Rating: 
Summary: DANCES WITH WEREWOLVES? GONE WITH THE WOLF?
Review: A reviewer once called this book "the Great American Werewolf Novel." They were pretty much right on. Wildly imaginative, meticulously developed and grand in its scope, "Moon Dance" is unlike any other werewolf novel I've ever read. At times bordering on pure genius I have read only one or two others that rank with it ("Murcheston" by David Holland being the only one yet to exceed it.). The only weakness I can see is in the portions set in modern times. Those passages lack the romantic appeal of the Old West, where most of the story is told. Otherwise this book is darn near perfect. One warning however; I have recommended "Moon Dance" to several people but always with the provision that it is for the EXTREMELY strong in the stomache. The level of gore and general "R rated" material is strong even for this genre. If that doesn't prove too distracting (as it nearly did at times for me) you will find this to be one of the few truly great werewolf novels.
Rating:
Summary: DANCES WITH WEREWOLVES? GONE WITH THE WOLF?
Review: A reviewer once called this book "the Great American Werewolf Novel." They were pretty much right on. Wildly imaginative, meticulously developed and grand in its scope, "Moon Dance" is unlike any other werewolf novel I've ever read. At times bordering on pure genius I have read only one or two others that rank with it ("Murcheston" by David Holland being the only one yet to exceed it.). The only weakness I can see is in the portions set in modern times. Those passages lack the romantic appeal of the Old West, where most of the story is told. Otherwise this book is darn near perfect. One warning however; I have recommended "Moon Dance" to several people but always with the provision that it is for the EXTREMELY strong in the stomache. The level of gore and general "R rated" material is strong even for this genre. If that doesn't prove too distracting (as it nearly did at times for me) you will find this to be one of the few truly great werewolf novels.
Rating: 
Summary: over the top
Review: From the outset, I enjoyed the book. Historical fiction wrapped up in elements of the horror genre (or perhaps vice versa). By the third part of the book, I was tired of it all, and was reading it just to complete it. Although the decription "epic" is probably incorrect, Moon Dance is certainly comprehensive, but only because everything was taken past the point of 'useful' into the realm of 'repetitive'. The consistently brutal violence and visceral imagery techniques make compelling reading if used sparingly, but overused they sledgehammer the reader with the less essential elements of the story. There were a number of battles, though none were particularly interesting, and a volume of characters who were typically flat and uninvolved. Why is it there were there no Lakota characters from the Shungmanitu? I left the book with the impression that the Native Americans were enlightened saints, the pioneers largely perverse psychopaths.
Rating: 
Summary: Moon Makes Reader Wan
Review: I bought Moon Dance because some reviews I read were five-star. After reading several pages, it was obvious that those who gave this book five stars do not read much! After meeting a certain psychologist in Vienna early on I knew the remainder of the book was downhill. The author saturated the reader with as many 19th Century well-knowns as possible--one knows there're too many historical characters being served up when one runs into Chester Arthur (Who? I hear you say.)! The dialogue was stilted and the characters, even the werewolves, were one-dimensional. The author trivialized at every opportunity the characters, the plot and the theme. There was blood and violence galore and galore, and galore. Moon Dance was a horror novel all right--absolutely horrific to read. The author must have howled his way to the bank!
Rating: 
Summary: Ambitious, but flawed
Review: I had the highest of high hopes for this book, but was disappointed to see a bunch of Old West characters straight from Central Casting, including such worthies as the Snake Oil Salesman and the Town Drunk, each with their usual motivations. I must admit that I stalled about 2/3 or the way through it. Now I'm picking it back up again.Certainly, the scope of the story deserves a lot of credit; it's damned hard to orchestrate a sprawling, multiple-viewpoint novel, and Somtow made a valiant effort. I was really pulling for this story to move me as it has so many reviewers and readers, but when I began predicting what each of the characters would do, my interest waned. I would have liked a new vision of The West, but I just got the same old thing, only with werewolves. More effective were the "present-tense" events, which were claustrophobic and unsettling. However, the Old West sequences, which dominated the book, began to be hackneyed and predictable, which killed my interest.
Rating:
Summary: Werewolves? More like Poodle-beasts!
Review: I have read thousands of horror books and hundreds of "werewolf" novels in one fashion or another. But Moon Dance was by far and away the worst I have ever read. The only reason I ended up reading the entire book was to see if Somtow tied up his mass of loose threads. I will give him that,he did tie up most if not all of them. But getting to the end of that book was a feat indeed. I was never so pleased to be done with book as I was with Moon Dance. Thank god I had "the Relic" waiting for me to start.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but a little sad.
Review: I love werewolves, so I had to buy this book. It was a very interesting story, the more you read, the more you learned what was truley going on. But it was also some what sad, the way J.K.'s life turned out (but you knew it would turn out that way from the begining). I liked it, but there were some gramar erors, so it had bad editing.
Rating:
Summary: This novel sucks you in and takes you over....
Review: I loved this book - I've actually read it about 4 times now, each time you find detail you have previously missed. Somtow really created an atmospheric and chilling world, where the beast ruled and spirit had to fight for survival. This book quite graphically portrays the werewolves, down to their smell, transformation, thoughts and feelings. The Shungmanitu a race truly at one with nature, and the european werewolves ruined by civilisation... The historical detail and accuracy, and also the way the horrors of the native american conflict were brought across were compelling to read in a way that a car crash attracts a fascinated horror, we all know it happened, we all know it was horrible, we don't want to look - but we have to.
Rating: 
Summary: A very good werewolf novel
Review: If you are looking for a werewolf novel then definitely read this one. I am always looking for stories about werewolves, and I was glad to find this one. The fact that Somtow describes werewolf society is in itself interesting. However what really makes this story move along is how much he makes you feel for Johnny Kindred. This was a good novel, and a great werewolf story.
Rating:
Summary: A very good werewolf novel
Review: If you are looking for a werewolf novel then definitely read this one. I am always looking for stories about werewolves, and I was glad to find this one. The fact that Somtow describes werewolf society is in itself interesting. However what really makes this story move along is how much he makes you feel for Johnny Kindred. This was a good novel, and a great werewolf story.
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