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Summary: Timeless Plot or Just Time Without a Plot?
Review: Michael Critchon should just have included the shooting directions for the movie in this book and been done with it. The scientific premise of the story is interesting, but the book is populated with characters about whom it is impossible to get involved - his "Bill Gates" character is devoid of any human qualities whatsoever and the rest of the crew is so "by the book" they might just as well have been named "Character One" and "Character Two". Look for the movie to be out shortly and the action not too far behind.
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Summary: Timeline
Review: It should be titled waste of Timeline!Ok, yes it is easy to be a critic but, I can't beleive that I read the whole thing. He must have gotten tired of writing and decided to just end it. The ending was horrid. There were pages of where it might get going but, no. I only wish I had not wasted my time on it. Oh and the plot line of evil capitalist against do good academics is so droll. Save your money and your time and buy something else, you will be glad you did!
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Summary: Chrichton did it again.
Review: With a different plot like always, he came with more new ideas. People love his ideas. The book opened in 21'st century. I loved the way Chrichton describes each and every detail. I have read all of his books except "A case of need." I could not wait for this book to come to the library. I reserved this book online so that I could get it on time. Great way to go.
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Summary: My first ever on-line review
Review: This book started off wonderfully, and I thought the author had returned to his previous abilities to be fascinating and suspenseful at the same time. However, as soon as the book progresses to medieval time, it turns into a cartoon. I completely lost interest then, skimming the last 100 pages. What a disappointment but I'm sure it will be a blockbuster movie which I'll be sure to miss. Don't waste your money. Another example of a popular author's work going downhill.
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Summary: A Very Enjoyable (But Not As Original As You May Think) Book
Review: This book is a very good read. As is typical of Crichton, pace is very important, and he even gives you a "game clock" by which to judge the progress of the characters through the story. His ability to effortlessly jump between three or more related, but separate, story lines adds to the tension -- like a commercial break as the potential game-winning pass is in the air between the quarterback and the intended receiver. The "contemporary" technological aspects of the story actually pale by comparison to the medieval technological aspects. If Crichton's depiction of early-14th Century arms and man is accurate, I think it will surprise many readers. The one thing that left me a little empty was his allowing the "time travelling" heroes and heroine the benefits of 21st Century technology, not just to get to the past (for which they obviously need the modern technology), but while they are there (where at least one of the group does his orher best to disdain all things not of the 14th Century). In this respect, I found this book less satisfying than one I read at least a decade ago of which I was constantly reminded while reading "Timeline": Connie Willis's excellent "The Doomsday Book." As in "Timeline," the heroine of "The Doomsday Book" is a historian (a graduate student, as I recall -- Like Marek, Kate, and Chris in this book) who travels back to the early-14th Century (England, as opposed to Crichton's France) and must overcome challenges undreamed of in our modern world. Crichton does a better job of fleshing out the "here-and-now" part "Timeline," and also nicely interweaves art, architecture, armaments, military strategy and tactics, politics, and religion in the historical part of the tale. Still, I was a little surprised that his extensive bibliography and other credits did not make mention of a book that surely must have influenced him in some way -- unless this is simply a case of "If enough monkeys sit at typewriters long enough eventually you'll end up with Shakespeare." Somehow, I doubt it. BOTTOM LINE: A very good read; and, if you liked this book, you should also read "The Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. (And, no, I am neither related to nor an agent for Connie Willis.)
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Summary: Timeline Review
Review: As with most of his books that I ever read, I found the story engrossing, and the book difficult to put down. The characters were interesting enough as well, but I felt that something was missing. I didn't have that "WOW" feeling after I was done as I did with "Rising Sun", or "Jurassic Park". It's as if he just cranked that one out without that little something extra. I would recommend this book though, as it is better than average. It's a good book from a man who has written great books. I suppose Mike has it like that! If it were being graded, i'd give it a B-. 3.5 stars if I could!
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Summary: Get Ready for The Big Screen!
Review: This books starts kind of slow but once the action starts it seems to snow ball into an all out adventure. Chrichton has shown his true "Jurassic" colors once again in this latest thriller. The only thing separating this bok from the Box Office is.. 'Time'. Grab it now, though, because you'll want to be one of those saying "the book was better"!
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Summary: More holes in the logic than in the Quantum Foam!
Review: Reading this book is akin to reading a movie script. Each scene is set out like a movie scene with the characters placed in position and then "action" being called. The narractive is simple and the characters lacking any depth at all. I love inplausible action novels and/or movies as long as contradictions in logic are not apparent. In Timeline we have a CEO of a high tech compnay struggling to obtain funds to continue his Quantum time travel research. Meanwhile his company is sitting on the best voice recognition hardware seen and the fastest computers in existence. Either of these products, which are used by the ITC staff in the book, would be worth hundreds of billions of dollars if marketed to the world. Yet the CEO struggles to obtain a couple of billion from corporate backers. DUH! This book could have been so much better. The basic concept is fascinating but unfortunately it feels as if we have the screen play before the book instead of vice versa.
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Summary: Been there, done that kind of book
Review: H.G. Wells meets Barbara Cartland meets J.R.R. Tolkien. The only thing new about this book was the quantum physics stuff. I hate to admit that I have read one too many romance novels in my time. And, this book is just a scientific romance novel. There are some very intense chapters. But, I also got to the point where I said, "Just how many times can these people escape unscathed?" There were far too many. Save for a beach book. It is a mindless read and not worth a lot of extra effort.
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Summary: Excellent page turner but meaningless ending
Review: I found this book "Timeline" a page turner worth reading if you're the type of person who doesn't read much. I was amazed at how fast I was done with the book. An excellent book but its ending doesn't have a hidden "moral to the story". The characters didn't have any character either. But all in all Crichton kept me in suspense.
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