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Cycle of the Werewolf

by Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson (Illustrator)

3.51 of 5 stars 3.51 · rating details · 15,693 ratings · 336 reviews

The first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the fangs ripping at his throat. The next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her snug bedroom.

Now scenes of unbelieving horror come each time the full moon shines on the isolated Maine town of Tarker Mills. No one knows who will be attacked next. But one thing is sure.

When the

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Paperback, 128 pages

Published April 9th 1985 by signet books (first published 1983)

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May 07, 2012 Stefan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cycle of the Werewolf is a fun, quick read that can easily be finished in just a couple of hours. Each chapter is only a few pages long and covers the supposed moon cycle for one month in a year of terror. The story centers around a small New England town that is being terrorized by the savage and violent attacks of a werewolf. Each vignette centers on the werewolf's activity for the full moon of htat month. King acknowledges that he manipulated the fall of the full moon to fit his own scheme of...more

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Feb 11, 2011 wally rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: king

a short piece, w/illustrations. w/o the illustrations, i don't believe i'd have liked the story, as much. i enjoyed the way the story is set up, the mechanics of the piece, following a january to december time-line, a neato device...one that i've seen used elsewhere, say, michael perry's truck, a love story...one of those works that as gore vidal said in a somewhat-recent interview in paris review...how'd it go, that non-fiction writers are the...something something...the outcasts at ellis islan...more

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Mar 05, 2009 Jean rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it... I typically like stories from the werewolf's perspective and we only get a very little bit of that here. It's mainly a cast-of-characters mystery: each month a resident of a small town is brutally murdered. Point of view changes each chapter, merging the collective perspective of the town. Whodunnit? becomes a question as King hints that it is someone he's introduced us to. Each chapter has its own twist as King plays with the expectations of t...more

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May 25, 2008 jacky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, horror, adult-fiction

I have owned this book forever, so I don't know why I never read it before. It was only about 125 pages, but there are several illustrations and four pages with no text between each chapter. That made it easy to read in a morning.

I have never read a werewolf story before, so that was fun. I liked how the first several chapters all showed different characters and then about half way through things started to merge so the conflict could be resolved. Loved that Marty dressed as Yoda for Halloween...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars

Now that's what I call a werewolf. Forget teenage boys with chiseled abs of steel, THIS is what real werewolves are like in actual good stories. At 128 pages this book takes less than 20 minutes to read but it is better than 300 page novels full of fluff. Every entry is in the form of a month & tells of an attack by a werewolf in the small town of Tarker Mills, Maine where everyone is not only a potential victim but also a potential suspect as the massive killer beast runs rampant at every f...more

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Dec 02, 2008 Dustin rated it 2 of 5 stars

I admit it. I don't get this book. It's too short, very undeveloped, and basically feels like a quick afterthought. That said, the opening two chapters read almost like poetry, and the black & white illustrations are beautiful. The color illustrations don't seem to work as well, but the black & whites are amazing at evoking a time of year...beautiful. But as a book...I have no idea why it was written. It may have worked as a graphic novel with more illustrations to help tell the tale, bu...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Marley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cycle of the Werewolf is a short-story and not a full-length book (127 pages including illustrations and title pages). Stephen King has often written in short-story format before, but I've only read such works as part of other collections. It's an odd experience to read Stephen King without my fingers beginning to ache from the weight of one of his massive hardbacks awkwardly balanced in my hands.

This is a classic horror story--one year in a small town facing gruesome werewolf attacks--and Steph...more Cycle of the Werewolf is a short-story and not a full-length book (127 pages including illustrations and title pages). Stephen King has often written in short-story format before, but I've only read such works as part of other collections. It's an odd experience to read Stephen King without my fingers beginning to ache from the weight of one of his massive hardbacks awkwardly balanced in my hands.

This is a classic horror story--one year in a small town facing gruesome werewolf attacks--and Stephen King obviously excels in this genre. It's also classic Stephen King even in the non-werewolf scenes. His is a gritty world of lonely women, pompous old-timers, children-in-jeopardy, battered women, and mediocre average joes. It's a realistic if bleak setting that always makes the paranormal aspects of his stories seem all the more frightening. (Though I have to wonder if the Maine Tourist Bureau has ever calculated how much business he's cost them over the years.)

