Rating: 
Summary: Epic, grand, and entrancing
Review: Timeline was awesomely written on Chriton's part. I could not stand to put it down! The characters seem so real and the adventure is enough to give someone a heart attack! It grabs the readers attention straight from the beggining, then builds up to a truly epic climax and it keeps you guessing the whole way through. Chriton gets the book to a point when you can't think about anything except what's going to happen next, and it keeps you wondering, "are they going to make it?"
Rating: 
Summary: TimeLine mixed reality in a quantum way
Review: Michael Crichton applied his knowledge of quantum physics and history very well. He showed an insight into those areas that I rarely see from any writer. I write books myself, and have to admit that I was a bit jealous about the quality of his story. He has continued to uphold his fine standard of story telling and mentally intrigueing concepts. This book flows well and I an totally happy that I purchased it. Get it, read it, and pass it on. P.S. - I wouldn't give this book the award for best book written by Michael (Congo was a bit better - in my opinion) Thank you ;-}
Rating: 
Summary: formula writing
Review: As a avid fan of Michael Crichton and having read every book he wrote, it was with great interest that I opened his newest one, Timeline. A disappointing read it was, I got the impression he was simply fulfilling a contract requirement with a publisher and needed to get a new book to press. Oh it's all there; Crichton the master of relating obscure scientific dogma and presenting it in almost understandable laymans terms to a new application,-the book was dull. His formula of technology run-a-muck, destroying it's creator is time tested but for some reason does not come off this time. His ending was predictable and seemed like he reached the required number of pages and simply killed off the bad guy and provided a happy ending for the struggling scientists. I still think his best works are "Jurassic Park" and "The Eaters of the Dead." Both books show more effort and imagination than anything he has written since.
Rating: 
Summary: The Pot Never Boiled
Review: Feh. Mike writes, what, a "book" in seven days. This "book" [read filmscript treatment] is thin stuff. Skin back the plot and here's the summary. Chapter Oneish: Look there's a rock, a puddle, a hole, a river, a bad guy. Rest of book: Have characters fall into hole, get out of hole, fall into puddle, get out of puddle, fall into river, get out of river, fight with bad guy, kill bad guy Well, you get it. No character development to speak of, and really quite little interesting interaction with historical setting. The historical characters and their relationships with each other are not developed at all. Much of character's actions are left unexplained, and there's a very obvious editorial gaff when Kate escapes to a "narrower" ceiling beam that is actually twice as wide. Very sloppy, very quickly put together stuff. Maybe good for a dumb Hollywood flick, but for a book, this is gossamer thin stuff indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Crichton Novel
Review: As usual, Crichton writes a great book that is enjoyable to read and is factually true. He has never failed to leave out technical details that make sense to all. His quantum mechanics is sound, simply stretched a bit to allow the novel to take place. His immersion of the audience in a medieval world is wonderfully done. If you enjoyed Congo or Jurassic Park, then I think you'll enjoy this one as well.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Ever since I happened upon "Congo" several years back I have been a Michael Crichton fan. I plow through every novel he churns out. Like just about everything else he has written, "Timeline" makes for easy plowing. Crichton manages to make even stress tests on an airplane fuselage ("Airframe") compelling. But he's lost something in "Timeline." This latest book tires to be "Jurassic Park" set in the middle ages, with modern folk using a new science to travel there instead of using new science to resurrect the past. Its not the triteness of the book that doesn't work - Crichton has been using the same plot devices since "The Andromeda Strain" - it's just that he's lost a little steam. This is hinted at by the tired title and even the bland cover (maybe you can judge a book this way...) Crichton usually works a new science into his every plot. The science usually allows something to happen that couldn't happen otherwise. In "Timeline," quantum physics is used to travel through time (sort of). But the modern characters only travel into a story that could have happened without them. The modern stuff is almost superfluous. That the modern characters have an impact on the outcome is also superfluous - medieval characters could have had a similar impact. Minus the gee-whiz science, the fantasy story is well researched but not terribly imaginative. When I finished reading "Jurassic Park," "Sphere" and others, I felt like I had read something special. "Timeline" doesn't leave that sense. It's all too ordinary, if fast paced. I'm left wanting more. But I guess that will have to wait...unless we can speed up time to the release of his next book.
Rating:
Summary: cinemagery
Review: Another Crichton - another megaseller that reads more like a film script than a novel. I will never understand the ritual behind Mr. Crichtons writing page turners which become a success as books only when they are turned into films. Is script-writing such a badly-paid job in Hollywood? "Timeline" is another such example of a novel that has been published in a state somewhere between text and movie. The characters: Hollywood. The scenes, the setting: Hollywood. Tension, yes - if you read the book like a movie. Michael Crichton is an expert in adapting his status and knowledge as a scientist to the pseudo-scientific expectations and fears of the public. The degree to which he fulfills these expectations is the degree to which "Timeline" can be called a success, yes. What Mr. Crichton lacks, however, is the sense of the past a novelist like, for example, Sir Walter Scott had. But of course: writing historic novels today means something different than in an age when the past was not a playground for the media but something to be reconquered in order to understand the society people lived in. Michael Crichton may write about Europe in the Middle Ages and the only criterion that really counts for him is what people know about the Middle Ages from the movies or the scenery that has clustered around the verdict of the Dark Ages. In this he is very successful, indeed. And he is a very skillful author. But haven't we had all this before. Isn't it just another book that can prove the life hidden in its texture only by transforming this life into action?
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, Imaginative
Review: Not Crichton's best, but plenty of entertainment in this book. I found Timeline to be an exciting, imaginative story, and as usual for Chichton, a fast read. The story line requires an open mind, and no knowledge of quantum physics. Once you get past the plausibility factor, it's a wild ride through the middle ages of Chichton's imagination. I would definitely recommend this one!
Rating:
Summary: Not His Best...But Thoroughly Entertaining
Review: In typical Crichton fashion, you are not only entertained with a concise and decscriptive writing style that manages to make even mundane scientific facts entertaining, you actually learn a thing or two in the process. Coming up short of the believability found in the majority of his other science-based fiction, this one stretches a bit TOO far in the technical time travel area. It was certainly an original idea, however, to have the characters travel back to Medieval France. One would think the hollywood temptation would be to visit the Dinosaurs .... oh wait...he's aleady done that one. Overall, it was a very easy and enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: informative, interesting, but not his best work
Review: It wasn't a suprise that this book was very informative. Michael Crichton continuously proves his knowledge and hard work at researching in each book he writes. I have never taken a physics course in my life and certainly don't understand these quantum physics theories. I do, however, enjoy learning about Medieval times. Not only has Crichton showed knowledge on these subjects, but he also managed to make a good book on them. The book was good, but not great. The story seamed to repeat itself. The characters would continuously get in trouble, get out, get in trouble, and get out. They were all interesting problems and made you want to read to find their solution, but it started to get trite. The book was very interesting, but it would be better if Crichton cut out a few of the less important trials of the group.
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