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Summary: Same old same old
Review: Boy, does Cricton frustrate me. In Timeline, I see the flat, repeated characters; The same basic plot (billionare plays God to create a richman's playground); The same dire results. Heck, substitute "knights" for "raptors" and Timeline becomes Jurassic Park.But doggone it... both books are immensely pleasurable reads. I cranked through Timeline in an all-nighter on the Amtrak AutoTrain. Simply couldn't put it down. Crichton frustrates me because he is a severely limited writer with an absolutely breathtaking gift for coming up with great ideas. And yes, I could almost envision the screenplay in my head. This is simply a perfect book for a summer blockbuster film. Shucks, I could cast the thing right now: Brendan Frasier, Jeremy Piven, Kelly Preston, Michael Ironsides, Jason Issacs, and David Clennon as the professor. Done. When do we start filming?
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Summary: Oh great - time travel. No one has ever done that before.
Review: This book is great for its readability. Crichton also is known for his brand of science, making the impossible scientifically plausible. That is what makes the first half of the book great. The second half, however, is just a formulaic middle age adventure. It's pretty boring, and full of holes. Basically, the whole plot is this: A greedy corporation makes a time travel machine, and a professor secretly goes back to the Middle Ages. Once this is found out, the corporation sends a group of graduate students back in time to rescue him. They gain the king's favor, kill a whole bunch of people, and barely make it back in time. Why did they go back to the Middle Ages, when they could have just gone back to the time right before the professor entered the time machine to stop him? I'll never figure it out. How did the graduate students each become super human killing machines? Got me guessing. How can they go back in time, kill and alter so many people, and have the present be the exact same? I wonder how. The second half of the book is an insult to common sense. Heck, time travel ruined the Star Trek movies, the Superman movies, why not ruin Crichton's series of books as well? Basically, a quick, fun read, with a darn stupid plot.
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Summary: I Should Have Skipped The Physics Lesson
Review: Crichton is well known for his attention to detail, but I think he went a little overboard in this one. I was afraid I wouldn't understand the rest of the story if I didn't pay attention to the physic lesson at the beginning of the book, so I struggled through that part. But I found out, later, that a complete understanding of these details wasn't necessary to follow the plot line. The story really gets going when the travelers arrive in the year 1357. There is plenty of action and the characters are very likeable (or, in some cases, easy to dislike). Crichton has a way of making the unbelievable absolutely believable and he does it again in this story.
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Summary: FIRST AMONG EQUALS
Review: For anyone wanting a rattling time travel yarn this is a satisfying read. And if you LOVE a great time travel story then check out the master, Jack Finney and his collection THE THIRD LEVEL. Another recent time travel novel that will have you turning the pages late into the night has to be THE FALL by Brit writer Simon Clark. As well as being a thumping good read he's also incorporated a unique time travel experiment in the book which will leave you trying to figure out what really was the result of the experiment. And don't forget to check out Baxter's THE TIME SHIPS that sequels Wells' classic THE TIME MACHINE.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: Great Book was up all night reading it. I strongly reccomend this book.
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Summary: The violent fourteenth century...
Review: To start, this is my first Crichton book. I have seen a number of his films: Sphere, The Lost World and Sphere. Of those three, I found Sphere the most interesting. My thoughts about the book are mixed. There were some parts that I found fascinating and some parts that I found tiresome. Positive Aspects I confess that I am a history buff, so I liked the archeological dig in France and I liked some of the ideas there. I wonder whether the field of "experimental history," actually exists; I know there are historical recreations (e.g. US Civil War in USA or Roman Empire in Europe) but the idea of it as a University discipline is original, as far as I know. The character of Doniger (more specifically, his speech near the end of the book and elsewhere) is notable for his ideas. I wished that Crichton had furthered explored the corporate side of the story. The quantum technology was interesting (Crichton's introduction helped in giving some background on this) and right now, it is so new that nobody knows what it can and cannot do. The descriptions of the 14th century were very good and it was obvious that Crichton had done some research here. I was impressed to see a 4-page bibliography; this is the first novel that I have read that contains a bibliography. Crichton notes some of the books that he found particularly useful; I may look up some of them for further reading in the future. Negative aspects All of the main characters are late 20th century historians (albeit one of them trains with swords, jousts and other mediaeval practices)... They all survive numerous fights with fourteenth century soldiers, knights who are not only much more experienced than they are but also more well armed and physically stronger. I think it is implausible that these characters would survive so many times in battle. If the characters had been in the royal court and had to survive to their wits, I think it would have made better sense. The company that provides the time travel company could have been more complex; some internal scheming or perhaps balance the absolute power of Doniger against another character. I quite liked the book; the constant warfare and bloodletting battles was quite a change from my usual reading and a little variety is good.
