Rating: 
Summary: Fun horror from King without a trace of self-importance
Review: Divided up into basically twelve short stories all dealing with a werewolf in a small Maine town, Cycle of the Werewolf is more of a mood piece that a novel but its still an entertaining read. Because of the structure -- each month giving us a new victim to meet and quickly bid a fond farewell -- this book doesn't contain the in-depth characterization that most King fans expect from the writer and, as a result, the supernatural threat never becomes personalized for the reader. Its a book that manages to cast a gloomy pall without actually achieving any real horror. That said, Cycle of the Werewolf is still a quick and fun read, especially if you're a fan of the whole werewolf legend. King's prose is quite strong here and, if you're like me and a part of the minority of readers who actually think King's book have gotten a bit excessive and self-important as of late, this book serves as a good reminder that before he became STEPHEN KING, GREAT WRITER AND SELF-STYLED LITERARY ICON, he was just a goofy guy who wanted to scare people. In this book, King comes across as an overly earnest summer camp counselor trying to tell a creepy story in front of a campfire. Its a lot of fun and there's something to be said for that.
Rating: 
Summary: The Legend of the Werewolf, Stephen King's style!
Review: If you're a fan of werewolf stories you're gonna love this one! I bought this book after seeing Wolf, with Jack Nicholson. Not that this paperback has any relation with that movie, but it's just that after I saw the flick I really wanted to find other werewolf-themed books and videos and this was an excellent choice.
In this book King tells the story of Tarker Mills, a town in Maine where death looms every time there's a full moon in the sky. The master of suspense shows you how a typical January night becomes the start of a terrifying cycle...the Cycle of the Werewolf. This is a very short but exciting story (just 12 chapters of about 500 words each) so you don't have time to get bored, you will simply find it difficult to lay the book down. This isn't a King classic but it sure is entertaining and easy to read. Overall, I think this is a great Stephen King book that will keep you reading however, if you're a fan of the long, more complex and gore-filled King stories make another choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Hairy doings
Review: In the small Maine town of Tarker's Mills, on a snowy January night when the blizzard hides what would have been a full moon, a railwayman holed up in his cabin has his throat savagely ripped out. The same thing happens again on the night of the full moon in February, only this time the victim is a lonely spinster sighing over some valentines she sent to herself. And again in March, April, May... there's a monster afoot, but it's only Marty Coslaw, a small boy in a wheelchair, who first realizes it's a werewolf, and then guesses who it is. We guess, too, and Stephen King lets us know by the middle of the book just who it is. From that point, the book deals with how to stop the horror, as the months roll by and the bodies pile up on the night of each full moon. Most of the months are marked with special days in the calendar, and King tells us in a coda he realizes there is no way the lunar cycle could be skewed the way he tells it, but it in no way detracts from the fun. Copiously illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings and color plates by Bernie Wrightson, it's an enjoyable novella that can be read in an evening. Each little chapter is a story in itself, and together they make up a satisfying horror yarn.
Rating:
Summary: King's novella is okay but Wrightston's art is a lot better
Review: Actually the chief attraction of "Cycle of the Werewolf" for me is the artwork by Berni Wrightston more than the story by Stephen King. In fact, I like the black & white drawings by Wrightston more than the color plates (remember the stunning black & white line drawings he did for his illustrated version of Shelley's "Frankenstein"?). The story is set in the isolated Maine town of Tarker Mills where each month, starting with the first full moon in January, another victim is ripped to shreds. The key players are young Marty Coslaw, who is bound to his wheelchair, his Uncle Al, who has a fondness for fireworks, and the Reverend Lester Lowe, a guy who just screams "I have a deep dark secret! Ask me what it is!" Each month another person gets savagely killed and Marty is having a hard time convincing anybody else in town that a werewolf is doing the killing. That means that young Marty is going to have to have to be the one that lays the trap to catch the werewolf. "Cycle of the Werewolf" was originally conceived of as a story-calendar, and ended up as this beautifully illustrated 12-chapter novella. King plays around with the lunar cycle so that it came on the day that marks certain months (e.g, Valentine's Day, Fourth of July), but that is a legitimate conceit in a story that is about werewolves, even if it does mean the werewolf will not be caught until December. Although it was conceived of as a short work and the main character is a 10-year-old boy, King's description of the werewolf attacks is violent enough to convince me this one is not especially intended for kiddies. Then there are Wrightston's color plates. A cop getting his face ripped off by a werewolf and disemboweled pigs lying in the rain are not usually children's fare either. However, by King standards this is a cute little story, stripped down to the essentials and forgoing the elaborate character backgrounds and sundry subplots that bloated so many of his novels. Besides, in case you have forgotten, there are the illustrations (what fan of horror literature would not want a calendar of Berni Wrightston's artwork?)
