Rating: 
Summary: Essential, the best of its kind
Review: The CMS is essential for editors (or writers concerned about their style and punctuation). It offers plenty of examples, alternates, etc. and is very comprehensive. A good reference book to keep on the shelf and turn to now and again.
Rating:
Summary: The classic remains unchallenged
Review: The Manual may have its opponents (particularly those who prefer, as the gentleman from Florida pointed out, to not place a comma before an article prefacing an end of a series), but it remains the pinnacle of style guides for the professional and dedicated writer. For a more pedestrian or student writer, it may not be the best choice (I suggest The Scribner Handbook, DiYanni and Hoy), but for the high academic, there is no other choice.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have for Editors
Review: This book is a "must have" for any editor who reviews copy for publishing. If you have questions about punctuation, enumeration, quotations, tables, titles or citations, then look no further. The Manual presents the information in an easy to find format that follows the natural order of editorial progression. The Manual also acts as a book of editing ettiquette, offering advice on what to include in a cover letter with an edited manuscript. Other useful information includes: how paper is made, what typesetters are responsible for, proper indexing, binding, etc. If you are looking for a grammar guide or basic aid in your use of the English language, this is not the book I would choose. This book is geared almost exclusively towards the professional writer, editor and publisher.
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Summary: One of the best grammar reference books
Review: This book is a must for all technical writers and editors. Supplement it with a copy of the Microsoft Manual of Style and the latest Webster's Collegiate dictionary, and you'll be ready to go.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: This book is great
Rating:
Summary: Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Ed
Review: This book is the de facto Bible for all persons who are employed or connected to the publishing industry: especially if you're a typesetter or editor. It's a must have!
The Chicago manual of Style is to the book production industry what the AP Stylebook is to the newspaper industry.
Rating: 
Summary: unreliable
Review: This is a work manufactured by a committee, a committee willing to capitulate to political pressure at the expense of language and logic. If you want to a reference you can rely on, skip this.
Rating:
Summary: Essential text, but not for everyone
Review: This is an essential text for writers who write for publication. While it has a great amount of grammar and style content, it also a bunch of technical content of interest primarily to professional authors (e.g., the proper way to number pages in a book). If you are a student or business writer, you may be better served by a usage guide such as Follet's Modern American Usage, Elements of Style by Stunk and White, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Needs revision
Review: This work has such a reputation, and so much praise has been (rightly) given to it in the reviews, that it certainly does not need an endorsement; what could I say that hasn't been said? That having been said, the Chicago Manual of Style is in need of a revision. Specifically, it does not cover issues that arise when self-typesetting books or journal articles, a common practice among mathematicians and scientists in the age of LaTeX.
Rating:
Summary: peacemaker
Review: This'll end most arguments over stupid little things like what is the plural of an acronym; when to capitalize and when not to capitalize; and what a semi-colon is for. (ahem)
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