Rating: 
Summary: amazingly disappointing
Review: I agree with many of the previous reviews: reads like a screenplay, weak character development, and way too much overdone action. It started out with so much potential, then got increasingly worse as I read. I had to suspend my disbelief far too often. For example, we are told that it is impossible to travel in time; instead, the characters are traveling to "mulitverses" which are other universes similar to our own. Yet, the professer travels to another multiverse, and leaves a message that the historians find hundreds of years later. The message was written in a different universe than the one the historians existed in. How did they get this message? Am I missing something here? Or the explanations and analogies that are given to disprove time paradoxes. Not at all convincing. Since when can an individual NOT impact the outcome of history? And those stupid ear pieces? If the team of historians needed translations, how did the people of the 14th century understand the historians without a translator? So much was left unexplained. Granted, I don't know much about quantum physics, but a lot of this stuff just wasn't adding up. Everything was so predictable. We see Marek practicing his jousting, and we automatically know he's going to go back to the 14th century and joust. How convenient that Kate is a climber and finds herself climbing on ceiling beams and crumbling rooftops. Puke. I could go on and on. I have loved many of Michael Crichton's books, but this one was a complete flop. I was in shock that he could take such fascinating subject matter and write something so stupid. At least he spared most of the suffering plot from mushy romances. Let's just hope that Crichton is afflicted with a temporary brain fart and will recover shortly.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Book
Review: This book is awful. If you have any science and sci-fi background, you'll see his plot is inconsistent with itself. Plus he didn't think through the fact that, if time travel were even possible, the team could have simply gone back to the time of the original problem and grabbed the subject of the whole tedious search for themselves. Don't bother. Re-read Jurassic Park instead!
Rating: 
Summary: Inconsistent science, but a decent action book.
Review: I've always liked Crichton books for the way in which he weaves cutting edge scientific theory into adventure fiction. Although Timeline provided plenty of action, it was much shorter on the science. The continuous fighting and action scenes will make a fine action movie, but provide little help for the novel. While Crichton's books are difficult to put down because of the action, I found his science in this book to be remarkably inconsistent. Crichton spent numerous pages explaining how time travel paradoxes don't exist because nothing a person does in another universe affects this one. Then, he allows more than one character to alter history, thereby making his whole book inconsistent. It's possible I get too worked up over an otherwise entertaining novel, but by the end I wanted to throw the book against the wall because of the scientific inconsistencies. My suggestion - if Crichton wants to write screen plays, write a screen play. If he wants to write a book, write a book. He's got a very good grasp of scientific theory, I just hope he doesn't try and mix the movies and novels again. (I can just see the sequel to Timeline - and you thought Lost World was made for the movies!)
Rating:
Summary: Good Start - Bad Middle - Good Ending
Review: Author had a great concept but failed to follow through with a great book. I eagerly bought this book when it was released and quickly became bored with it up until the end. Characters were shallow and the author posed a week argument against the paradoxes associated with time-travel. I give this one a ho-hum. (Nice beginning and ending, but the middle was painfully boring.)
Rating: 
Summary: Timeline
Review: A masterpiece! Chricton takes the concept of quantum time travel and gives the reader a mind boggling experience with great historic and scientific refernece. Great for history buffs and science nerds alike!
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: Well developed plot line. Enjoyed this book tremendously. The research that was done for the medeival period was tremendous.
Rating: 
Summary: Just Listen To It
Review: TIMELINE is a lot like a screen play, and the narrow escapes and nick of time miracles do get hoakie after a while, but if you just want to be entertained get the audio-book tapes, relax, and enjoy this fatastic story.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been much better
Review: With such a great concept, this could have been much better. I usually can't put Crichton books down but I had to work to wade through this, at times. And the many, many plot holes were big enough to drive trucks through. The unnecessarily gory violence could have been much more subtly handled. A disappointment
Rating:
Summary: Timeline
Review: This book is soooo boring. Give me another "Airframe" anytime
Rating:
Summary: Guilty pleasures
Review: This is at least the fifth Crichton book I have read cover to cover without really taking a break, going all the way back to Andromeda Strain. Hard to imagine, given his background, that it wouldn't read a little bit like a movie, so I'm not sure why anyone would complain about that. I look at it this way: It's the literary equivalent of junk food, but it's made with the very finest ingredients. Enjoy!
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