Rating: 
Summary: Well-done sci-fi adventure, perfect for long commutes
Review: I was pretty apprehensive from the blurb on the box cover that this was going to be incoherent in some way. As with many Chrichton novels, there are the occasional too-long lapses into brain-dump of background facts that probably only interest certain readers and, especially on audio where it's harder to skim ahead, tax one's patience. Even so, the main story is engrossing, the chapter breaks are masterful causing one to always want to know what will happen next. The storyline is quite well conceived. I've read nearly all of Chrichton's published novels and this was among his best.The reader (John Bedford Lloyd) did an excellent job, substantially adding to the experience. I'm always uncertain whether to get the abridged or unabridged version of a story; if the story and its reader are strong, there's no substitute for the unabridged, but if not, an abridgement is all I can take. In this case, I'm glad I didn't skimp. One or two overlong explanatory passages or extraneous scenes notwithstanding, there's very little here that I wish had been omitted and it was fun to have the story last awhile.
Rating: 
Summary: Timeline-Gets better as time goes on
Review: Timeline is one of the few books I've read that keep getting better until the very end. Everything about this book is great. The action barely ever stops. The only problem I see with this book is that Chricton seemed to give up on some of the charactors from the beggining,but that is just a minor flaw,that doesnt really effect this book in anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: fun, A on history, D on sci
Review: fun read, very enjoyable, esp. character development and view of 14th cent. world. Requires a *lot* more suspension of disbelief than most of his others in the modern-day aspects. faxes copy, as would his quantum machine. There is no public notion that we have little left to learn. Patently ridiculous that "one person couldn't change history", esp. if that person was a historian. These detract from his credibility about the 14th cent. But then, this isn't a history or science or even philosophy text. It's good entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Blast From The Past
Review: Yes, I admit, the beginning of this book is kind of slow. Crichton has to explain a few things and set up some odds and ends. It is a bit of a pain to get through that part. On the other hand, if you stick with it, you will shortly find TIMELINE to be an incredibly entertaining and fast moving read. I do not think that Crichton expects us to attend to the concept of "quantum physics" and time travel other than as devices with which to spark off another of his exciting, nearly plausible tales. Just as he did with JURASSIC PARK, he takes a believable scientific possiblity and then weaves in a flagrantly exotic tale, for fun. I think he is a master at doing this, and I loved this book. It is set initially in the present and flashes back and forth classily to the 1300's...with a few double crosses thrown in. You do learn about the earlier time, with Crichton's apparently effortless store of information* bolstering his plot effectively. It's not really about real people, or real feelings, or values...it's just pure entertainment on a more elegant than usual level. I would read this at the beach and hold my head up high. ! best, Jean *it's not really effortless--get a load of the bibliography at the end!
Rating: 
Summary: Timeline
Review: This book reads like a script for a motion picture, with its last minute escape. The look inside 15th Century France was interesting, but the science behind it was difficult to understand and hard to believe. I have enjoyed most of Michael Crichton's books, but this seemed to be written with the big buck payout in mind and not the enjoyment of the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Standard fare for Crichton. Interesting, but predictable.
Review: What Crichton appears to have done with this book is simple. He took JURASSIC PARK, changed the characters, and altered the science discussed from genetic engineering to quantum mechanics. Overall, a predictable book, but interesting nonetheless. The main dissapointment the book presented was that the characters of Chris, Kate, and Andre were hardly given enough time to develop fully. They were immediately thrust into Crichtonian situation after Crichtonian situation, until the end of the book eventually arrived. Overall, an entertaining read, but don't expect a rich, compelling plot. If that's what you want, purchase THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed story compounded by improbable characters
Review: Michael Crichton is usually effective at taking the improbable and making it seem plausible through some far reaching scientific explanation. Not this time. Crichton seems determined to write an dubious medieval story and have it masquerade as science fiction. Both the science and the history were obviously well researched. The start of the book was excellent, but as time went on it seemed to deteriorate, as if Crichton's mind were suffering from cumulative transcription errors. As it progressed, more and more glaring flaws presented themselves. There is a fundamental flaw in the explanation of multiversal travel that renders certain events illogical. Gordon explains that this isn't travel through time, but to another parallel universe that exists simultaneous with our own universe. This other universe exists at a different point in time in its own history (specifically the 14th century) and thus, by being transported there, we can view history without time travel. If we accept that premise, we have to assume that this second universe has already cleaved from our own and is on its own timeline. If that were true, nothing one did there would have any effect on our history, yet we have a message from the professor written in this seperate parallel universe arriving as a historical artifact in our universe, not to mention the artifact left by Andre Marek. Either it wasn't explained well, or I missed something, or Crichton just ignored the illogic of it. Also implausible is the fact that a bunch of geek historian academics and students get thrust into medieval times and are able to stay alive more than 20 minutes in the middle of a battle of rival kingdoms and their knights. Most incredible is how supergeek Andre Marek kills half of Oliver's soldiers single handedly in sword fights. This all could have been somewhat more believable if our heroes made more frequent use of their superior knowledge of history and science, but Crichton was content to let them slug it out with the locals, giving them only gunpowder incorporation, universal translators and mace as occasional technological advantages. So while the story itself was engaging, it had too many plot flaws to be up to the standard we expect from Crichton. Worth picking up only after you are current on any other fiction you were thinking of reading.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good book with great research.
Review: This is a very good book that shows Crichton's talent at researching a subject before he writes the book. For those of you who think this is psuedo-science, take a look in the bibliography and try reading some of the books Crichton used to research the subject. This book has a great scientific base behind it. The action keeps you turning pages until you think "Hey, what happened. I'm done?". The story has a great structure with many suprises along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Good to read, but logic flaws
Review: The story is really a nice idea, and it is written fluently and very interesting; but the logic behind the whole story has some severe flaws. MC claims time paradoxes are irrelevant, because every 'world' is existing at the same time (he calls it "multiverse", where people can jump through wormholes using quantum technology) So far, so good. This implies that changes in the past do NOT change our current time. BUT: That means an object lost in the past will also NOT appear in our time ! The Professor (Mr. Johnston) looses his glasses when travelling back, and writes a "help me" note into some documents. His students find those (glasses and words) some 500 years later in a cave at the archeologic site, which causes them to ask what's going on. If all worlds are existing at once, they wouldn't have found anything; if they find something, the whole 'time paradox' idea starts up again. I cannot commend on the medieval things, although they seem a bit over-exaggerating the violence of that time - it was violent, but if it would have happened the Michael Crichton way, mankind would probably not have survived at all...
Rating:
Summary: Quantum Chivalry
Review: Despite the negative remarks of the most recent reviewers, I have to say that this was the most enjoyable Crichton book I read since Jurassic Park (and I've read them all). Crichton is probably the only writer today who would dare to tackle quantum physics and medieval France in the same book, and he pulls off a splendid adventure. Having always been fascinated by the age of chivalry and knights in armour, Timeline's recreation of the medieval world certainly made for enjoyable reading. Being a former physics student, I also read the passages explaining quantum mechanics and the concept of "multiverses" (parallel universes) closely and was fascinated (though not entirely convinced!) by the idea of "transcribing people through the multiverses" (the form that "time travel" takes in this book). Although I agree that some of the plot "twists" are somewhat predictable, I'm not complaining as it makes the reader feel a little cleverer! Requiring you to think in the beginning and then hitting you with a whole load of silly fun at the end, this book meshes science and adventure like no other and should not be missed by any Crichton fan (or indeed, anyone else!).
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