Rating: 
Summary: Shallow and unimaginative start of series.
Review: Pohl is a fine and talented author, but in Siege of Eternity he ignores his experience and squashes his talent. The writing is simplistic, but with too much sex and violence for this to be a childrens book. The characters are shallow and undeveloped. Despite the action and sex, the book is a bore. Worse yet, when you finish (and I am not giving anything away), *nothing* is resolved! Turns out you wasted all this time on an obvious introduction to a serial. If you want to enjoy some good Frederik Pohl, don't read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: comic bookish
Review: The Other end of Time (the first in the series) was certainly better in terms of story and imagination. This is simply a bridge to a third novel, which I'm hoping is a bit better. But here's the thing, at least for me: this is basically a comic book in fiction form. And if you don't go into it that way, you're gonna bang your head against a wall at all the nonsense.
Rating: 
Summary: Page Turner
Review: The Siege of Eternity doesn't quite live up to the expectations I had after reading The Other End of Time, as Pohl chooses to mostly ignore the eschaton issue which made the first novel so fascinating. However, the Siege of Eternity has a taut plotline that was somewhat lacking in the first. Eternity reads more like a techno-thriller than the contemplation on the nature of the universe and man's place therein. As a thriller, Eternity works very well. It is impossible to put the book down. Unfortunately once I finished tearing through the book I felt as if I had just eaten a boatload of popcorn. It tasted good going down but wasn't all that filling. The prospects for the final book in the trilogy don't look too good for a swing back in the direction of the first since the big cliffhanger at the end of the first is left completely unresolved. (In fact it isn't even touched) Which means that the third novel must include the introduction of the Horch and the obligatory big space battle between humans, Horch, and Scarecrows. All of which can't leave much room for philosophical contemplation. Here's to hoping Pohl decides to make it a tetralogy so he has space to return to his ruminations on the eschaton.
Rating:
Summary: This book is really only a long introduction to its sequel.
Review: This book is incomplete and unsatisfying. Although I love Pohl's stories, I felt like I had wasted my time with this book. There is no resolution. No conclusion. It just stops. I though that maybe my copy was defective and missing a few pages. That said, it is an okay story. But hardly worth the hard cover price. You could really skip it and go directly to the much better "real" book, "The Far Shore Of Time".
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining yet somewhat conventional tale.
Review: This is the second book in a three part series, but when I picked it up at a used book shop I didn't really know that was the case. It was only after I finished the book that I realized there had to be more to the story. Right up until the ending the book flows well and doesn't come up against any problematic plot devices from the first novel that it is unable to explain. That said, I would not have been surprised to see a giant To Be Continued at the end as it does finish quite abruptly.
The overarching concept to the book (and the series) is that two species of aliens are warring across the galaxy in their quest to obtain access to the Eschaton. The Eschaton is best explained by the human concept of heaven. A place where everyone who has ever lived is reborn and never dies. It's unfortunate that this concept is not really explored much at all in this book. The Eschaton is mainly used here as the motivation behind the actions of the alien hostiles.
The book starts with the return of several people from the investigation of an orbiting space station that was supposedly modified by aliens. The returning crew though has found nothing out of the ordinary. Then a strange transmission is received from the space station indicating that things aren't exactly what they seem to be.
From there the story takes a series of twists and turns as various investigations ensue. The main thrust of the book is the desire to figure out what the motivations of the various aliens are, as well as to understand what has happened to the people who have returned from the station.
The story is well paced and certainly has interesting tidbits that keep it moving along. To be sure this book would probably make more sense having read the first book, but Pohl does a good job of filling in the necessary blanks without spoiling that first part. That said, I will most likely pick up the first book before attempting the third book. This isn't an instant classic like some of Pohl's other work, but it has an entertaining pulp flavor to it that keeps you coming back to see what happens next.
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