Rating: 
Summary: Medieval Times 5 Stars; Sci Fi 2 Stars
Review: The book starts very slowly with the usual Chrichton story line - greedy corporation upsets the natural order through creative and imaginative scientific breakthroughs designed for obscene profits. The story meanders for more than 100 pages before the jousting and swordfights begin. I really enjoyed the action in medieval France, but the science fiction part was unimpressive.
Rating: 
Summary: Crichton loses his mind
Review: Once I finally reached the end of this painful experience I was distraught that I was stuck on a subway and there were no garbage cans to donate this worthless piece of high school action to. I honestly feel less intelligent after the experience and refuse to think that just because Crichton has written good books before that it somehow is a natural talent. The characters were unbelievable. The scenarios seemed to be from a Monty Python flick. The thrills and suspense are ridiculous. Please let someone else warn you before you waste your money. Use it to donate to abandoned animals instead.I honestly do not understand how professional reviewers are rating this so high. You'll notice that they are usually only quoting from the first 20 pages of this book, which shows how much they care about reading this nonsense.
Rating: 
Summary: Only he could explain Quantum foam like that!
Review: This book was so intense! I couldn't put it down. Just thinking about the concepts in this book make me wonder if anyone is actually trying to do it. I hope they make a movie because it would be amazing! All of the action and tense moments not to be shown up by the pure emotion of the characters! I think it is his best work yet!
Rating: 
Summary: Reasonably entertaining but could have been better
Review: As a time travel buff I was really looking forward to reading this one. I've enjoyed many of Crichton's books and was hoping he'd deliver a classic time travel novel. Unfortunately the time travel element was implausible at best, especially the bit about not being able to mess up the timeline. If you like action, swordplay, and skin of their teeth escapes, read this book. If you like time travel, read it anyway but don't expect too much.
Rating:
Summary: Indaina Jones meets King Arthur
Review: Timeline is a decent, fast read, but wasn't at all what I was expecting after seeing Matt Lauer interview the author on Good Morning America. I love an historical novel, but this doesn't qualify. It had a healthy dose of "Jurassic Park" and somewhere in the middle I got the distinct impression that Crichton wasn't writing a novel at all, but was more interested in a screen play. If you like Indiana Jones type action, buy it now. If you think you're getting a thinking man's novel, wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: A fast, fun read but be prepared for disappointments
Review: A great cast of characters and an intriguing idea about time travel, but the looming problem with the book is the formula it follows. The plot twists are predictable at times and even downright tiresome. However, that doesn't stop you from turning the pages and plunging into another one of Crichton's worlds.
Rating:
Summary: Thriller, Adventure, Fun
Review: When I was in the bookstore, I recommended TIMELINE to a young woman who was shopping for a gift for her grandmother. I just finished the book. I told her "Give this book to your Grandma" She was looking at staid, grandmotherly (what people think of as grandmotherly, that is) titles. I told her grandmothers love adventure and thrilling stories as much as anyone else. And I bet you do, too.
Rating:
Summary: In-depth research gone Hollywood
Review: In my experience, Crichton has had two types of novels: those with groups facing danger (Sphere, Congo, J.P. I & II), and those where the main character must solve a complex problem everyone around him understands better than he/she does (Rising Sun, Disclosure, Airframe). Well, now you can add a third category: books written for Hollywood screen play. J.P. II was in that vein, so too Timeline. It's as if he envisions camera angles before scenarios. Timeline had all the usual Crichton hallmarks: incredible depth of research, full-on pacing, and light characterization. His strength is funneling reams of scientific postulation down into a view of the future that may very well be. I often take his theories as fact, so impressive is his knowledge. But in the end, Timeline could not live up to others like Jurassic Park, Disclosure and Rising Sun. Perhaps it was the wild alternate time theories boiled down the lowest common denominator, or the same character formula seen in his other novels.
Rating: 
Summary: Wait for the Movie
Review: I was comforted to know that others felt the same -- that this book read more like a long movie script than a book. This book has way to many near death and saved at the last minute scenes to be believable. I was pleading to the author about halfway through to put them out of their misery! I like the overall story line but in the hands of a more talented author this book could have really become something. For instance, character interactions more developed, scenery described for a reader, not someone who would be watching TV, etc. This book, as it reads, is a movie script -- nothing more.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down - even if it wasn't great literture
Review: OK, so the setup for the trip to the past wasn't totally plausable, and maybe the physics detail was much more than I wanted to know, and yes they did seem to have an amazing amount of 'nick-of-time' luck--but once I started reading, I couldn't stop. It's an entertaining story, with heroes and villains and castles and swordplay--so what if it's not great literature, it was fun! I kept turning those pages because I just had to see what happened next. As so many others have said, this should make one heck of a movie. Are you listening, Steven?
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