Rating: 
Summary: King Arthur meets Indiana Jones
Review: I purchased this book because of the allure its premise held for me. After completing it, I felt that its premise and its promise were not fulfilled. Indeed, it makes for a better screenplay or movie than a novel, especially the last half of the novel where the three graduate students try to escape from Crichton's version of the temple of doom. Character development is virtually non-existent, with the possible exception of Marek. The medieval knights (the bad guys) also lack any real dimension. Professor Johnston started out interesting, but eventually became a prop for the various action scenes which went on ad-infinitum. The high points of the novel for me were the opening moments of the protagonists arrival at Castelgard in 1357, which included a lovely sense of medieval atmosphere. For example, the lack of ambient sound which we have become accustomed to in the 20th century, the scent of the air and the utter blackness of night. The lowest points of the novel for me were anything related to time machines. At the end of the novel, Crichton admonishes us against believing that we are superior to our medieval forbears. I agree with him but I do not believe that the likes of Sir Oliver and Sir Guy supports his case. One need only to visit the Cloisters museum in NY, with its beautiful Gregorian chant ever present in the background in NY, or the various castles of the period located in England & France to appreciate how wonderful this civilization truly was in many respects. I think it would be unfair of us to expect the novels of Crichton or most other contemporary novelists to approach the beauty and quality of a "Jude the Obscure" or a "Great Expectations", especially in this "dumbed down" society of sitcoms and MTV. However, a few of us still remain who expect better. PS: For a first hand account of life in the fourteenth century, purchase Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales". Its is a better read.
Rating: 
Summary: Has no one noticed Crichton isn't writing books anymore?
Review: The only thing missing from Crichton's last two books, and glaringly apparent in Timeline, are stage directions. He's not writing books, he's writing movie treatments. The first part of the book does get ones hopes up, but as soon as the mystery which opens the book is solved, it quickly disolves into chaotic chases, cardboard characters, and a tacked on ending. Why bother to continue to write run-of-mill stuff like this, Mr. Crichton should just stick to script writing.
Rating: 
Summary: TIMELINE: Willis did it better
Review: TIMELINE, despite its intriguing opening, cannot escape inevitable comparisons to THE DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis, a Hugo- and Nebula-award winning novel on the subject of time-traveling graduate students stuck in the Middle Ages. While Willis was able to generate suspense in about fifteen different ways at once, Crichton is stuck with a plot outline that is heavily reminiscent of JURASSIC PARK and details that amount to little more than a bloodier Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. His lack of interest in creating vivid characters a reader can care about particularly hurts this story, for some reason. If you liked this, then DOOMSDAY BOOK will blow your socks off.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Interesting Read
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed TIMELINE. Although some of the details needed to be read more than once to grasp, I found it fascinating. I believe that Michael Crichton does a wonderful job of taking a lot of detail and making it interesting. I haven't read any of his books that I haven't liked on some level. I find writers who can incorporate such detail into a story amazing. I couldn't put this book down once I started. Maybe not completely realistic, but then it is fiction, right?
Rating:
Summary: Ghostwritten by committee!
Review: Once again, Dr. Crichton has turned out a book he seems to have only edited, and apparently didn't personally write.Read it, and you will find that the writing style changes frequently. The book only occasionally shows a Crichton-ish twist of plot. Also, the story is very bizarre and often incredible (even if you grant the basic premise of time travel). And much of it reads like a bad screenplay. But who can blame him? If I were as rich as he, I'd stop writing, too!
Rating:
Summary: Expected more, much more
Review: I really expected this book to be to physics what Jurassic Park was to genetics.... and it failed badly. It is just a medieval story with some 21st century insight. It was almost a waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: TIME TRAVEL, SCIENCE AND MIDIEVAL ADVENTURE
Review: Crichton has ever been my favorite author. His books are scientifically researched for their "basic" accuracy (he has a bibliography in his fictional books!) -- when it comes to the science, facts and such used to support his story. In this book he finally addresses one of my life long interests -- time travel. In this story time travel become possible through quantum physics. It is not true time travel as it is actually dimensional travel. Nor is it true dimensional travel, as the travellers are "recreated" at the destination, rather than just travelling there. In this book the focus is on an mega-company called ITC that is researching this time travel and at the same time, funding archealogical research into an area they are time traveling to! However, there are problems and the archealogy professor is stuck back in the past and a team is sent to rescue him, only to get stuck there themselves! Once there, they must survive in the archaic deadly 14th century France! Meanwhile, in present day, the time travel center suffers a major disaster and things must be fixed to allow those in the past to return, should they be able to survive, get all together in the same place and in the right place -- to come back. It is a race, literally, against time. I can't wait for the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Timeline is for everyone..
Review: Gosh, I am only 15 years old and I couldn't put this book down, I was so amazed at how cleverly written this book was. I enjoy Michael Crichton's books for their true scientific facts, it is great to know that the author actually knows what he is talking about, by far I think this book is Crichton's best! If you liked this book, check out: The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes and Its Implications by David Deutsch. This is like a Non-Fiction version of this book..
Rating:
Summary: Stick figures galore.
Review: I haven't actually finished Timeline yet, so my review is based on the first two thirds of the book. I've read worse books, but this one is far from good. By biggest problem is that there does not appear to be a single character (with the possible exception of Kate) to care about. All of them are stick figures--no past, no future, just filling a hole in the plot. Also, there's lots of techno-babble about parallel universes, blah, blah, blah. It becomes mind-numbing without being convincing. But I'll finish the book. I'm just hopeful I'll remember this book when Crichton publishes his next one. Excellent Crichton books like the Andromeda Strain seem to exist in another universe--the one where the writing is convincing and the peril seems real. Sigh.
Rating:
Summary: Timeline Review
Review: The Author's investigations into quantum time travel, and into 14th Century France were very interesting. Creighton always goes to great lengths in his research in his novels, (Airplanes, Diseases, Eastern Customs, Etc.). My problem came with the action sequences. I'd have an easier time believing in quantum foam than I would believing that these 20th Century time travelers could defeat 14th Century Knights in hand to hand combat. Great script for a suspenseful thriller movie, but not what Creighton Fans are used to.
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