It's also notable, given current fiction trends, that King does not romanticize the notion of the werewolf beyond the sad February chapter. I wish I had more positive things to say about the story, but there are also a few not-so-glowing points that need to be made. The story is broken up into small chapters labelled after the months of the year and each chronicles in a few pages the events of that month's full moon, with several conveniently coinciding with holidays that twist the lunar cycle beyond the reader's ability to ignore.

King even includes an afterward acknowledging that he has taken literary license with the lunar calendar. He wants the readers to know that he does know better, but that "the temptation was simply too great to resist." His insistence on staging the action on exact holidays seems a bit cheap, and thus the flaunting of basic science unnecessary, since the general trappings of holidays can be evoked well before and after. Valentine's candy and cards go on sale before they've quite finished selling off the Christmas clearance rack. (view spoiler) It basically felt as if he wrote the story first, thought about the realities of the calendar as an afterthought, and then didn't want to bother fixing it.

I find myself wondering about the audience for this book. It's simplistic compared to much of King's other work and certainly a bit cleaner. (The man normally swears like a drunken sailor.) It's also illustrated and printed as a slim paperback. All of which give the impression that this was intended as a children's book. Which would make it a children's book about dismemberment and spousal abuse and chubby virgins with sad fantasy lives. My conclusion is that it's a children's horror story for children whose mothers think they're too young to read horror stories, which is a bit of an odd target market. And then I remember that King was a school teacher at one time and might very well have had a class of ninth graders in his head as he wrote this.

If I thought it was fair I would deduct a full star for the illustrations. That would be unfair to both the author and also to the illustrator, Berni Wrightson, who likely had no control over how the images were placed in the book. Whoever was responsible for the final editing did the readers a great disservice by often placing illustrations opposite or sometimes even a page ahead of the text that would reveal the plot twist already spoiled by the drawing. Each chapter begins with a moody black and white depiction of the season and these work well. Interspersed within the chapters though are garish color drawings in a retro-style that's halfway between comic book and Norman Rockwell on drugs.

Even if it weren't for the spoiler-aspect of the image placement, I'm not sure it adds much to include these illustrations when the reader's imagination could just as well fill in all the details. Although I will admit that the illustration on page 79 of (view spoiler) is pretty impressive and demonstrates a talent not seen in many of the other images, some of which look awkward and rushed. (A quick Internet search of Berni Wrightson will turn up dozens and dozens of better horror illustrations than what ended up in this book.)

(less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Nicholas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not a bad short story. I was thinking about halfway through that it would be a great thing to read to your kids as the Halloween season approaches, but there are some dicey moments and the ever present language issues one inevitably finds in King works. It's easy to see why this one is out of print. It's not stellar and very traditional. As far as werewolf stories go, it fades into the general cultural milieu of tall tales that have a million and one incarnations from generation to generation. T...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Looking for a great read, but you don't have a ton of time? Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf will take you away for only a few hours, while leaving you haunted. The short novel follows the moon cycle in the small town of Tarker's Mills. Every full moon, a horrifying murder is committed - too violent to be committed by any man. While most of the town remains in the dark as they are picked off one by one, a young boy discovers the murderer and his horrifying, secret: every full moon, his body...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Robyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. King manages to pack a decent sized punch into such a little package. On the one hand, it was pretty nice to see the author working with a sort of medium length format, he had no time for the digressions or endless flashbacks he tends to fall prey to. However, this left me with that "not full in the tummy" feeling.

I don't think I was unsatisfied simply because it was short, I've enjoyed plenty of the author's short fiction in the past, but because King had aimed himself at an interesting concep...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Christal rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very quick read and just plain fun. SK tells the story of a small New England town called Tarker Mills, hunted and in paralyzing denial about the werewolf that stalks each month with the full moon. It starts off in January when a townsman, stuck in a shack off the road by a raging blizzard, is attacked and killed. It then goes through each month's full moon, and the terror that slowly comes to pass for the citizens of Tarker Mills, and how one little boy ends it all.

It's SK, of course...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Carles Granados rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: terror

Yo lo leí en 1991, cuando tenía 18 años.
Ha pasado mucho tiempo desde entonces (con lo cual puede que lo que vaya a decir no se ajuste a lo que realmente consideré en su momento), pero si no recuerdo mal lo encontré justito principalmente porqué me costó asimilar que un libro de Stephen King solo tuviera 159 páginas (con letra grande y dibujos incluidos) y que no pasara de ser un mero relato juvenil más que una novela para adultos. Yo tambien era un crio aún, lo sé, pero ya me habia leido grande...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Andy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, illustrated

This isn't an easy book to track down and I've only seen a new copy once. I picked mine up second hand a few years ago but never got round to reading it. Originally devised as a Werewolf-themed calendar with a monthly illustration by Berni Wrightson, each month was supposed to be accompanied by a short vignette by Stephen King. He overwrote them (big surprise) and it was published as a limited hardcover.

