I’ve been a Maiden fan since 1980. I always loved the music, mostly the early stuff till the Somewhere in Time album I guess. I’ve seen the band here in NY almost every tour except the Blaze Bayley years. Since the bands been back together with the (Harris/Murray/Smith/Dickinson/McBrain/Gerrs)lineup. I bought and listened to those albums, as well as Ed Hunter. That said I thought the book was more about Steve Harris’ drive and focus and not about being an ass kissing fan book. I always wanted to know why Paul Dianno, Clive Burr, Dennis Stratton and Doug Samson all left the band, now I know. It was information like this that kept me reading. I read it through in 3 days. I couldn’t put it down. I am a huge Maiden/Priest fan and I would like to read a book similar to this on Judas Priest. If you know someone who is starting a band this would probably be a pretty good book to demonstrate how tough it can really be. That you really need a lot of luck and determination to make it.

What I like about this book is that it tells the story behind the band and their music, rather than being a groupie/drugs tales book (like Hammer of the Gods on Zeppelin, for example). I’ve been reading magazine articles, books, etc. on the band for about a decade and a half, and I learned a lot from this book, but little from anything I’ve read since! It gives a large amount of detail on band member backgrounds and the rise of the band - I think you’re about a third of the way through the book before he reaches the first album.
There are 2 reasons I don’t give it 5 stars. First of all, the book breezes through what I (and many others) consider the peak of the band, the four albums from Piece of Mind to Seventh Son, and the author under-rates these albums. I’ve never met a fan who considers anything Maiden have done since the 80’s as being as good as these albums, but the author considers the X Factor a masterpiece and Powerslave as full of filler! This is nonsense. Also, I think the book would be the better if it followed Bruce and Blaze’s solo work a little - I think Bruce’s albums in the 90’s (specifically the 2 with Adrian Smith) are as much Maiden as anything the band put out, and both singers put out excellent work after leaving Maiden that are probably mostly listened to by Maiden fans.
I have the first edition of this book (from 1998, I believe), but it has been updated with each new album by the band. I’ll probably pick up the next edition, if they update it for the new CD.