Rating: 
Summary: A familiar successful formula
Review: Michael Crichton uses a similar formula to tell his tale in Timeline as he used in Jurassic Park. He fabricates a quasi-believeable scientific breakthrough to create an almost realistic adventure. In Jurassic Park, he uses the utterly brilliant concept of using DNA gleaned from insects trapped in prehistoric amber to replicate dinosaurs. The concept used in Timeline is slightly less remarkable. Quantum theory is used by a high tech corporation as the basis for time transportation. Characters in the book are sent back to the Dordogne river valley in France in the Middle Ages to rescue a colleague that has become trapped there. The story shifts back and forth from the boardroom of the huge corporation to the midst of The Hundred Years War in 1347. I found that I was more involved with the action taking place in the feudal Middle Ages, which was far less predictable than the present day. Although Crichton did an adequate job in describing the Middle Age setting, I definitely craved more of that. All in all, I kept on turning those pages but there were times that I longed to be lost in the past, as the characters were, rather than muddling through the present.
Rating: 
Summary: Crichton doesn't write books, he writes screenplays.
Review: A truly desperate effort to pen one on space-time. The first few chapters squeeze-in some interesting theoretical-physics (pre-existing and proposed theories like quantum foam, dimensional interference etc.) to set the base for a poor storyline in false hopes to sling-shot a then drawn-out medieval tale. Crichton should stick with the pop genera.
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Summary: Transmission Errors Indeed!
Review: Mark Twain did this much better in A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT (itself derivative). It would seem that it is a great advantage to believe that literature must stand on its own merit, not on a future movie rendering. Alright, alright, Crichton is no Twain, but still I can see no excuse for issuing this shameless screenplay as a novel. I look for TIMELINE to appear on the Sci Fi Channel or perhaps HBO rather than as a major motion picture. But what do I know - no doubt Crichton made a bundle on the awful CONGO.
Rating: 
Summary: Great beginning but eventually falls apart
Review: This was a terrific read up to the point where the archeologists actually travel to the 14th century. It seems Crichton didn't really know what to do beyond that point, so decided to pile on a thick layer of medieval butchery and gore to compensate for a disintegrating plot. Disappointingly, it was never explained why the inventors of the technology chose this particular time and place in France. There was some muttering about Disneyworld for time travellers (can you spell Jurassic Park?) but this lack of a "why" made the book seem silly in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Don't expect too much science here
Review: Crichton leads the reader to believe that this book is about time travel and one expects him to explain all that he knows about it. He initially succeeds, but the scientific background for which Crichton is so famous comprises only a quarter of the book. The rest of Timeline involves the main characters stuck in 14th century France and constantly avoiding caputure and death. Little else happens. Indeed every time traveling character in the novel should have been killed, injured, tortured or imprisoned half way into the book. Crichton of course finds a way to get them out of trouble regardless of the circumstances. While this group is back in time, another group of underdeveloped characters don't seem too alarmed that their friends are lost 600 years in time. They attempt to get back their friends home, but the head of the time travel operation, a cruel and selfish corporate head, doesn't invest much in getting them back despite the risk to their lives. One suspects that someone THAT bad would get theirs in the end, but Crichton doesn't end Timeline as most readers might expect, and it rings hollow. Crichton can tell a story well, and he does a fine job keeping a reader at the edge of his seat. While he may have set out to write a book on medieval France, one expects some science spread throughout the book, and in this regard, he just doesn't deliver as well as he is capable.
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: Timeline by Michael Crichton is a really good book. i reccomend that anyone who is interested in history or even if you're not, you will like this book. this was my first book that i've read by Crichton and i thought it was a really good book. i didn't want to put it down. i don't even usually like to read, but i liked this one. i definitely reccomend you read it.
Rating:
Summary: I Can Smell A Movie
Review: Great mixture of science fiction and fantasy. The action in the book was paced so well, I didn't want to put the book down until I reached the end. The story-telling was vivid to the point that the morning after I was done with the book, I had the feeling I had watched a movie rather than read a book. It felt like I was an extra person in the characters' midst when I was reading the story. The fantasy portion of the book should appeal to those who like stories about the medieval period of knights and damsels in distress. The only drawback to me was that the technical parts explaining the theory behind travelling to another time/universe was a little convoluted. Crichton does a good job, but explaining quantum theory to a layman was always going to be a difficult task. How the characters could pinpoint a destination time and place precisely, and how they came up with an electronic Babel Fish (bells should go off if you've read the Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams) was not really explained. However, if you're not the type to look at and question every single detail, this is an adventure that is truly captivating. It has knights and castles and secret tunnels; it has power struggles; it has violence; it has a hero and a love interest; it has cool technology; it even has a jerk who only has his goal in mind and doesn't give two hoots about what happens to his employees. It set my imagination to overdrive. I will be patiently (or impatiently) waiting for the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Good use of history!!
Review: This novel falls slightly short of masterpiece, but does not disappoint you in any way. Good mix of history, science and thrill!!
Rating: 
Summary: Crichton has a new masterpeice
Review: Crichton uses a powerful combination of history, science, and action to make this book a powerful masterpeice. This book is fast paced and exciting and he uses fascinating new scientific concepts that I find particularly intriguing. If you are a Crichton fan at all you will love this book. I havn't read a better book in a while.
Rating:
Summary: good mix of fiction and physics
Review: Couldn't put it down. Brilliantly meshes science and fiction.
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