Rating: 
Summary: Half finished and fairly disappointed
Review: I am a huge Crighton fan and have read all but 2 of his books, but in his latest work, I feel that he is compromising something. I think this is a fun, light read, but not impressed. MC needs to go back and visit his original writing style and I think he will be on top again.
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps a better title would be Medieval Park.
Review: I was sorely disappointed by this story which is nothing but a recycling of the Jurassic Park tale. We once again have a misguided (evil?) individual who wants to create the ultimate theme park ride for vacationers. There are plenty of two-dimensional characters, including the story's hero, who studies dead languages, jousting, sword-fighting and archery in his spare time. All of this just happens to come in handy when he needs to travel back to medieval Europe. I guess he just knew that one day he would need all this archaic expertise in order to fill the holes in Mr. Crichton's plot. The descriptions of medieval England are wonderfully detailed, but even there the world the author has invented is peopled with uninteresting, flat characters who behave like villains in an Errol Flynn movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy, boring and predictable.
Review: The only good thing I have to say about Timeline is that Crichton did his homework on mideval France and QM.As a book, however, it was terrible. The characters are paper-thin, the story is predictable, and the plot has more holes than a five pound block of swiss cheese. (Ask yourself this, if it's dimension and NOT time travel, how did the note appear at their site?). Don't wait for paperback, wait for the movie. Maybe with some decent acting, this story might be worth sitting through. As it is, however, it will leave you wishing you could travel to another dimension to get your money back.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been much better
Review: Overall, I enjoyed the story. Unfortunately, that was about the first and the last 100 pages. The middle just seemed a little on the slow side. I would still recommend the book; it's just not one of his best.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea, but the story telling could've been better
Review: Aside from the lack of character development, Crichton gives us a nice start with riddles, a death, a policeman and a doctor in the first few pages. I felt there should have been a build up of pressure from the medical and legal sectors towards ITC, but Crichton blows that direction off with a paragraph or two. Others state that the story read like a screen play. I agree. Even Star Trek always sent one or two security personnel to the adventure site so they could be killed. Losing one or two futurists to the hardships of mideval times would have made the story more compelling. It was a fun read; like spending time at an amusement park. I blew through the book, but once finished I didn't have that lost friend feeling--wishing the story could go on forever--that a 5 star story would leave me with, but it sure beat watching TV! Rising Sun and Jurasic Park--lost a few characters in that book to the dangers of the environment!--were better examples of Crichton's story telling capacity. Glad it was a Christmas present for two reasons--fun story and I didn't have to pay for it!
Rating:
Summary: This is a movie in the making!
Review: I had to read this as it was the monthly selection for my book club. I had never read a Michael Crichton book before, so I had nothing to compare it to. I found the book enjoyable to some degree, but thought the believability factor went out the window almost immediately. It as almost as if the author was trying to go over the readers' heads with all the quantum physics references so that we wouldn't question the storyline. The characters had no real depth and there were far too many characters, especially in the medieval parts. The characters cheated death too many times for their escapes to have any kind of credibility. Also, let's face it, would a person with the personality of Doniger really be so far ahead and have so many loyal employees in the real world? The book was pretty enjoyable in parts, but it's not going to make me want to pick up another Crichton book in a hurry.
Rating:
Summary: Unfortunately, another perfect example of Chrichton
Review: I will give Mr. Chrichton this: he is without a doubt the most original thinker in modern American fiction. The ideas he spawns (and the detailed research her performs) are excellent. His books, however, never seem to finish the race. Almost always, I am completely caught in his web at the beginning and then left unsatisfied at the end. Timeline is no exception. This book is a fascinating idea, and the first half moves purposefully toward character development. Unfortunately, it then turns into Die Hard sans Bruce Willis. If the books was 200 pages longer, he may have been able to develop the characters more and bring the book to a natural ending. Now, it is predictable (completely) and has a huge leap of logic and development at the end. The bottom line is that while I enjoyed the book somewhat, it was more for the idea than for the execution...something I could have gotten from the jacket.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellence as always
Review: Some may complain this book reads like a screenplay, and it does. However, the story is enthralling and exciting, the action intense, the characters well developed. In typical Crichton style, he has thoroughly researched both the historical aspects of the middle-age time period and the quantum physics aspects, and is able to bring them to the reader on an easily digestible platter. Aside from being a terrific if slightly predictable story, this book spurred an interest in both the middle ages and quantum physics/computing for me. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Timeline
Review: I enjoyed this "scientific" approach to time travel and enjoyed the story within the story and the details about life in 12th century France. The unabridged tapes are great if you're taking a long trip and want the travel to time quickly :-)
Rating:
Summary: A hyperrealistic historical novel of the near future
Review: Any reader who fails to appreciate what Michael Chrichton has accomplished in Timelines need only pick up virtually any other book written on time travel for education. Unlike 99.9% of active science fiction writers, Crichton actually provides a plausible, real world basis for his speculations. Having said that, there is no doubt that the book possesses serious flaws. The competing medieval warlords are both crude and scowling characitures of evil, even though one consistently reported fact about charismatic leaders of virtually every ilk is the capacity for personal charm when it suits their purpose. Further, it was amusing to observe how the historian / time travellers dealt with appallingly stressful circumstances with the grit and ingenuity of Navy Seals - deep panic attacks would be a far more plausible response. The character of "Merrick" (not sure of the spelling - I listened to the audio tape) was particularly absurd - we are asked to believe that an academic with no combat experience whatsoever, much less in medieval warfare, becomes instantly upon export to the past a superknight , able to slaughter an entire squadron of battlehardened soldiers in close quarter combat. And I agree totally that the disposition of Donneger at the end was both incredible and immoral - after all, the man's only real crime was rudeness. Nevertheless, the careful establishment of a plausible basis for time travel, and the loving attention given to the creation of the medieval world the characters are launched into still place this book in a category entirely of its own, that of historical fiction of the near future, with little but other Crichton novels such as The Andromena Strain or Jurassic Park for company.
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