the previous times. It's an incredible story with some of the greatest "interlocking history" elements I have ever seen. What do I mean by that? "Interlocking history" is the term I like to use for one theory of "you can't change history": Whatever you try to do in the past, it results in what actually happened. If you go back in time to save a guy from getting hit by a bus, it turns out you were the one who actually pushed him. You try to shoot Oswald before he shoots Kennedy, and you trip and fall, the gun fires off, and you were the "second gunman in the grassy knoll". "History is never altered, you see. It just fits together like a jigsaw puzzle" -- Ford Prefect. There is one glaring plothole, though. When Chris hears someone sneeze through his earpiece, why didn't he think of the Professor? The Professor had an earpiece as established when he told Oliver about saving Marek's dad's life. Why did Chris assume someone else had an earpiece BEFORE the evidence of the soldiers knowing where they were? Other than that, an excellent novel, deserving of a movie and a sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: A movie in novel form, with little real substance
Review: Reading this book is like watching a blockbuster action movie. The story has holes in it big enough for a knight in full armor to ride his horse through, but the action is practically non-stop, swinging along from beheading to explosion to joust to cliff-hanger. If you go for this kind of thing, you'll find "Timeline" entertaining, but then you will wonder why the heck you didn't wait for the movie, which is sure to come - this novel was very clearly written with an eye on its future marketability as a movie script, and little else. If, however, you expect more of a novel than just that it is a precursor to yet another stale blockbuster, don't bother to read "Timeline". As in others of his recent novels, Crichton makes heavy weather of his supposed familiarity with hip new science concepts. The problem is that he isn't really familiar with the basic science. Lots of obviously only half understood gee-whiz cutting-edge physics terms are mentioned offhandely and are crucial to shore up the totally implausible plot. The less he understands what this is all about, the more nonchalantly he uses them. Obvious truisms from physics 101 are listed in boring detail in the hope that this might impress the science-illiterate reader into believing that he is in fact reading a credible vision of the world to come. Something is very wrong with this novel. It clearly is heavily action-based and in fact rather un-inventively rehashes many sure-fire action scenes used ad nauseam in other films and books. But for an action novel, why all the science, the sociology, and the lengthy discussion of topics such as the paradoxes involved in time travel, why the attempt to debunk commonly held opinions on medieval life? On the other hand, if this is supposed to be a book that uses science fiction as a real glimpse to the various consequences of the technologies involved, why is all the science plain wrong? It never even becomes clear just what the purpose of the whole exercise of time travel is. Concepts of life in the middle ages are refuted with no proof being offered. Crichton should make up his mind about what he wants to write: trash scifi action or serious fictionalized science. Right now he is trying to ride both horses at the same time, and failing.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be suprised when this becomes a movie.
Review: The novel starts out interesting enough. A little background on quantum physics and an archeological dig. Two things that are practically polar opposites. Usually this makes for a compelling read, but it some how falls short. About a third of the way into the novel, Crichton begins thinking summer blockbuster and writes accordingly. You have the good looking and intelligent hero, the professor, the attractive firebrand woman, and the slightly inept but well meaning young man who finds courage and gets the woman at the end. Each character then fits into the Hollywood script template which finishes in an exciting cresendo. I won't lie and say that I did not enjoy it. The hit machine is tried and true. It is a fast summer read that keeps you enthralled. But what really gets me was that he really could have done so much more with the story. I expected more.
Rating:
Summary: Good story, but with some problems
Review: I basically enjoyed this story. Read all the other reviews for the plot. In this review I want to point out what I believe are some irritating things in this book 1. Why is everybody out to kill the time travelers? From the first moment they set foot in the past, it seems like the sole purpose of everyone in that time is to kill them. 2. The CEO was not really a villian, just amoral. Yet at the end he receives an incredibly brutal punishment for his actions by the supposedly good guys. And his actions weren't all that bad. 3. The business plan laid out for the company controlling the quantum time travel is a joke! They could never recover the billions invested and re-construction costs of historical sites from tourism. It's these kinds of things that keep me from giving 5 stars to this book. Still, it is a good story and I am glad I bought this book.
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