Rating: 
Summary: Good story idea, awful execution.
Review: As a Michael Crichton fan, I found this book disappointing. The fundamental ideas underlying the plot were good and Crichton takes pains to make the quantum concepts reasonably clear (though in simplifying them he skips over a lot of details that don't quite jell with his plot!). I also found the glimpses of feudal life in the middle ages to be fascinating. For all that however, the plot development never quite takes off and a very large number of situations in the novel seem to be contrived rather than flowing with the storyline. As other reviewers have commented, this is closer to a movie outline than a book and there are contradictions galore. Excusable perhaps from a new author but not from Crichton. Two stars for the initial idea, but that is all.
Rating: 
Summary: Enthalling
Review: Great book - way better than the pathetic movie. This book really draws you in with good character development, vivid descriptions of the mediaeval world and suspense. Highly recommended - also has one of those great endings that you don't forget for a long time. This is probably Crichton's best book since Jurrasic Park.
Rating: 
Summary: Timeline
Review: Timeline was the third book by Michael Crichton i have read. It wasn't as good as the previous two ( Jurassic Park and The Lost World) but i have not read a Michael Crichton book I didn't like. This book takes place in the present day Black Rock , and in the past in the city of Castlegard. This book is about a group of college students. There professor has suddenly dissapered, and they don't have a clue where he has gone. Before long, however, they discover a note from hundreds of years ago, in the professor's handwriting! They are found by the same company that found the professor, and discover he has used technology to be transported into the past. Now it is up to the students to go back in time to save the professor. I only gave this book 4 out of five stars because, despite its constant action and adventure, it has to in depth explination of every theory used in this book. With all the theorys, it can get hard to follow, and boring to read. The constant strange situations and exiting adventure definately make up for this, though. Tht is why I would give this book 4/5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: this book was good
Review: To be honest the only reason i read this book is because it was a requirement in my physics class but if u get past the boring intro and the thickness of the book it is actually pretty good. Like i said the beginning sorta sucks but after a while things pick up and it becomes intresting. Another bad part about the book is that from the beginning its really slow but towards the end it speeds up pretty fast but if i add everything together it was a good book it had lots of suspense and everything and that is the only reason i bothered to finish the book
Rating:
Summary: Surprise! Surprise! I like this book!
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. It was easy to read, quite exciting, had a few unexpected twists and turns in it and had a satisfying if sting in the tale ending. Predicable in a unpredictable way! This is a story about time travel, it's not original, it's not the first book of its kind but it is well written and that can make up for a multitude of sins. Take a group of eager young scientists, a missing man; add the obligatory pots of treasure to find, a new technology in the form of a "fax" yourself type of time travel devise, a greedy entrepreneur with a hidden agenda, a timescape that is violent as it beautiful and set all of this in countdown mode of a number of hours, 37 to be exact to do what you need to do in the year of our Lord 1357 and you have at the end of it a jolly good pot boiler to sink your choppers into. The characters are many and varied from both the 12th and 20th Century though the book is more concerned with the comings and goings of those who have traversed the timeline. I won't add any spoilers to this review but I will say this much, give this book a chance, it's pretty good and worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Much more exciting than the history books!
Review: I struggled a little with the first part of this book, finding it a bit slow and technical. However the action really hots up when 'we' reach the Dordogne region of France in the mid 1300's.
It was exciting with engaging characters and plenty of twists and turns, keeping me glued to the story until the final page.
Well worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Too long, too shallow
Review: Good concept, and a very interesting scientific angle, but reads like a drawn-out comic book. The plot was poorly developed, never straying from the pattern of getting into a jam, getting out, killing some medievals, repeat. There was just no depth. After reading half the book, I was very disappointed and only finished it in order to give this review some validity, while hoping in vain for some sort of plot twist. My poor wife heard me whine all the way through. I read Terminal Man, Andromeda Strain, Great Train Robbery and Jurassic Park and found them excellent. This book is definitely coasting on reputation or written as a movie script.
Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: this was my first time reading a micheal crichton book
and it has made me start on two other books
it is a story about three people who go back in time to save a prof. who had gotten trpped back in time then they both eventually get into a huge mess and find it difficult to return home
i would definitly recomend this to any reader.
Rating:
Summary: Timeline
Review: Timeline
By: Michael Crichton
A. Jen
Period 1 Timeline is a wonderful book. It is exciting and entertaining. It is about archaeologists that make a startling discovery at a medieval site. Then they set off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an amazing technology. Now the group of archaeologists is getting a chance to enter the medieval times. When they go back through time, they start to have a lot of trouble to survive. Right when they appear in the past, both of their guides are killed by fierce knights. Now they are on they own. While these deadly horsemen are out killing, they have to do what they are told to do----to find their professor.
Timeline is my favorite book. It is thrilling and amusing. Michael Crichton put together a miraculous book. I liked this book, because it has a lot of action and I couldn't put the book down. It has a very good plot and conflict. The characters are also very real. They are described and acted too well. Timeline is put together thoroughly. It also explains plenty of information about the medieval times. Here is a quote from the book that explains why I like it: "Guy was working his way across the cross-beam bracing. He was only seconds away from her now. She crouched on the beam, took a breath, tensed her muscles----and kicked hard with her legs, sending her body flying out into the open space." It has to be one of the greatest books every written.
Timeline has some bad parts to it, too (though not too much). The bad parts about Timeline are that, in the beginning, it explains a lot of information and it makes the reader bored. Only the core of the book has the exciting parts. Another problem with the book is that, the book has too much gore. Mostly every part of the book has blood in it. Here is a quote from the book explaining why I dislike it: "The door was pushed open, momentarily blocking Chris's view. But he saw Marek swing high, and he heard a scream, and a huge gush of blood splashed onto the floor, and a body fell soon after." Other than that, Timeline is a great book to read.
My favorite part of the book is the Arnaut is attacking the castle of Sir Oliver's. There are a lot of cool parts in the battle. A fire arrow had struck the gunpowder room and the room blew up into flames. Then Sir Oliver and Arnaut have a sword fight, and Arnaut wins. Then when they are running from the battle, Chris gets pulled behind by Robert de Kere, a bad guy, and tries to kill him. Though, Chris takes some heavy paste and dumps it on Robert. When the paste makes contact to water then it will burst into flames. So then Chris spits on it and Roberts starts to burn. Then while Chris is running away he says to Robert, "Watch it happen, pal." Then the whole room blows up and that is the end of Robert de Kere. Then they escape the war and appear back home.
Rating: 
Summary: *YAWN*
Review: What and incredibly poor book. The old concept of time travel has rarely been done so poorly. Read something else by Crichton, this is far below his usual great writing. Hell, I even liked "Congo" beter than this dud.
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