Reviews with content warning for Gore - Timeline

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Timeline by Michael Crichton

8 reviews

omair's review

adventurous informative tense

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Timeline reads like exactly what you would expect a Crichton novel to read. If you know what that means then you probably know how you'll feel about it. If that's not your cup of tea, then you're either going to read this for the practical conversation on time travel and the science behind it, or you're reading it because it explores a less glamorous medieval setting, but also one that is less often written about too.

Normally this would all be appealing to me, but this time it misses. Unlike some of his other work, like Jurassic Park, the generic characters that are our protagonists never rise above their predictableness. Timeline ends up being an easy-enough read, but never feels to capture me and rise above. That's not to say it's a bad book, but it is one that won't linger in the mind. A sad sort of irony for a book about time travel to be one I would likely never revisit.

Content Warnings

timlucier's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really enjoyed Timeline! Having seen the movie a dozen times I decided to read the book and I'm really glad I did. Crichton beautifully captures the student archaeological dig atmosphere, and creates a wonderful medieval adventure. While others have found that the science was explained too much before the action takes place, I found the pacing really nice and everything to be well balanced. I wish there was more!

As an audiobook reader, John Bedford Lloyd was fantastic and I would listen to him again in a heartbeat.

Content Warnings

ulespiegel's review

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

cj13's review

Go to review page

adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

meganpbennett's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Timeline is an interesting time travel science fiction novel. It starts with several tangentially connected parts - a man found in the desert, rambling about Quantum Foam, and an archeology dig at a Hundred Years War castle in France - that eventually come together to form the basis of time travel. We have an interesting cast of characters, who all have a specific skill set that helps them when the learn the truth. When they learn that time travel is possible.

Michael Crichton write a remarkably plausible story about time travel, where people have to travel back to the high middle ages to rescue someone who got accidentally stuck, and survive all of the issues of a castle in the middle of the Hundred Years War. Hey, at least there's no Plague, right?

I remember reading this book when I was in high school and ended reading all of the hard science sci-fi books by Crichton, and haven't read it since. I vaugely remembered a few sections, but not much of the bulk of the plot. It's still quite interesting, and the depictions of the high middle ages is one that take into account a more modern historical opinion of the time period, making allowances for the propaganda of the Renaissance.

Content Warnings

elise_reads_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging informative tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

The action was intense! It was neat to learn more about this period of time. However, this kind of story just isn’t my cup of tea.

Content Warnings

graceprechtel's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

stefievee's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

The beginning of the book really piqued my interest, but once the characters get into time-travel they start to fall into super cliché, trope-y roles and I was frankly just rolling my eyes by the (very predictable) end

We have the self-sacrificing hero whose convenient lifelong obsession with Medieval fighting makes him a natural at jousting and fighting off all the knights that are after him and his companions. Hero guy ends up with the secondary recurring female character in the past timeline, whose main trait is seducing people into doing her bidding. Then there's the whiny guy who keeps getting the group in trouble but also keeps saving the main female character and finally, said main female character who continuously escapes things by climbing because she's a climber, and of course ends up married to now-mature whiny guy and pregnant with his child at the end.

Content Warnings

More...