as with the other three O"Reilly books, could not ...
341157
as with the other three O"Reilly books, could not put it down.  I recall the Kennedy assassination very well and thought I knew all about it.  This book added a lot to my knowledge of the day.
1985390
My advice to anyone contemplating reading the Fortress series is this: just read Fortress in the Eye of Time as a stand-alone story.  It was a great book.  Having struggled through the rest of them finally, I have to say that books 2-4 (Eagles, Owls, Dragons) were largely a waste of time.  The pacing is unbearably slow, very little happens at all, characters are introduced who will never be fully developed, and the climax of the war in Fortress of Dragons (three books in the making) is nowhere near as exhilarating as the ending of Fortress in the Eye of Time.

It hurts me to say these things.  I love C.J. Cherryh as an author, and have never disliked her work before.  But ugh, when I think of the nights I struggled to stay awake reading this dreck, I can only wish I had those hours of my life back.

I am going to read Fortress of Ice out of sheer stubbornness, because I have come this far and hope she redeems herself somewhat in the final book.  But I hold out little hope, faithful readers.
3834707
I try to take O'Reilly and this book seriously but I find it to be an impossible task given his blatently biased views and hateful stance on any world view other than his own.
169371
I enjoyed the other books in the series, however, this one just didn't match the others. I found this one boring and was unable to finish it... Disappointing.
4782623
I was patiently waiting for the third book in this series.  I loved the first two so was super excited for the third!  This book, while I am glad I read it, was- confusing?  It just didn't mesh well with the other two books. It felt rushed and incomplete.  For a series that is so lengthy, there are way too many unanswered questions and loose ties.  I read this right when it came out and a month and a half later, I have already forgotten the secret to the book of life- it was that uninspiring.

It is my understanding that publishers can sometimes rush the creative process with the author.  If that were the case here, I would've gladly waited another 6 months to truly wrap up the series like it deserved.
1431834
I loved the first 2 books, the historical background is amazing, and the story telling wonderful!  The third book I didn't enjoy at all.  As a health care professional myself, I found the indictment against US health care to be specious, and the story telling just not on the same level as the first two books.  Rated alone I would give the 3rd book 1 star and the other two 5 stars
299994
I liked the first two books better.  This went off on some strange tangents.  It leaves us hanging, though.  Maybe a chance to redeem himself, for Cronin.
51324
I loved the other two books in the series, but this one was just not up to their level. The beginning of the book started off well and had a very interesting story, but the ending was where it fell apart. It is a perfect example of deus ex machina.

I really wanted to love this book, but the best I can do is three stars. I really had hoped for a better ending to the series.
4795097
Just poorly written. I suspect the real author, Bruce Feinstein, couldn't measure up to the other authors used for past O'Reilly books.
588008
The first two books were superb.  I am disappointed by the third, although, I suppose the author is not to blame for the times which he writes about in this third of three books.  The morals of the people had changed, drugs were in great use, women started having free sex and other things happened which are not in harmony with my moral values.  However, that book is as exciting and well written as the first two.  I, personally, like books which do not include unneeded sex, swearwords and other crude actions to be truly good.
4143641
I was hoping this book would be as good as the author's first two books, i.e. The Dummy Line and Moon Underfoot. I was very disappointed in the last part where they were in the cave and the twists with Mark and Don. This all seemed very contrived and looked like the author couldn't figure out how to end the book in a way that made sense.
4094600
I usually like the O'Reilly books but didn't think this one was a good as others.  I didn't find the text and examples as clear as other books.  If you just want to learn about Enterprise JavaBeans it is an okay book.  I was disappointed because I think a book on just Enterprise JavaBeans should cover more than books that cover EJBs and other J2EE APIs.  If you want to learn about J2EE as a whole this book doesn't add anything you can't get from books that cover the whole.
This book also suffered from a lack of comments in the code examples  (like many Java books).  I was also using J2EE Unleashed, Professional Java Server Programming, and Special Edition Using Java 2.
24336
Loved the first three books.  The fourth book jumped back and forth from her perspective to his.  That was a bit distracting.  I didn't like that she re-described people (hair color, build) and scenery over in each book, when she could have used that time to deepen the actual characters.  Didnt really care for the fifth book, more back and forth perspective, seemed to drag on and the ending left unanswered questions.
771072
I have read and enjoyed all of Reilly's books. I saved this one for a beach read and it was entertaining. But, I have yet to read a recent fiction trilogy where the final book was anything other than a disappointment. Reilly's conclusion novel is as if he had so many loose ends to wrap up, he had to rush to do it. He added new characters, had too many vertices to visit, and everything became more superficial than his previous novels. A few pages then rush to the next loose end. This is all fantasy so everything is possible, but this one seems more like a comic book than a novel. I guess I have outgrown his writings and I am 61. I will think hard before buying his next "4 something something".
Larry Brodsky
2143316
Awesome book but if you read the other books by O'Reilly you could be well informed on what had happened.  Thanks Bill and miss you on TV very much.
2551222
I didn't like the fact that it did not come to an end.  You must buy the other books to have a conclusion of some sort.  I would not have read this one if I knew that there would not be a closing to the book.
2031596
I absolutely loved the first two books in this trilogy, and it is perhaps because of this love that I was disappointed with the third.
In Books 1 and 2, there was a constant sense of urgency a rush against time to preserve humanity and stave off the vampire virus and the hordes The Master was spreading across first NYC and then the world.  Moreover, there was an escalation in scale as devastation moved from the destruction of a city, to massive nuclear explosions and the death of 1/3 of the human population.
Understandably my expectations were high for the final book in the series.  I found however, that the book while emotionally charged lacked the same urgency as the earlier books.  True the vampires had a Naziesque control over the world population, and had interred humans to camps for use as cattle, but without Setrakian and his greater hidden knowledge of the Master, the whole book felt kinda flat.  I was also disappointed with the conclusion.  This may be disturbing, but I was secretly hoping that the vampires in The Night Eternal would win out in the end.  Seeing the last of earth's hero's die out, and the whole world enslaved would have been a terrifying and terrific cap to a great horror trilogy.