Rating: 
Summary: Wait for the movie on basic cable
Review: My best guess is that Crichton knocked this movie treatment out over a weekend to meet a contract deadline. The science, especially the incredibly disappointing treatment of time paradoxes, is superficial - not just a lack of techincal depth but also none of the compelling conceptual exploration of Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, and even Rising Sun. Quantum computing, quantum foam and the multiverse interpretation of quantum mechanics become mere deus ex machina weaving together scenes of pointless gore. If technology gets abused, The Green Knight and the Black Death get better treatment from Monty Python. I could go on, but I expect the reader gets my drift. This is not a book but rather an off the cuff movie idea.
Rating: 
Summary: Made For TV
Review: One of my favorite authors has let me down. Timeline has the characteristics of a made-for-tv movie. the book seems shallow and poorly thought out. I've read a lot of science fiction, and this book's storyline has been done better by others. I look to Crichton for an innovative and gripping story. This isn't it.
Rating: 
Summary: It's like reading a good movie script
Review: This book is exciting in its action, above par in its historical content, but more like reading a movie script than reading a good novel. It is a good read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end. However, it seemed to me after finishing the book that there was more intrigue in the introduction to the book than there was in the novel itself. If you like a good action packed book with some historical content and some technological content with a futuristic bent, read this book. I personally enjoyed the Andromeda Strain, Airframe and The Great Train Robbery better. If you read the introduction and want a book that is as intriguing, you will be disappointed. Most of all, go to the movie--it should be a good one. (Hopefully the ending of the book will fit better in the movie than it did in the book)
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: Great reading! Started off a little slow but once things start rolling I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen. Michael Crichton puts so much research into his work and you can really tell it in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Me fail English? That's unpossible!
Review: To put it simply, in an attempt to avoid useless rambling; like many of Crichton's other books, 'Timeline' is an amazing story idea but, since Crichton is an overall bad* author, the book fails to remain interesting** beyond the summary. * because of his terrible paragraph structure, unbalanced and ineffective combination of history lessons and the story, repetitive use of adjectives, laughable attempt at drama, and angering use of those damnable 2-dot section breaks ESPECIALLY when no break is neccessary. ** even with all those repetitive and unimaginative plot twists.
Rating:
Summary: A Movie
Review: This is one time where the movie will likely be better than the book...a real Indiana Jones type story
Rating:
Summary: In Response and Review
Review: I decided to buy this book after I saw Charlie Rose interview Crichton about this new novel of his. I have read the book through, and rank it high among the books I have read. It was well thought out and researched, and the imaginative plot flows well and quickly [despite some protests I have read] and included facts of the time [medieval] which make it all the more believable. In response to a certain comment - that the average reader feels about six college degrees of separation - I must admit a complete understanding of the novel. High school physics covers most of the quantum theory he uses, minus the quantum foam. As a sophomore in high school, I certainly hope that the general population of readers understands the backdrop of physics and history. A good novel, living up to Crichton's standards, and I recommend it to all readers.
Rating:
Summary: false step
Review: "Timeline": is quite boring, literarily a disaster, and even the science behind it looks questionable and unconvincing. It's not a novel, but rather what I would call a long description of a movie. I could hardly believe that it was written by the same great author who has given us "Congo", and "Jurassic Park". My impression is that Crichton himself is well aware of how weak the idea behind the novel is. Then, hundreds and hundreds of repetitive pages about the Middle Ages aren't but about endless chases, and cartoonish coups de theatre. The long and useless list of sources at the end of the volume cannot make up for the author's (regrettable) superficial treatment of both history, and time-travel implications of quantum physics. What a pity!
Rating:
Summary: Like dessert, enjoyable at the time, but unfulfilling
Review: It's become common to criticize Crichton's characterization as flat and his writing style as turgid; Ian Malcolm's interminably pedantic lectures in "Jurassic Park" come to mind as an example of the latter. Curiously, "Timeline" suffers from that problem less than many of its predecessors; yet, it's a less successful work. The single biggest problem with "Timeline" is that Crichton, though having obviously spent his time researching quantum mechanics and medieval history, neglected to put equal thought into his story. **SPOILERS BELOW** Other reviewers have noted that the entire fulcrum of the plot -- the discovery of a message in 1357 by a present day professor -- is simply incompatible with the scientific explanation Crichton gives. As he notes, time travel is not possible; the "machine" opens a gateway to a parallel universe. So how does the professor leave a message in THIS world? That is the biggest flaw, but not the only one. Other errors abound, such as the duel that Hughes inadvertently accepts; Marek then challenges the person who offered the duel; that person insists that Marek fight his protector first, and if Marek survives, he can continue; Marek accepts. All of a sudden, Marek is fighting the protector, and Hughes is fighting his original antagonist. What gives? That being said, I read "Timeline" in a little over a day over Thanksgiving break. It's definitely readable; it's just too bad that Crichton fails to follow his own pseudo-science.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad...
Review: Maybe it's because Michael Crichton has such an absorbing writing style, because I cannot help but feel a little disappointed when I finish his books. This book has great storytelling, althought the premise is quite a bit short of being feasible. And in writing an action novel, there seems to be just a little bit too much of the "whatever-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong" writing style. Someone else described this book as "escapist." That is probably accurate, since there is only the one main plot line, and the characters are not really developed much. Having said all this, I couldn't put the book down, and am anxiously awaiting the movie version!
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