Rating: 
Summary: An interesting timeline?
Review: A spectacular book. Filled with suspense and intrigue, it will leave you with a sense of awe and well being. This is a must for any Michael Crichton fan. If you liked Jurassic Park or the Lost World then you will love this book. When you start this book you won't want to stop. You can't stop. It will trap you and then fill you with enchantment. The characters are characters you can relate to. If you have ever been interested in the medieval era you will love this book. My advice is to read this book as soon as possible.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip It unless you are a Middle Ages buff . . .
Review: The two best things about this book are the historical detail come to life, and the realistic technobabble about quantum mechanics. In a thriller I expect tight plot construction, but this book is as sloppy as hell which spoils a lot of the enjoyment. Examples: a time travel message is sent back as a warning and never mentioned again by any character. A refutation of time anomalies (i.e., killing your grandfather so you were never born) is poorly explained. A cop and doctor in the beginning are dropped without any tie in. The death of the chief exec of the hi tech firm is inconsistently cruel at the end. Overall, a long sloppy and disatisfying read. Historians could learn however from the way Crichton paints a real life portrait of the middle ages. Skip It.
Rating: 
Summary: A truly average book.
Review: No doubt, the author thoroughly researched the 1300's and quantum physics. He does a fine job of displaying his knowledge. However, the book lacks any real depth. We never really get to know the characters. The action scenes lack any umph! The book reads like a movie. For once, I think the movie will be better than the book. And you know there's movie around the corner.
Rating:
Summary: Crichton should go back in time and rewrite this stinker
Review: Historically, Crichton has been one of those authors to whom I'll give the benefit of the doubt, and buy his books without too much premeditation. Never again.In TIMELINE, International Technology Corporation, headed by a brilliant jerk, Robert Doniger, is doing research in advanced applications of Quantum Theory. Among other things, ITC has succeeded in creating the world's first quantum computer. In southwest France, ITC is sponsoring the archeological excavation of a site that encompasses the ruins of two castles on opposite banks of the Dordogne River, plus those of an adjacent monastery and river mill. The excavation team leader, Professor Edward Johnston, begins to suspect that ITC knows more about the site than it's sharing, so he flies back to company headquarters near Santa Fe, NM, to demand answers. Within a couple days, the rest of the team loses phone contact with the professor, and (conveniently) discovers objects belonging to or originating with Johnston amidst the ruins, including a note that says, "Help me!" Trouble is, the objects can be dated as contemporary with the rubble in which they were found, i.e. mid 14th century. Upon reporting this to ITC, several members of the team are flown back to company HQ ASAP. There, they learn that ITC has achieved the capability of sending people between the parallel universes postulated by quantum mechanics, and that Johnston was transmitted to the Dordogne parallel, or "back in time". Unfortunately, ITC has since lost track of the professor, and a search team must be dispatched. (Up to this point, TIMELINE is marginally interesting. From here on, it degenerates.) The search team includes several members of Johnston's archeological crew: Professor André Marek, Chris Hughes, and Kate Erickson. André is the professor's second-in-command, a man obsessed with the Middle Ages, even to the point of being trained in the use of period weaponry. Chris and Kate are graduate students, i.e. upscale gofers. There's so much wrong with this book, it's hard to know where to begin criticizing. First of all, André, Chris and Kate remain unsympathetic characters. As crafted by Crichton, they're nothing more than functional warm bodies with names used as vehicles to advance the action. Within the storyline, they could be interchangeable, especially Kate and Chris. Second of all, the action itself seems so purposeless. All three, plus Johnston, have been dropped into the year 1357, during which time the castles, monastery and mill are the focus of a local war between two knights, neither of which are very nice men. The professor plays a hazy role as the ally or prisoner - it's not always clear which - of one of the two. (Indeed, Johnston remains an enigma from beginning to end.) To rescue their mentor, our three heroes spend their time confusedly scrambling over, under, and through the various buildings that they'd previously been excavating in the 21st century, all the while fending off assaults by assorted armored and chain-mailed thugs, or escaping imprisonment. Finally, there's the hint early on that ITC has a secret, menacing agenda. (After all, what red-blooded American corporation doesn't?) However, once revealed, this reader yawned and thought, "OK. So?" Bill Gates and Microsoft have been painted as more sinister. Not to put too fine a point on it, by the end of this novel I just didn't care if Johnston and his rescuers made it back or not. As a matter of fact, I say toss 'em in a dungeon and swallow the key. Even the comeuppance visited upon Doniger is anticlimactic and hardly worth the page space it occupies. Hindsight tells me that I wasted my money.
Rating:
Summary: "Tempus fugit" for Crichton
Review: Timeline is another case of Crichton following in the footsteps of others and failing to fill their shoes. Just as "Sphere" paled in comparison to Dean Koontz' "Strangers" which dealt with the same subject, "Timeline" is a novel of time travel that pales in comparison to other, more sophisticated stories in the genre. Structurally, the book is similar to "Jurassic Park." It begins with an odd encounter in the desert of New Mexico. Who is this man, how did he get here, and what's wrong with him? It's similar to the mysterious attack on a child in the beginning of "Jurassic Park." At least in JP, we find out what was going on by the end of the book. "Timeline," although much is revealed and explained, never explains how or why the mysterious stranger wound up in that particular part of New Mexico. Don't get me wrong; the book is enjoyable as a light entertainment. Crichton's flare for description is underwhelmingly evident in the story, but the pace and plotting keep things going. It reads more like a screenplay; in fact I imagine it's already being shopped around to the film studios. And as for the motives of Doniger, the ingenious villain of the story - well, what can I say. The man is genius enough to invent time travel, but all he can think to do is create a theme park? What's going on with Crichton? First "Westworld," then "Jurassic Park" and now we're faced with Medieval Land. Go ahead and pick this up; you'll probably enjoy it. But if you want some great time travel reading, pick up "The Doomsday Book" or "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis, or "Lord Kelvin's Machine" by Blaylock, or especially "The Anubis Gates" by Powers. --TR--
Rating: 
Summary: The never boring action science
Review: Crichton is truely a man who knows what he's talking about. The story is in the details, a he utilizes his knowledge to give the story the enough smooth edges to make the big picture flow. It was well written, although at times seemed predictable. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I think you will too.
