Engaging adventure for all. (Timeline - Michael Crichton)

Member Name: chrislynch

Product:	Timeline - Michael Crichton
Date:	06/10/01 (245 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast paced., Exciting.

Disadvantages: Difficult to start with., Physics may loose some readers.

From the now world famous writer of Jurassic Park and The Lost World, Michael Crichton, Timeline is another science fiction/fantasy adventure. I’ve read several of Crichton’s books and, for me, this is the area in which he excels.

The story revolves around a group of graduate students who travel back in time to save their Professor, who has been lost during a previous trip back in time after he discovers that the benevolent corporation who have been funding their archaeological dig in the south of France may not be all that they seem.

Timeline begins slowly and this is my only real criticism of the book. Having read about the first 30 – 40 pages of Timeline I walked away from it for along time. I must admit to being a fickle reader but I do feel that Crichton risks loosing many readers during the initial stages of the book. However, I returned to give Timeline another try (something readers who are less enamoured with Crichton’s work might not have done).

I must say that I am glad that I gave this book another try. Rereading from the beginning to ensure that I didn’t miss anything important, I barrelled past the point at which I had abandoned Timeline previously and soon found myself being draw along by the roller coaster ride that this book had promised to be. Crichton employs a dynamic style, which might not appeal to all readers. I have often heard his criticised for writing screenplays and passing them off as novels. Although I do not feel that it subtracted from the story in any way, this comment is certainly justified in the context of this work. Those of you looking for a deep or absorbing read will not find it here. The story moves at a very impressive pace, and Crichton deliberately plays on this as time becomes all-important towards the end of the story.

As with all of his books that I have encountered, the thing that impresses most here above and beyond the quality of the story is the depth
of the research that Crichton has undertaken to ensure not only that his scientific explanations for the time travel apparatus are plausible, but also to craft engaging descriptions of the 14th century town of Castlegard to which our adventurers travel. The descriptions are made all the more fascinating by the commentary of the time travels, as they find time to make discoveries about the time whilst trying desperately to rescue their lost Professor and return home. This sense of wonder, mixed with dread and sometimes panic and terror, comes over from the writing and is thoroughly absorbing.

Overall I enjoyed Timeline immensely. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for an exciting, intelligently written adventure with a heady mix of the mysteries of the past with the science of the future.

Summary: