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Rating: 
Summary: Good info perhaps, but format is annoying
Review: I have to be the lone voice of dissent, it seems. I wanted a text to teach me more about the endgame. This book is peppered with cutsie drawings, written in a gosh-golly style that really annoyed me after three pages, and tries so hard to be "unintimidating" that it instead becomes distracting. The layouts are confusing--often diagrams are two pages ahead of the text--and the quotes are not helpful. ("Let no man surrender so long as he is unwounded and can fight. --Field Marshall Montgomery" --Huh?) I'd prefer a less chatty, less folksy book. A lot of people apparently like this approach. While I'm all for making the endgame less painless, this book didn't do it for me. I'd rather read a "dry" analysis.
Rating: 
Summary: Not perfect but well worth it!
Review: If you only read one book on endings, read this one. Mr Soltis writes in an entertaining form that illustrates ideas rather than plowing through endless bishop versus knight endgames. I'm sure any Class A and below player will find this adds 50-100 rating points.
Rating: 
Summary: What Secrets?
Review: It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the great reviews about it on this website were written by the author himself. The book is absolute RUBBISH.I have never read a book with so little genuine chess content. The vast majority of the book consists of stupid (and annoying) discussion between the author, and a pupil concerning endgame principles. The trouble is, the discussion is so general and basic as to be meaningless. It only offers basic principles such as "keep your rook active", with little to no practical examples. The book fails to cover numerous key endgame topics, such as pawn structures, pawn breakthroughs, entry squares for the king. The title is completely misleading. The book is limited to basic concepts, which even then, are poorly explained, with very little supporting analysis or examples. The depth of analysis is truly pathetic - frequently no more than one or two lines of play, looking ahead 3-4 moves. If only endgames were this simple. DON'T BUY THIS BOOK.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the top 3 books ever written on the endgame of chess!
Review: Soltis' book on the endgame is both a joy and a revelation. In it, he discloses secrets, yes secrets, about the endgame I've not found in any other chess book. The opening chapters cover such topics as: why the best move of the endgame is to walk around the room as soon as the queens are exchanged, why an endgame is not a middlegame, what endgame rules you need to know and the 100s of rules you can forget, why several endgame plans may be needed to win the game, the topic of "mismatches" which is vital to know, and common winning techniques. Following are chapters devoted to the various types of endgames: pawns, rooks, bishops, knights, and queens. Soltis uses the Socratic method of teaching, with beginner Pat Sayre asking GM Noah Tall questions. Typically the questions asked were exactly the ones I would ask about the position under consideration. The book is subtitled "Everything you need to know about the endgame" and that is a correct statement. A book beginners and tournament players need to add to their libraries, Soltis' book substantiates a common myth that chess masters really are keeping secrets from us amateurs. Soltis has told us the secrets to the benefit of players everywhere. I'm glad.
Rating:
Summary: What Secrets?
Review: This book has to be the worst chess book of all time. 75% of the content consists of inane discussion between the author and a fictious pupil, containing no insight or relevance to chess whatsoever. The analysis of positions is extremely scant; typically one or two lines of play only, looking ahead just four moves. A more appropriate title for the book would be "Secrets for Players Rated Below 1200". For example, the book contains such wonderful insights as "Passed pawns increase in value as they progress further down the board" - hardly the insight of a grandmaster. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Really Good Read on a critical subject
Review: This book is really good at teaching the most critical aspects of the endgame. It is probably suitable for players up to around 1800 USCF. Beyond that rating level, something more like Shereshevkys' series would be more appropriate. Don't be put off by the single reviewer who signed on and left 3 reviews (two from Australia, one from new York) with 1 star. He clearly has some sort of ax to grind. This book is very good, and worth getting. Amazon.com needs to do a better job at eliminating multiple reviews from the same person.
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