.com When you step into a time machine, fax yourself through a "quantum foam wormhole," and step out in feudal France circa 1357, be very, very afraid. If you aren't strapped back in precisely 37 hours after your visit begins, you'll miss the quantum bus back to 1999 and be stranded in a civil war, caught between crafty abbots, mad lords, and peasant bandits all eager to cut your throat. You'll also have to dodge catapults that hurl sizzling pitch over castle battlements. On the social front, you should avoid provoking "the butcher of Crecy" or Sir Oliver may lop your head off with a swoosh of his broadsword or cage and immerse you in "Milady's Bath," a brackish dungeon pit into which live rats are tossed now and then for prisoners to eat. This is the plight of the heroes of Timeline, Michael Crichton's thriller. They're historians in 1999 employed by a tech billionaire-genius with more than a few of Bill Gates's most unlovable quirks. Like the entrepreneur in Crichton's Jurassic Park, Doniger plans a theme park featuring artifacts from a lost world revived via cutting-edge science. When the project's chief historian sends a distress call to 1999 from 1357, the boss man doesn't tell the younger historians the risks they'll face trying to save him. At first, the interplay between eras is clever, but Timeline swiftly becomes a swashbuckling old-fashioned adventure, with just a dash of science and time paradox in the mix. Most of the cool facts are about the Middle Ages, and Crichton marvelously brings the past to life without ever letting the pulse-pounding action slow down. At one point, a time-tripper tries to enter the Chapel of Green Death. Unfortunately, its custodian, a crazed giant with terrible teeth and a bad case of lice, soon has her head on a block. "She saw a shadow move across the grass as he raised his ax into the air." I dare you not to turn the page! Through the narrative can be glimpsed the glowing bones of the movie that may be made from Timeline and the cutting-edge computer game that should hit the market in 2000. Expect many clashing swords and chase scenes through secret castle passages. But the book stands alone, tall and scary as a knight in armor shining with blood. --Tim AppeloFrom Publishers Weekly"And the Oscar for Best Special Effects goes to: Timeline!" Figure maybe three years before those words are spoken, for Crichton's new novelAdespite media reports about trouble in selling film rights, which finally went to ParamountAis as cinematic as they come, a shiny science-fantasy adventure powered by a superior high concept: a group of young scientists travel back from our time to medieval southern France to rescue their mentor, who's trapped there. The novel, in fact, may improve as a movie; its complex action, as the scientists are swept into the intrigue of the Hundred Years War, can be confusing on the page (though a supplied map, one of several graphics, helps), and most of its characters wear hats (or armor) of pure white or black. Crichton remains a master of narrative drive and cleverness. From the startling opening, where an old man with garbled speech and body parts materializes in the Arizona desert, through the revelation that a venal industrialist has developed a risky method of time-travel (based on movement between parallel universes; as in Crichton's other work, good, hard science abounds), there's not a dull moment. When elderly Yale history prof Edward Johnston travels back to his beloved 15th century and gets stuck, and his assistants follow to the rescue, excitement runs high, and higher still as Crichton invests his story with terrific period detail and as castles, sword-play, jousts, sudden death and enough bold knights-in-armor and seductive ladies-in-waiting to fill any toystore's action-figure shelves appear. There's strong suspense, too, as Crichton cuts between past and present, where the time-travel machinery has broken: Will the heroes survive and make it back? The novel has a calculated feel but, even so, it engages as no Crichton tale has done since Jurassic Park, as it brings the past back to vigorous, entertaining life. Agent, Lynn Nesbit. 1,500,000 first printing; Literary Guild nain selection; simultaneous large-print edition and audiobook. (Nov. 16) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library JournalYA-Combining time travel, archaeological exploration, and a power struggle in medieval France, this action-packed story will grab teens' attention from the very first page. ITC, a company located in the New Mexico desert, is at the forefront of the new science of quantum technology. It has secretly developed a means of transporting humans back in time. In the Dordogne region of southwest France, a team of company-sponsored archaeologists and historians is unearthing the remains of a medieval castle, village, and monastery with the goal of developing a major tourist attraction. The words "HELP ME" followed by "4/7/1357" written in ink and on paper used in the 14th century are found at the site. It seems that Professor Johnston, the team leader, demanded that he be transported back to the settlement, and obviously he is in danger there. A rescue effort is launched, and five people are transported back to April 1357: two escorts from ITC and three historians from the Dordogne project. Their time machine allows them 37 hours for the rescue, but within minutes of their arrival, the escorts are killed by a band of horsemen. The three survivors set out to find the missing man, and their race against time results in a gripping tale. YAs will be fascinated by this juxtaposition of modern-day physics with details of a medieval siege.Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. is there an ar test for my book Timeline
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Some fun light readingBy Camp RunamokMichael Crichton's Timeline was in a group of recommended books to read before our trip to Toulouse. It's a Sci-Fi time travel book that takes place in the Toulouse area, so it has quite a bit of history about the area, which was great fun. Not a must read book by any means, it reads like a screenplay, as many of Crichton's books do. But for some good light reading with some interesting history and some fun characters, we would give it a thumbs up.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Worth reading, but it is not one of Crichton's best books.By Clark HallmanTimeline by Michael Crichton - Michael Crichton wrote many very good books in the science-fiction, medical-fiction, and adventure genres. Unfortunately, Timeline is not one of his best science-fiction books, although it is interesting and suspenseful. Robert Doniger is a brilliant physicist and unethical billionaire entrepreneur who secretly developed technology using quantum science that enables time travel to the past. He also funds the research of an ancient castle, church and monastery ruins in France by a group of "Historians." Doniger allows the leader of that research group to travel back to the fourteenth-century version of his research site. Unfortunately, something happens and he is unable to return to the twentieth century. This results a rescue mission by a few of the historians, who travel to the mid-1300s using Doniger's technology. However, fourteenth-century France is a very crude, primitive, violent, war-torn environment; and the time travelers encounter violence almost on arrival. They become trapped in that brutal society. The book then becomes an adventure story about the incredible hardships and life-threatening brutality that they endure while trying to rescue their colleague and get back to the twentieth century. Crichton included much intricate description and explanation about life, and the structure of society, in fourteenth-century France. He also educates the reader about the level of scientific development, weaponry, clothing materials and production, building techniques and materials, and countless other details. Crichton also provides a plethora of information, which exceeded my understanding and interest after a few pages, about the use of quantum science to achieve time travel. This book is much more historical-fiction than science fiction. It certainly had action and suspense, but that became a seemingly unending circle of captivity-torture- escape, which I found to be a bit tedious. Timeline is worth reading, but it is not one of Crichton's best books. BTW: I have not seen the movie based on this book, but it is rated 5.6 on a 10-point scale on IMDb as I write this review.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Timeline: Read it!By SaundraRichly embroidered with fully fleshed-out characters, vivid descriptions of time and place, Timeline caught my attention from the first paragraph, and never let go. Chrichton's words flame across the page taking the reader back and forth through time with a sense of urgency that I found completely credible Oh, how I would love to take a trip back to another century, and still be able to return to my own. That one might not return is fantasy of the first order.