Rating:
Summary: King for Kids
Review: I had not heard of this short novel before seeing it on the shelf one day. I at first thought it must be by one of those authors with the same name as famous author Stephen King but no it is actually by the same man who wrote Carrie, Christine, It and other classics. This is also the first Stephen King book I have found which also has pictures. It is sort of like a children's book written by Stephen King although it is still a horror story. It is basically just a short story released on its own instead of as a collection together with other stories. Cycle of the Werewolf is not his greatest short story ever written. That title would have to go to The Mist, Autopsy Room Four, Riding the Bullet or Trucks but this story is better than a lot of his other sort stories and the illustrations are brilliant. This would be an excellent novel for either kids who are moving up from junior fiction or for your self to read as an adult.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent short story...
Review: King does a superb job at composing a scary yet fun short story about a werewolf who attacks once a month when the moon is full. King isn't trying to allude to anything and isn't tryiny to make any deep comments about society he is simply, with this story, writing to entertain, and he does it with vigor. The story is easily read and enjoyable all the way through, check it out! By the way the illustrations are excellent and bring the story to life before your very eyes!
Rating:
Summary: Perfect King Primer
Review: This novel, or novella is an excellent introduction to Stephen King. It stays pretty true to Silver Bullet the movie based on it, or it was based on I forget which came first in this case. The book is quite short, so those that criticize King of having a propensity of being a ilttle verboise at times have no ammo in this case. Yet every word is vintage King, his language and style shines through clearly in this tale abaout a werewolve terrorizing the typical small town. I recommend this book as an introduction to King because its short and I find it has everything that has become his trademark over his literary career, just in little less quantity than some of his other works. Cycle Of The Werewolf I would say is the appetizer to whet the readers' appetite for Mr. King's literary smorgasboard of fiction. As an added bonus there are beautiful black and white and colour illustrations throughout story by Berni Wrightson.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best Stephen King book
Review: This wasn't the best Stephen King book. It was a good book, but I thought it should be a short story or something. It was very gory too. The pictures show it. Not a book for the younger kids. I brought it to school and kids looked at the pictures and said they wouldn't eat for a week. Overall the plot was good and it had a good ending. I havn't seen the movie "Silver Bullit" which is based on the book, but I want to. Just to see what it is like.
Rating: 
Summary: lacks a plot
Review: this is the story about a werewolf haunting someplace. it's one episode for each month. some of the descriptions are quite good. but how many werewolf episodes do we need? to be SK this is amazingly little plot-oriented. it is obviously written just for fun (or money). the way it is done, makes you lose interest. no reason to bother with psychology, not much of a plot to grab your attention, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Not the Best, But...
Review: Although this is one of King's less ingenious novels, it is still entertaining. This novel is proof of King's love for old horror stories, especially the grotesque horror comics like "Tales from the Crypt" etc. Along with the artwork that is peppered through the book, King shows his loyalty to this genre of horror. I would not call this novel great, but I would call it fun, enjoyable to read, and still one of my favorites. I would say the same about the horror comics.
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