Timeline: A Novel Mass Market Paperback – January 1, 2013

Gripping imaginative story that immerses you in the idea of the multiverse; my third reading and still enthralled! Read it!

512 pages4 starsFollowing a rather slow start, this book picks up quickly.Imagine if we could go on the adventure that awaits a group of archeologists as told in this book! Technology has advanced to the point where a person can be transported back in time.The people who travel in this adventure are transported back six hundred years to France. It is a world of strife, kings and knights. The adventure is simply wonderful and well described.I very much enjoyed this novel. It is not Michael Crichton at his best, but it is certainly worth reading.

His books are wonderful and timeless

The movie came on the other night, and I watched it for the 2nd time. My son mentioned that the book was totally different. So, I got the Kindle version to see how different. I've read a few of Crichton's books, and liked them. But, this time, I couldn't help comparing his writing style to Jules Vern. He wrote a backstory for nearly each character, and there were pages of explanations for the time period they were in. Not once, but several times. Ditto with the worm hole machine, that was thick with tech jargon. I did some speed reading over those parts. He did a lot of research for those subjects, and wanted the readers to know it. The plot was good, but I felt as though I was reading a book written in the 19th century. It got off to a very slow start, but just as I thought things would pick up, it slogged down with the stuff going on at ITC. I didn't like the swearing; I got the point that Doniger was a jerk, but it can be done without swearing. (Doniger reminded me of a former boss who had screwed over so many people, he kept a handgun in his desk drawer.) The reader isn't told how the employees explained away the boss' disappearance. Johnston was one dimensional, and it wasn't revealed how the French found their way onto the castle grounds, the night of the battle. I think it was mentioned once, that they were looking for a tunnel, or passageway there, but none of the characters actually told them about it. In the movie, Claire was every bit a lady; in the book, a whore. When she's caught having sex with a man in a position of power, she straightens her shoulders, lifts her head, and falls back on the poor, helpless female excuse. Marek seems to admire her for that. Near the end, there's a thin hint he may like/love/lust for her, but we're not given a clue how she may feel towards Marek. She kissed Marek, Chris, manipulated another man she was intimate with, had sex with a man of the cloth, flirted with others, what's not to like? The movie explored their relationship, but the book is told from Chris and Kate's point of view, so discovering at the end that they married, was more of an afterthought. And Claire was a woman of title with property; why would she marry a man with nothing, when she made it plain she needed security? She was in danger of losing her late husbands holdings, and Marek had nothing to bring to the table. Marek must have known, by marrying her, that he would alter the future. Since he wasn't born into that time, ANYONE he married would change things. Also...if someone were to be left behind in the past, the odds would be too high of ever finding what they did with their life. That part wasn't believable. There are countless numbers of lords and ladies, names unknown, who never left a mark on history. In the end, Johnston, dour as ever, was thinking that Marek really wasn't happy in his chosen life. He doesn't know, yet he's looking at the stone carvings that say otherwise. The crease on the side of Marek's face is creepy, cause de Kere had one. Since he came through the machine that once, we can only hope it was a battle scar. Anyway, it's all just hypothetical.

Though some may pick nits with Crichton for not beefing up the suspense, or thickening up the book in general, I found this to be a truely enjoyable and totally readable book. There was just enough of everything to keep me interested, but not too much in any one area to bore me. This is unique achievement for the 'best selling' author crowd, who are usually so full of themselves, and sales worthy, that they are no longer edited.Overall, this is an excellent read for the time travel sf fan, and better still for the medieval history buff (with a bit thrown in for those with interest in the possibilities of quantum mechanics ... though not fully based in substantiated evidence, here).In telling the story of a group of hapless current day time travelers, who have a bit of a mission gone awry in the mid 1300's in western France, Crichton introduces the reader to lots of nuances of medieval life. You get to find out a bit about English-French relations in the region, the hows and whys of tournaments, lots of bits on the technology of the time (particularly about the uses of water power, a bit about tanning, and quite an interesting bit about gunpowder and early cannons). There are also some interesting tacts on social interrelations between nobility and commoners (including why there actually were knights, why the commoners hated them, and why the knights hated the commoners right back); and there's some interesting little bits about why one should never underestimate the powers or motivations of a woman, regardless of her official position in the schema of things.And, for those of you with a streak of malice towards Bill Gates, or anyone who comes off a lot like him, the portrayal and ultimate fate of the Gatesian character, in the 'present' time line of the book, will leave you feeling quite satisfied.Crichton is an excellent weaver of story in this novel. I didn't see most twists coming until I was nearly on top of them. (And, I'm usually pretty good at spotting them.)

Although an obvious work of fiction, Crichton has written an almost believable tale of every history buffs dream of going back to the middle ages and experiencing the past in person. Along with a harrowing adventure including knights, jousting, sword play, and the thrill of good versus evil.Then he teases the reader with the possibility of the main characters nearly being stuck in the past with no chance of returning to the present.This is a fast read written in the wonderful style Crichton is famous for mixing scientific truth with fantasy to create a delightful tale that will have you unable to stop reading until you reach the end!

Very entertaining. Didn't want to put it down. Educational in a way that was easily understood. For everyone. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Creighton is always the good storyteller. Did not disappoint me in the least. I could visualize this just as a good movie

Good novel. Delivery was perfect

Good product

It goes on and on in the same way and utterly predictable. As nothing new comes up and having filled the required number of words to call it a novel, it ends abruptly.

Un libro avvincente dall'inizio alla fine!!

Magistral !! One of the best books I've read in my life. The science part is not done in a cheap way.