Timeline:

Liked it - its a great fast read with a lot of action

Fast paced and adventurous, Chrichton takes us all on a journey to the living past. The characters were true, the setting was richly imaginined and detailed, and the race against the clock made it hard to put down! I found there were some philosphical holes in the time travel construction, but once you get past that its a great novel that I highly reccomend.

Good detail per time frame, otherwise your standard time travel novel. A good read to pass the time.

This was my first book written by Michael Crichton, and boy was I impressed! He writes everything with a sense of realism, and the action parts were really exciting. Highly recommendable read.

Timeline by Michael Crichton (Book Review)
This book was published in paperback by Arrow in 2006. It is a science fiction thriller that has since been made into a movie. It is fast paced and full of danger, a gripping read. Doniger, Head of ITC plans a theme park with artefacts from the past for profit and he wants to revive it via his time machine. In 1999 his chief historian the professor has got in trouble in fourteenth century France and the young historians need to go back in time to save him. They are unaware of the dangers of the 14 th century France and they only have 37 hours to save him. They get split up but find their way home. It is an old fashioned adventure. Crichton has done alot of research for this book and it shows. He combines science of the future with historical past. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap.

I think, this being my first MC read, that I was blown away by his ability to make and "out there" idea seem tangible. I have seen the pathetic movie, and thought that the book offers so much more the movie didn't come close to expressing. Definitely worth the read for the adventure, science, and suspense. I would highly recommend this novel.

This books starts with a widely technical explanation that you can just skip over or block out. it was a little worrying to start a book that way but it was worth the worry. History comes alive with the vivid characters beautiful descriptions and the picturesque background. The ending of this book is full of poetic justice that it just makes you smile and laugh. It was a highly entertaining novel and it was great to watch the movie afterwards.

Had a hard time putting it down. You just want to keep reading. One of his best.

The intro to this book is so technical I was really concerned about what I was getting myself into. But I was very pleased with this book. Being a lover of fantasy, the historical aspects appealed to me. I really enjoyed this book, I found it exciting and action packed. I also really enjoyed the movie version, which was filmed not too far from where I live. The movie leaves out a lot of detail, but I still found it entertaining.
So if you like a book with history, and a little bit of sci-fi thrown in you will like this book.

I absolutely enjoyed every moment of this engaging and simply
delightful novel. It's a shame they butchered it in the film version. It is definitely one of my top recommended books. I suggest you find a copy of this and read it directly.

To me, Timeline is on of the best novel made by Michael Crichton. It is as good as Jurassic Parc, if not better. This is a must read for every one who want to read a good action/adventure book. But attention, after you read this book, you may find difficult to read another book because only a few books are good like this one.

Crichtons newest high tech thriller starts with a promising idea and ends up being a romp around the castle. Despite the extensive list of credits given at the end of the book the setting for this book may just as well of being Camelot as the middle 1300s. Crichton tries to depict the era with vague references to historically accurate events but does little to bring the reader to the actual lives of the people of the time. In fact the main characters spend so much time fighting off overwhelming odds or continusously being captured and escaping that we have no time to stop and examine this most exciting forgotten time at all. In the end Timeline remains like all of his other novels...... the same plot, characters, and hightech jargon superimposed upon any new background in order to create a new bestseller. Timeline is Jurrasic Park in the middle ages, and Sphere out of the water.

This is the story of several archeologists who get the chance to "go back in time" 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 problems. First 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 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 and they're stranded). 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, etc.

But 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 it, 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.

Crichton took and old premise and made it work. I liked the quick pace of the storyline and the detail he puts in the scientific aspects of it. Overall it was entertaining and enjoyable. However, the ending was too predictable and the characters were hard to relate to.

This was a very interesting and engaging read. The detail and descriptions of feudal France really pulled me into the story. A little heavy on the descriptions of technology and quatum physics but it shows how much research he did for this book!

I enjoyed some of his past books but this one was too easy to keep putting down. It was written too much like a movie script and there are a lot of characters to follow. Maybe this will be one of the first movies that is better than the book!

This was an interesting read and the way Mr.Crichton used the blend of time travel and quantum physics was exciting. However, I found as the story unfolded, the interaction between the quantum leapers and the resident Knights was starting to sound hollywoodish. Possibly Mr.Crichton has written too many stories for the screen and is now locked into that mode of story telling.

Timeline is a very great surprising book I recived the book for my birthday last Thursday. I started reading the book on Friday night then finihed it Saturday night it was so great! i recommend this book to all my friends and my History teacher! This book has great twists,turns, and Midievel Action! Along with having agreat plot I also learned about Quantom technongy and dress and battles.It is a book that entertains and enlightens.

This was a great read. Even though Quantum Physics is beyond my realm of knowledge I was facinated with the prospect of being transported to an earlier era. At the same time it was frightening to think that history could possibly be changed.

The premise grabbed me. The execution disappointed me. I have read every one of Crichton's books and this one I liked the least. I felt like I was reading a script for a movie rather than a book. The book is undeniably fast paced and exciting in places but I had trouble connecting with the characters. Marek's decision at the end was predictable in the extreme and I felt nothing for Chris, whose character was inconsistent from page to page. I found the very short paragraphs/chapters at times convenient but mostly I found that they chopped up the story to the point where I had trouble getting into it. The count-down to the final deadline should have built the suspense through the book, however, the characters seemed oblivious to the deadline except at the very end. They did not seem stressed so I didn't worry either. I finished the book so it was OK, but it could have been much better. I think Crichton was writing for his viewers, not his readers.