Rating  - Don't Take This Book Too Seriously!!!
If you want soap opera-style melodrama with a "Christian" twist, then maybe this series is for you. If you want the truth, then keep right on walking. I have studied Bible prophecy for the past 40 years, and though I do lean toward a belief in a "catching away" of believers (rapture) and a seven year tribulation on earth, this book is about 10 percent truth and 90 percent total balderdash. There is no reason to get so wrapped up in something that will not happen the way the authors describe. What we as Christian believers are to do is to live our lives loving the Lord and our fellow man and leave the rest to Him. I'm sorry I read this book, it was a waste of my precious time that could have been spent doing something productive.
Rating - You'll need the patience of an angel to get through these books
The Rapture and biblical prophecy are fascinating subjects that could be the basis for a roller coaster modern story. Unfortunately the authors dilute the potential with long, boring, inconsequential text. I trudged through the first 2 books, then finally threw in the towel on the 3rd after reading a *chapter* describing a traffic jam! The best of this series could be distilled to just a few books but, keeping with the theme, it's already too late...
Rating - Not the quality novel it's made out to be.
I have no idea why this book has been acclaimed by so many people-- even by many Christians-- as a great work of literature. The plot is weak and chock-full of bland, superfluous details. Buck's part of the story is particularly uninteresting. There are just too many things going on all at once. His part of the story gives us the specifics of how he plugged in his computer to an outlet and how his subconscious waking system didn't work one day when he wanted to get up at 8 and instead woke up 45 minutes later.
I also believe that the end-times view this book supports has no biblical backing, though this is not the reason why I gave this book only one star. I hold to the Postmillenialist viewpoint and would love to have a discussion if you have any questions/arguments about this particular viewpoint or end-times in general. (In the comment section, I have posted a short paper about end times.)
Rating  - I enjoyed every minute...could not put the book down!
I could not put the first book down. I enjoyed all the characters and looked forward to each adventure. I ran through all 12 books in record time. If you are real serious then don't get the book. But if you like to read books that try to show the book of Revelations in a literal way and also explore the effects of the church being raptured then have fun. People have been talking about the rapture for years...and we are still here...so don't go selling all you have or running up the credit cards just yet. the books did help me more with having faith and about praying more. The Left Behind Series also made me get the Holy Bible out and read it more. In both cases that ends up being a good thing.
Rating - There's a reason this is soooo bad
Both Lahaye and Jenkins are primarily non-fiction writers.
It is very difficult for a non-fiction writer to write fiction well. I have never seen it done well. You either end up with fiction and non that are superficial and bland (ala Asimov and Clarke) or non-fiction that is reasonable but fiction that is boring and uninteresting (ala Buckley or Steve Allen). These men join that list, though I would say their non-fiction works are equally dreary.
It's because fiction is an art, non-fiction is not. It's the difference between framing a house or doing the intricate finish work. They both deal with wood-working, but one is production, the other is (or can be) an art. It is much more difficult for the framer to do the finish work if he's never done it before, much easier the other way around. And having read some of Jenkins and LeHaye's non-fiction, it is easy to see why their novels fall so far short.
The success of this book--nay, the entire series--is no surprise. Christians don't read generally read fiction, and the fiction that is published as "Christian fiction" has been so hideously bad (except for the old standby's, Tolkein and Lewis) that when a Christian does read a novel it becomes, by default, the best thing they've ever read. It's like showing a man who grew up on a desert island any Adam Sandler movie. It will be, again, by default, the best movie he's ever seen. After viewing a few more films his taste must change. (If not, death must be considered.) The dilemma of the Christian concerning fiction is in finding something of quality that is not worldly. Since writers of any worth don't want to be stuck in the box of Christian fiction (from which no man escapes), good writers don't flock to that genre. Therefore, quality remains low.
Christian writers of today can't write about realistic characters because they have either: a) have shut themselves off in a "spiritual" bubble from the rest of the world, or b) they feel that writing realistically about the world makes one "worldly." There is a balance, and it isn't hard to reach. But this book (and the entire series, as much as I could stomach reading) is below mediocre, i.e., in the forefront of Christian fiction.
(A personal aside: I have met both of these men and they are personable and accessible. And my or anyone else's criticism will not affect their paychecks one iota. Still, creating a novel of quality is well beyond their combined talents.)
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