Hello,
I recently finished the book Timeline by Michael Crichton. It took me a long time to finish it; after an initial burst of enthusiasm due to the action in the first chapter, I felt that there was infodump after infodump (it felt like a bad history lesson, and I wasn't even sure why learning about Crusades-era French castles/nobility was relevant at that point of the book) and I got really frustrated. Add to that, that there were a lot of characters who did not seem that distinct from one another, and whose personalities seemed somewhat cardboard-ish, and I had trouble holding on.
Well, I did hold on, and I started to enjoy the book after a sword fight occurred (I think it was the jousting scene.) I read the rest of the book and it was interesting and engaging. I still felt, however, by the end, that the characters had never been fleshed out or given distinct personality traits, at least not to the point that I found them memorable. I also found the mid-scene breaks where Crichton shifted POV to be a little odd.
At the end of the book there was a long, long list of all the resources that Crichton used in his research. VERY impressive. I doubt I could match his ability to exhaustively research a book! And I would say that Timeline was exciting overall and that I learned a lot about medieval warfare and was intrigued by the descriptions of armor, gunpowder and castles.
Which brings me to my questions -
1) Did other people read this book (Timeline) and did you encounter similar problems with getting through it?
I want to read Pirate Latitudes next, but am wondering if I will encounter the same problems.
2) What other Crichton books would you recommend?
Probably the only book I would NOT be interested in reading would be Jurassic Park, as I hated the movie (I must be one of the only ones who didn't like it, except for the technology in depicting dinosaurs. I liked the images of dinosaurs but hated the plot.)
I recently finished the book Timeline by Michael Crichton. It took me a long time to finish it; after an initial burst of enthusiasm due to the action in the first chapter, I felt that there was infodump after infodump (it felt like a bad history lesson, and I wasn't even sure why learning about Crusades-era French castles/nobility was relevant at that point of the book) and I got really frustrated. Add to that, that there were a lot of characters who did not seem that distinct from one another, and whose personalities seemed somewhat cardboard-ish, and I had trouble holding on.
Well, I did hold on, and I started to enjoy the book after a sword fight occurred (I think it was the jousting scene.) I read the rest of the book and it was interesting and engaging. I still felt, however, by the end, that the characters had never been fleshed out or given distinct personality traits, at least not to the point that I found them memorable. I also found the mid-scene breaks where Crichton shifted POV to be a little odd.
At the end of the book there was a long, long list of all the resources that Crichton used in his research. VERY impressive. I doubt I could match his ability to exhaustively research a book! And I would say that Timeline was exciting overall and that I learned a lot about medieval warfare and was intrigued by the descriptions of armor, gunpowder and castles.
Which brings me to my questions -
1) Did other people read this book (Timeline) and did you encounter similar problems with getting through it?
I want to read Pirate Latitudes next, but am wondering if I will encounter the same problems.
2) What other Crichton books would you recommend?
Probably the only book I would NOT be interested in reading would be Jurassic Park, as I hated the movie (I must be one of the only ones who didn't like it, except for the technology in depicting dinosaurs. I liked the images of dinosaurs but hated the plot.)