Michael CrichtonTimelineMonika says:
Time travel is a fascinating subject for many people. Some would like to travel to the future to see what technology yet to be invented can achieve, others would prefer to gain first hand knowledge of things past. Michael Crichton’s TIMELINE takes you to the 14th Century, into the "Dark Age". The company ITC developed a complicated and dangerous time travel technology based on quantum physics. In the beginning there are accidents and the test objects cannot be re-materialized corrcetly. The effects are minimal, but accumulative. And of course the company doesn’t fund research for altruistic motives. The main part of the story takes place in a medieval village in the southwest of France, the ruins of which are excavated in the present by a team of archeologists and historians. Among the medieval artefacts three students discover a strange object, a lens of undoubtedly modern origin that nonetheless has been buried in the ground for hundreds of years. One of the scientists goes missing and between old documents a message from him is found that is also hundreds of years old. A rescue party is assembled whose astonished members learn that they will not look for him in another place but in another time. The journey takes them to the year 1357 and they have only 37 hours to complete their mission. Three years after AIRFRAME Michael Crichton presents his new book that continues the tradition of WESTWORLD and JURASSIC PARK. He set his story in truly turbulent times. Like most of his other books TIMELINE is carefully researched and comes with a bibliography. Crichton’s narrative jumps between the group of time travellers and the technicians at the control center. Just like with his other books his attention is not focused on characters, who (I have to say it again!) are lacking depth, but on the plot. In a short span of time the action rushes on and scientific excursions that were the best part of JURASSIC PARK and THE LOST WORLD were neglected a bit in this book. Crichton’s outlook on the Middle Ages is made quite clear. For him they are not neccessarily a dark chapter in human history but rather a time of general upheaval and new beginnings in Europe. Even if TIMELINE doesn’t meet all expectations it will find its audience. I doubt, though, that after reading this book you will still feel like taking a trip to the Middle Ages. Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1999
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Last changes: 27-04-03 Copyright 2000 Christina Gross & Monika Hübner |
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