Rating:
Summary: O Michael, where art thou?
Review: Poor Michael Crichton. He's written some good (and uhm ok) SF over the years yet mention his name to the average SF reader and they give you the same look a reader of legal mysteries gives you when you admit to having read John Grisham. Crichton's latest is the story of some University historians who discover that the reason the big, mysterious corporation is funding their dig at a feudal French castle is all part of their supersecret, new technology. No surprise it's time travel, as the students find out when their professor warps back for a look and finds himself in big, medieval trouble. Chaos ensues. And lots of it. Yes, initially it's suspenseful when the students find themselves in their first FIVE or so life or death confrontations. But by the time the Green Knight rolls around (see the Amazon.Com review) you've had about a dozen attempted beheadings/eviscerations too many. And I won't ruin the ending, but the revenge extracted on one character at the end is sublimely ridiculous (how bad would you have to hate someone to wish the plague on them I ask you?) Some may turn up their nose at Crichton but Jurassic Park was brilliant. This effort is below that but still, its better than Congo (we'll just leave Sphere out of this.) And I still gave it 3 stars because it's very well researched with a lot of cool historical detail. Just file it under beach reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Superb Read!
Review: This isn't the best book in the world. It is however an energetic, enthralling one. It took me no time, practically, to read it. There is more to the novel than the speed. Crichton, as I saw it, was trying to show different aspects of our civilization through the characters and their actions. He represented how many people have kind of lost touch with our surroundings, how we can't really defend ourselves. The middle ages were a hard time to be living in, more difficult than ours in many ways. Crichton, I think, succeeded in presenting that to the reader. He didn't exaggerate, he didn't invent wild "facts." Most all historical mistakes aren't anything to complain too much about. They were made for literary reasons, to help the pace of the story. And, of course, Crichton displayed the dangers of technology; it's become kind of a habit with him.
Rating: 
Summary: There's No Time Like The Present... Or Is There?
Review: "Timeline" is the first Michael Crichton book that I've ever read. I hope it is not indicative of his writing style. The book was an enjoyable read but it didn't stretch me as a reader. I'm not looking for Kafka mind you but the prose left me wanting a little more. There were far too many simple, declarative sentences (come on Mike. Spice it up a bit). As such, it is a perfect summer read. It is light and fast moving but not taxing at all. The action in Timeline takes place in two time periods and locations. The first is present-day southwestern America. The other is France during the high Middle Ages (April 1357 to be precise). The story centers around a group of scientists and researchers working on restoring a fortress town in present-day France. The team works indirectly for ITC, a multi-billion dollar corporation run by arrogant wünderkind Robert Doniger. Doniger funds the team's research for apparently altruistic reasons. But suspicion arise when a dead ITC employee is found to be in possession of a map of the fortress's monastery that shows far more detail than the research team has uncovered to date. This leads the head of the research team, Professor Edward Johnston, to fly to ITC headquarters to demand some answers. The answer is that ITC has developed a way to travel to earlier periods in Earth's history. Of course the Professor is given the opportunity to try it for himself and before you can say "Time Tunnel", he is lost in the medieval past. Of course, his fellow researchers are recruited to undertake a search and rescue mission for their lost leader. Before they go they are warned not to interfere with the locals or introduce any technology that might contamination the current timeline (think: Star Trek's prime directive). I found the discussion of the Timeline's theory of time travel to be perfunctory. "It's not really time travel it's travelling between universes within the multiverse" explains one of the characters. I was hoping for a bit more there. Given this explanation, why would the events in one universe ever effect the history in another (the photon explanation aside). An example of this is the note that the professor wrote in the medieval-universe that reaches his team in our universe. Another question is, if the multiverse contains other realities contemporary to our own (p.130-131), why wouldn't multiple rescue teams (all peopled with Kate, André and Chris from the other universes) all show up to rescue the professor (or more accurately their copy of the professor) at the same time. Now that would have been some story! Also Doniger's explanation of the non-existence of time paradoxes left a lot to be desired: "You can't change the past because you can't." Ugh! Despite all the scientific short-comings, the book was entertaining. It was a well-paced adventure tale that effectively used science to set up the action. It was obvious that the book was a thinly disguised screenplay. The most glaring sign of this was the characters. Most of them were stock. The bright, nerdy guy who likes the girl. The intelligent, independent girl who doesn't like the nerdy guy that way (at least not yet). The person born at the wrong time who feels more at home elsewhere and elsewhen. The megomaniacal industrialist who wants things his way damn the consequences. Not to mention the mysterious villain who seems to be one step ahead of our heroes. I recommend Timeline to anyone who wants to spend some time with your feet propped up and your mind on hold. It's an enjoyable book that will yield an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting mix of scientific topics in a good story
Review: Michael Crichton shows againg his ability in handling scientific topics writing an interesting story. As a graduate student of engineering I enjoyed the reading from the beginning, because it is very well documented and shows precise information on both science and technology. Concerning to history, it is quite descriptive and leads you to a nice ride to past times and places (forget your History teacher). Moreover, the story itself catch you in such a way you wouldn't leave your reading. However, the final is somewhat predictable and you might enjoy more the epilogue (I did).
| 
