Rating: 
Summary: The Last Good Time Travel Story.
Review: Michael Crichton's best book since the two Jurassic Park novels and the Andromeda Strain.This is a good story. Three archelogists use a time machine invented by scientists at a electronics company to go back in time and rescue their friend and mentor, the Professor of the dig in France around the year 1350. Plenty of thrills and adventure as they try to survive in a world long before they were born and you are not sure if they will make it back to the present alive. Already in the works as a movie over at Paramont Pictures, and will be directed by Richard Donner.
Rating: 
Summary: Scooby Doo in Hyperspace
Review: If you like Scooby Doo, you'll love this book. Four young people in completely sterile relationships who act without thinking, performing amazing physical feats as they run from menacing forces. They have to get back to their world with "the professor" before it's too late (or their batteries run down!???). Give it three stars for the imaginative descriptions of 14th century castle life, and 21st century physics. Watch for the film; should be lots of blood and explosions.
Rating: 
Summary: Limits to Imagination
Review: In Michael Crichton's latest work, Timeline the writer deals with the complicated subject of time travel. The mechanism used for time travel though vaguely explained is sufficient for the story. What I found very hard to fathom were the scenes of conflict. Crichton explains early on that soldiers in this time period were very skilled in the art of battle and yet whenever a conflict arose with our scholastic heroes, the scene resembled a three stooges routine, bumbling guards and near misses and always the heroes developing incredible abilities, capture and escape over and over. Another irritating subject was the use of modern day technology, it was used only when it helped the plot along, but was forgotten when it could have been used to avoid precarious situations. I'm afraid that these flaws really took away from the flow of the novel. P.S. In the description of a potential love interest, was it necessary to use the phrase "handsome Knight" seven times in one page?
Rating: 
Summary: It's About Time
Review: I haven't read a Michael Crichton book in a long time (no pun intended) but when I read the plotline I became interested enough to buy it.I thought it was cool! Plenty of action. The idea of taking modern day students and putting them in a very dark and deadly era made for a scary yet thrilling story.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: As an avid science fiction writer, 'suspension of disbelief' is not an uncommon trait needed for many books such as this. However, Crichton takes this to new heights by glossing over major portions of the technical plotline, without even a cursory attempt to explain to the characters (or the listener/reader) what is going on. A very disappointing effort--not recommended
Rating:
Summary: Heavy on the Thrills, Hold the Brains
Review: Crichton can often weld adventure and ideas together in effective and exciting ways. This is not one of those books. Mostly this is an excuse to mount a medieval adventure tale. SF elements are fairly minimal, and much of this we've seen before (a money grubbing corporate guy who wants to use science to set up a lucrative entertainment event--gee, sounds familiar). The medieval adventure is finely detailed although every other page one of the protagonists is separated from the others, in mortal peril, etc etc etc. Pacing is relentless and unmoderated. Sometimes Crichton can graft in ideas to give the work depth (chaos theory in Jurassic Park, dangers of technology in Congo) but there really aren't any ideas in this book other than the middle ages didn't suck as much as we've been told, but they were still plenty brutal. So, not as good as Jurassic Park, but better than the execrable sequel.
Rating:
Summary: my review
Review: This book is about a group of scientists who have "found" they can do "time transportation" using a new technology: quantum. They mess up, so they have to call on a group of archaeologists to save them. Even though the story does sound "out of this world", the plot does hold until the end. The author has made use of his incredibly gift for storytelling and makes this an entertaining subject. If you love history, all the better! The characters are alive, the scenery is well described and as a whole, the book is very entertaining, as long as you realize this is total fiction. Good and interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Not typical Crichton, but exceptional!
Review: I think that since so much has already been written on the plot of this novel that instead I will focus on why you will like the book despite it being out of the ordinary for Crichton. The author has moved outside the box to write this exciting piece of science fiction which involves time travel from the present American Southwest to 1360s Dordogne River Valley in France. Suffice it to say that the plot moves extremely quickly given that a handful of modern scientists are challenged by situations for which they haven't been trained. While the characters may not be 10's on a scale of 1-10 in how fleshed out they are, they are believable and we do care about what happens to them. The tome, while looking imposing, moves along at a rapid rate, making you wish the book were even longer. This one is in my top five for the year. Kudos to Crichton for trying something daring and different!
Rating:
Summary: Very good read
Review: Crichton has once again produce a spectacular work of fiction based on cutting edge technology. This time it involves time travel, but not in the way we're used to. The protagonists are actually sent to a parallel dimension where it is actually the 14th century. They are trapped there and have to avoid many of the hazards of Medieval live before returning to the present. The novel is wonderfully written and keeps you wanting more all the time. Definitely the kind of book you could read during a blizzard or just when you don't want to leave the house! Magnificent!
Rating:
Summary: Promising Start with No Follow-Thru
Review: The book begins well enough by following a medieval archeologist and his team in the field, introducing the characters and the area in Southern France where the novel will take place. The book also introduces a mystery - a hi-tech company is buying up land around old historic sites and a company employee has been discovered in the middle of the desert with strange anatomical problems. Unfortunately, it's not much of a mystery that time travel is involved here as this is hinted even from the cover of the book and the name on the spine, if not outright given away by the back of the book. The author does a wonderful job of slowly revealing the incredible truth that a corporation has gained the ability to travel thru time - but this is no mystery to the reader, and it becomes agonizing waiting for the archeologist team to catch up with the reader in solving this riddle. Because there is no mystery, this first part of the book only sets the stage. If this novel is going to be successful, it has to keep the reader's interest once the characters in the novel make their time-leap. Unfortunately, after some initial promises, this is precisely where the novel falls flat on its face. When the archeologist team does arrive in the 14th century, it's finally the author's chance to really "wow" the reader. What is it really like? What customs do people have? How are people different? This is where the book failed for me. I was expecting a travelogue to the 14th century, but instead I got a pulp-action story. After some initial discussion about how quiet it is (which we are reminded of again and again), the author quickly looses interest in discussing the medieval times and what they might be like and instead focuses on a series of captures, escapes, and recaptures of the archeologists, that made me long for Mr. Evil's teenage son to grab a gun and end their silly lives. Why don't the villains just kill them? It makes no sense. Add to this the obvious contradictions in the story that Crichton takes no steps to resolve. In the beginning of the archeologists trip to the 14th century, the author is clear that the archeologists have at best cursory knowledge of sword fighting but no first hand experience with it and cannot hold their own against natives of the medieval period. By the end of the book (2 days later), the wimpy archeologist Chriss is mowing down waves of swordsman. It makes no sense! On and on the plot goes, killing many trees, but alas sparing the main characters. The final straw for me is the acknowledgements at the end of the book, where Crichton writes that "the conception of a brutal medieval was an invention of the Renaissance." Perhaps! But Crichton's story of medieval time-travel, with its endless sword-fights and narrow escapes seems to suggest a not only brutal, but extremely dull "Dark Ages."
| 
