Rating: 
Summary: A good read for Chriton fans...
Review: No, this is not his best work. But it is worth buying and reading. As Chriton fans go - we would rather read more of his techno-babble than the story of Camelot - but if you go into this book prepared - it's worth it. As usual, the research is excellent and you do get a good sense of the past. I especially liked his vision of the multiverse and how it works. The only major flaw was the character of the mad industrialist who wants to turn the past into an amusement park. Mike - please - find another villain. Re-vamping the story line from Jurassic Park doesn't work here.
Rating: 
Summary: movie script...
Review: The book has no character development and an obvious plot. He describes the technology in detail, but leaves the cookie-cutter adventure characters up to your imaginiation. It's a quick adventure story written for money and the movies. I may actually like the movie better than the book if it's done.
Rating: 
Summary: Time travel is nasty, brutish, and short.
Review: Crichton's latest movie script, masquerading as a novel, is another tedious formula book. I appreciated his overview of quantum technology, the possibility of multiverses, and his detailed research on medieval Europe. However, any book (or movie) that relies on a clock timer ticking backwards for suspense is inherently lame. The characters are moderately interesting, although mostly cliché and rarely compelling. Until Crichton demonstrates an ability to break free from this TV/movie-friendly writing, I will avoid his future work.
Rating:
Summary: Beginning with "The Eaters of the Dead"...
Review: Michael Crichton captivated me in the 70's with a little novel written while he was still in college, "The Eaters of the Dead". I liked "Timeline". I think, given Crichton's penchant for creating alternate realities, that he probably enjoyed writing this book. I certainly think he has penned better stuff-but what the heck, can't a guy have a little fun anymore? By the way, The "The Eaters of the Dead" has been reprinted. I strongly recommend this first novel-if only to appreciate just how talented Michael was at such an early stage in his career. Jerry Furland, Author of "Transfer-the end of the beginning..."
Rating: 
Summary: A great book
Review: One of Crichton's best. Good that he's gotten back on track after Airframe.
Rating: 
Summary: Movie script
Review: Predictable is the word. Character development is totally lacking. I did get into the story midway and found I could not put it down until a rather, here's that word again, predictable, ending. The research is great but there are holes. I also found myself having to re-read sections because a significant event was buried under some techincal jumble. Someone reviewed the book as "intellectual"....compared to what? I teach history and found little use despite the research.
Rating:
Summary: Long tedious comic book
Review: Rarely have I read a sillier, shallower book.The writing style is roughly 12th grade, the history-science clumsily interjected, the characters straight out of Batman Comics, and the ending utterly predictable. Crichton must write this stuff in his sleep dreaming all the while of the many dollars he will make selling this to the movies for which it was obviously written. It is disheartening to be confronted with what is known as a "best-seller" for it reveals the reading tastes and abilities of the average reader.And, NO, I didn't finish it. Why waste the time when the ending was apparent from page 20. Bah humbug to you MC and your appallingly badly written books.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but not his best
Review: I love books by Micheal Crichton and buy all of them. I think his best were Jurassic Park and the Andromeda Strain. This book is entertaining and offers some interesting insights into 13th century mores,but the science discriptions were missing and the story was not really compelling. While I do recommend it, I just wish he would write something really gripping again.
Rating:
Summary: Bestselling disappointment
Review: Wow, what a huge disappointment. I generally realy like Crichton's work, and when I read that he had written about this subject, I was quite eager to read the book. Aside from the unbelievable and unintelligble scientific mumbo-jumbo at the beginning, the rest of the book suffered from severe story and character problems. The characters were not believable and for the most part, very unsympathetic. I never really got the feeleing that anyone was connected, and there was little dynamic character evolution. The plot device inherent in De Kerr's character seemed like an afterthought,you never really understand just what the bad guys are trying to do, or will gain if they prevail and the artificial urgency was a sham. Overall the story was held together by chewing gum and bailing wire, with lot's of weird transitions and oh-too-convenient last minute solutions from the heroes. The overall feeleing I got was that we have a bestselling author who has lost the plot and stopped trying. His editors should be ashamed.
Rating:
Summary: It's sure to make an awesome movie, anyway.
Review: Let's see here. It took Michael Crichton almost three years to get this book out, and what do we get? A movie. During the time I was reading Timeline, it felt almost as if I were reading a screenplay rather than a novel. While the plot is interesting, certain events that happen are way too predictable and have that certain "flair" that would make a good movie. Plus, it also seems like MC's writing style has changed a bit since Airframe. For some reason he now uses short, precise sentences and characters we don't really give a rip about. Overall, not a bad book, but for the amount of time it took him to write Timeline, I expected better.
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