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Summary: Timeline is a waste of Time
Review: First a disclaimer: Before I read Timeline, I just finished The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy so anything I read after such a masterpiece would probably have been a disappointment. In this case, Timeline was a big disappointment. What made it worse was that the characters of Timeline were so shallow that I did not care for them thus I never got involved in the plot. To me, Timeline was just random ramblings of sword fighting, running from the bad guy, falling from cliffs, fixing the time machine, more sword fighting, more running, more falling, more fixing, etc. There were no underlying motives, conspiracies or deeper symbolism/metaphors. The action was non-stop but gratuitous and unrealistic. His description of the scenery and action was so poorly written that there are pictures in the book. The multi-universe concept was interesting and the only redeeming quality. Unfortunately, that was not even consistent since they found an ancient note from the professor, but he transported to another parallel universe that should not have been related to their universe. The medievel setting was overly romantic and unbelievable. The castles had scented potpurri. People of that time had better hygiene than today. NOT! And what about bugs, rats and other pests? I could go on and on. I also found it absurd that Andre Marek from the present could hold his own in sword fights and jousting with no formal training against locals that Crichton described as skillful, tireless swordsman. Through all the absurdities and inconsistencies, the book was amusing and again, I have to put a disclaimer on this review because I read Timeline right after Lords of Discipline (a great book) on my long airplane flight. It's akin to watching Schindler's List and then the Lost World, back to back. A mediocre movie made worse by comparing it to a great movie. In this case, a mediocre movie rated as poor because Conroy's writing puts to shame most fiction writers.
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Summary: A guilty pleasure novel
Review: I enjoyed this book, I found it to be fun. It was entertaining and at times lively. Not a novel to take seriously, just a fun read. A group of twentysomething historians are in France, excavating the "forgotten" medieval castle (ruins) of one of the minor lords. They are funded by a young, brash, Bill Gates type of billionaire entrepreneur. The entrepreneur, Doniger, calls a meeting with one of the academics, and soon this academic is missing. Before his companions get too worried, though, they find something very odd in a stack of old parchment: a plea for help from their missing professor. Dating back to the 1350s. It turns out that Doniger's current company has worked out a form of time travel. The missing professor is indeed lost somewhere in the 1350s. Doniger enlists the help of four of the historians to find the lost professor and if he is still alive, to bring him back to 1999. The companions, along with escorts from Doniger's company, after some preparations, go back in time to 1357 to look for their friend. And the adventure begins! They do all sorts of medieval things: they joust in a tournament, get into swordfights, get tossed in the dungeon, get chased by knights, help a damsel in distress. They eat, drink, and get merry. While they do get injured, no one gets sick, which seems odd and yet is never explained. Perhaps we weren't supposed to notice. Finding the missing professor is one thing, rescuing him and getting everyone together by the appointed time is another. They have assorted, colorful adventures with outlandish characters: a vixenish scheming widowed noblewoman, a brutish and twisted warlord, insane knights, studious monks. A strange and alien world, yet still closer to our hearts because this is not another planet, this is OUR planet, just in the past. Quite a rollicking enterprise. The 1350s are vividly described, and there is a helpful bibliography included. Although the characterization is rather weak, and some of the actions of the characters are questionable, the story held together. This is pure entertainment, and in my opinion, not the kind of book that gets discussed in depth, since there isn't anything to debate. It's just fun. Three-and-a-half stars, rounded down
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Summary: Jurassic Park, circa 1357
Review: This is the story of several archeologists who get the chance to "go back in time" (what that means exactly is a matter for debate) and basically become the fish out of water as a battle is about to take place around a disputed castle in France during the 100 Years War. Essentially, it's an adventure story, and as such, it works very well indeed. It's difficult to put this book down, and I read it very quickly and was sorry it was over. In hindsight, however, there are a few things that don't stand up to scrutiny very well. The most problematic is the fact that the idea of time paradoxes (i.e. killing your own grandfather so you couldn't have been born) is neatly dismissed early in the book by using the multi-universe theory. However, multiple times after that, time paradoxes are used and argued over. ARGH! Pick one and stick with it. Less irritating, but still problematic, is the stuff these people go through in the scant 36-odd hours they have in the past (before their machines run out of power). It's inhuman the amount of energy they exert! Finally, there's the fact that this book has the same plot as Jurassic Park: archeologists = paleontologists, knights = dinosaurs, time machine = cloning, catastrophic event trapping in past = catastrophic event allowing dinosaurs to escape pens, etc. But, like any action movie, if you don't think too much about it, it's a great book. I'm sure it'll make a great movie as well. So, get this book, enjoy the ride, and don't let trivial things like time paradoxes upset you any more than they would during a Star Trek episode or Terminator 2.
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Summary: historical yet fun!
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect from a sci-fi looking novel, yet by the second chapter, I knew it wasn't just about high tech innovations but a medieval setting. I would have never picked up a book about knights and horses, yet Crichton opened my eyes to a whole new interest. Definitely a page turner!
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