Hi Blake
I have HFE and Mastering EJB both with me. Both are very good. I would suggest that if you have a computer science background and
java experience then Mastering EJB might be better to start off.
HFE, as you notice, is meant for certification so it has to deal with very minute details here and there hence sometimes you might feel lost and find yourself in too many objects (although it is written in such a way you would not feel this way but you may)
Mastering EJB would give you architectural idea about EJBs and once you think you can handle more fine grain details then you can read HFE.
Also, to me, I had to get in the mode of reading HFE as I am not used to read books written with that ideology. You know the person's pictures and handwriting like text in some place and all
But in a day I got used to it and now I think that it is clearing points very acurately.
In the end, you might have to read each of them more than once
I have read Mastering EJB 3 times so far at different point of times and now I am reading HFE...
So, you can buy HFE while using online PDF of Mastering EJB if you want both.
Well, this is just my opinion on the saturday night with sleepy eyes.
Regards
Maulin