It's an ambitious undertaking to give a deep look at the Pacific theatre of World War II. McManus is giving himself room to complete the task. Here he has written an intense and thorough book covering the first two years of the Pacific War, but he's not done. He'll complete the endeavor in a second volume. Even so, it is a long book and almost too detailed to be absorbed. Caveats aside, it actually reads fairly easily. I like the author’s inclusion of different points of view, aspects of military history (who knew that MacArthur was almost a recreation of George McClellan of the American Civil War in their pursuit over personal glory), and I especially liked his placing of military tactics then in relation to later efforts in Korea and Vietnam—where it becomes all too evident, in so many ways, that Americans are not good at learning from history.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone into serious military history or just history in general—just be sure to block out the time needed to do it justice.