Rating: 
Summary: The best book I've read in years!
Review: I LOVED this book. This was my first venture into the land of Michael Crichton (written word that is) and I'm going back for more. This book explores the idea of time travel and gives an amazing look at life in Medevil times. I was consistantly amazed at the details that were in this book and how everything tied so nicely together, while maintaining a great aire of suspense. A must read.
Rating: 
Summary: inaccurate and inplausible with wooden characters
Review: with each book, Crichton seems to do less and less research while his characters remain as wooden as ever. Even the young adult at whom the text is aimed will scoff at some of the contradictions.
Knights on horseback fire arrows? never.
In an early chapter, we learn that the travel does not actually occur in time but occurs between parallel universes. Yet a character who is left behind in the parallel universe leaves notes (and presumably progeny) which show up in the original.
Rating: 
Summary: Great premise, but the plot is too typically Crichton.
Review: I'm an on-again-off-again fan of Crichton's, so when stuck at an airport this past week with several layovers, I picked up Timeline, because the premise caught my eye. I am a sucker for 'Time Travel' type stories, so I dove right in.Imagine my surprise when I found out that Timeline has basically the exact same STORY as Jurassic Park, just a different set of trappings to frame the story in. "Mad billionaire wants to get richer by making an Outrageous Theme Park (tm) that would have very bad implications for the world. Something goes wrong, information leaks to the world, a few scientists are brought into the fray and stranded in the midst of danger and must somehow save the day, dethrone the evil billionaire, and still manage to get back home safe and sound." That was the theme for Jurassic Park. In case you hadn't noticed, it's the EXACT same theme for Timeline. Another frustrating thing about this book (wait, there's more?) is that there are some major holes in the continuity. It's like Crichton wrote several scenes he thought would be interesting (in no particular order) and strung them together. Continuity be damned! For example -- in one scene, Marek demands that Chris not speak to anyone, because his lack of knowledge of middle english will give them away. It's DANGEROUS! Only ten minutes later, Chris is chatting quite amiably with a pair of squires, and they seem to understand everything he says. No danger. Suuuure.... There's a ton of convenient plot happenings as well. It's like Crichton couldn't come up with anything better, so he had to cheese his way out. Marek happens to speak 3 different medieval dialects. He knows how to joust. Pull a longbow accurately. Swing a sword well enough to hold his own. He's Mr. Perfect Medieval Man. Shouldn't every time-travelling trip have one, of course? Or the 'battle' that's saved through a conveniently clumsy action of another character. Yeah. I was disappointed by this book, and actually a little bit insulted that Michael Crichton doesn't think better of his readers to give them a more thought-out story. I'm sure it will be a pretty story in a Hollywood movie, though.
Rating:
Summary: Action-packed medieval adventure...but confusing at times.
Review: It's been a while since I've read another Michael Crichton novel. This one caught my attention because it's about time travel and the medieval period, two subjects I'm fascinated with. However, I had many questions after I finished the book. The author's idea of "time travel" was not easy to understand. The novel begins with a group of graduate students (Andre Marek, Chris Hughes, Kate Erickson, David Stern) and their professor (Johnston) doing archeaological work on a site in France, with the ruins dating back to the 1300's. This group was sponsored by a billionaire named Doniger whose actual intentions were unknown to the group. In fact, Doniger's corporation had developed technology that will enable people to travel to other universes. The theory goes like this: there are an infinite number of universes and our universe is only one of them. The universes can be in other time periods. The universes are always splitting to become other universes, so what we do today will turn out different universes tomorrow. Knowing this, Doniger's company was able to send people to other universes with a specific time and date. In this case, he had sent people back to the 1300s to scale out the architecture in hope to recreate the castles and surrounding site like it actually existed more than 600 years ago. However, the technology is not perfect. During the travelling process, there can be transcription errors in that a man can come back not put back perfectly together (physically and mentally). Somehow, the professor had travelled back to the 1300s with no way to come back. Therefore, Doniger sent the students (who studied the time period and have a better chance at survival and finding the professor) to bring him back. They have 37 hours before the machines run out of battery. During this time, they encountered violent knights and warlords and other dangererous obstacles. An ancient puzzle of where the secret passage into the castle was located is essential to their survival. But that's not their only obstacle. Unknown to them, an accident occurred in the lab after they left and the facility was almost destroyed. Therefore they were stuck there until the lab gets rebuilt. So it was a race against time on both universes, the modern and medieval period. The odds are really against them. After finishing this book, I'm still not clear what Doniger's intention were. He mentions about owning history, with the patented technology, but what does he intend to do with it? Just build theme parks? I think that's such a waste (and very Jurassic Park feel). And with one person stranded at the end, why didn't they send another machine? That point wasn't very clear. Overall, a good but confusing read.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Well Done
Review: Crichton is a masterful writer and this book is done extremely well. He transforms such a far-off idea as time travel into an idea that one can grasp and actually believe to be possible.Not only that, but the story is action packed and just plain interesting. This is a must read for anyone that craves a book with action and complexity, especially if you're a Crichton fan.
Rating:
Summary: Yankees in a Medieval Court
Review: This was a fun revisit to Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." Our valiant time travelers use chemistry the way Twain's protagonist used the eclipse, to keep themselves alive long enough to get back to the present. They sneak, fight, woo and luck their way through, with more than their share of serindipity. Suspend disbelief in a few places, and you'll have a great time accompanying them on their adventure. Look more closely and you'll find intentional parallels between midieval French knights and modern-day American business tyrants. Crichton's apparently exhaustive research and attention to detail make the past and present aspects of the book entertaining.
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Summary: Audiobook version reviewed
Review: I don't have to tell you what the book is about . . . you can get all that from the other reivews or the back cover. 1) Just enough "science" to get you wondering and questioning the possibilties...very interesting 2) Enough "factual" history to get you to feel like the character's did make the transition from our time to the past 3) Enjoyable characters who make believeable decisions 4) Several subplot going on that all culminate in a rewarding climax and story resolution. 5) Enough action and/or suspense to keep action freaks (like myself) entertained What more is there to say?!? Book is worth reading and has a very good overall rating for a reason.
Rating:
Summary: Entertainment extraordinaire.
Review: On a cross country trip, listening to these tapes kept me fascinated. When I was in the desert, I thought about the opening scene. I do hope this becomes a movie.
Rating:
Summary: A fun trip!!
Review: Although it doesn't have as well of a plot and suspense as some of his other books, It is a fast-paced and enjoyable read. If you are willing and able to overlook a couple of plot holes and extaordinary character luck, Crichton will take you back to a world where knight ruled the land, women seduced their way into power, and your neighbor was plotting to overthrow you. A fun and worthwhile read. 3 1/2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Sci-Fi Book With a Hint of History
Review: I found this book to be very interesting. This book gave you a suspenseful adventure and the details of the scenes were very descriptive and vivid. The book almost made you feel that you were part of the action. Most of the plots made me think of "What's going to happen next? Or what will they think about next?" that's how suspenseful the plots were. The science part of the story about quantum computers and theories was the part that got me interested in the book. As many may know that quantum computers are a thing of the future and has not been achieved to that level. The history part of the book was also amazing in that Michael Crichton studied his topic very well just enough that it brings out the history part of the story. Excellent book I would recommend it to anyone.
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