So an illustrated Werewolf concept novel. Hmmm.

Each month tells a brief story, basically de...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty basic werewolf yarn, here. The people of Tarker's Mills find themselves menaced by a monthly moonlight marauder they all believe to be a random lunatic, but that the town's children increasingly suspect is an actual, in-the-flesh monster. Leave it to a young, wheelchair-bound boy to find out the truth and take matters into his own hands.

I'd often wondered why this was one of King's offerings where the movie ("Silver Bullet") so thoroughly outstripped its written counterpart. It certainly...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Skye rated it 3 of 5 stars

Yeah you know that movie depicting a different stage of life as a Buddhist monk (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring,) well Cycle of The Werewolf is ten times more exciting.I mean you’re following a werewolf not a monk for one. Each chapter takes place on a full moon of one month (usually some kind of holiday) comprising a whole year of werewolf attacks, and forming a single narrative. The small town of Tarker’s Mills, Maine doesn’t know what hit them. Is it a wolf? A man? A man in costume?...more Yeah you know that movie depicting a different stage of life as a Buddhist monk (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring,) well Cycle of The Werewolf is ten times more exciting.I mean you’re following a werewolf not a monk for one. Each chapter takes place on a full moon of one month (usually some kind of holiday) comprising a whole year of werewolf attacks, and forming a single narrative. The small town of Tarker’s Mills, Maine doesn’t know what hit them. Is it a wolf? A man? A man in costume? And the one eye witness is a kid, and no one wants to believe a story from a kid in this town despite their gut feelings.

What I love is that the protagonist, Marty Coslaw turns out to be a ten year old boy in a wheelchair that everyone seems to treat in a patronizing sort of way. He’s a paraplegic; he’s not dumb despite people treating him differently. Except for his Uncle Al who buys him fireworks for the Fourth of July when the town cancels their usual celebration. Up until then we had six months of deaths: a railroad employee, a seamstress, a drifter, a small kid etc. Up until July the plot was sort of boring to be honest, but everything changes in the later half.

In July Marty is able to take out one of the wolves eyes by throwing a packet of firecrackers in it’s face (how cool is that?) Fearing some retaliation Marty’s family sends him to Vermont for three months, and while he’s gone law enforcement ignore his deposition and the killings keep happening (really?! He just told you the killer is walking around with one freakin’ eye, and you choose to ignore that?) It gets really exciting in October, because when Marty returns and goes trick or treating he figures out who the werewolf is. And he is pretty courageous about it. Really, he seems like a boy on a mission. Unshakeable.
This is like the rated R version of Home Alone, I mean no one believes him so he takes matters into his own ten year old hands. I won’t spoil the ending by saying who the werewolf is but when he is human he has no memories of what he has done. Just evidence, a scratch here, a dream there…an eye blasted out all of a sudden.

The last six months of this story was when I began to notice the brilliance of Stephen King’s storytelling. It painted the story, and drew me in. Now that it wasn’t just following killings, but getting to the point of solving the problem, was it exciting. I didn’t like all the deaths (although I was happy when a man slut, wife beating, librarian got the axe,) but I like that it did have a happily ever after of sorts.(less)

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Mar 02, 2011 T.J. rated it 3 of 5 stars

While Short enough to read in an afternoon Cycle of the Werewolf was a good story. The story takes place with each month getting it's own chapter. Told from the day of the full moon in that month flashing back to the months previous events.

As far as the story line goes it's pretty much a classic werewolf story. A small town is hit by a string of grisly murders. The corpses showing up each morning following a full moon.

(view spoiler)...more

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Jan 06, 2011 Despina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, filmed-novels

Тази книга очаквах с голям интерес, нетърпение и копнеж. Още щом открехнах корицата, знаех че съм намерила точните думи, които описваха състоянието ми не само в онзи момент, но и сега, когато най-после намирам времето да я прочета - "...да задоволи ненаситния глад на читателите." Признавам, не съм чела всичко написано от Стивън Кинг и преценката ми за него като творец далеч не е най-добрата или правилната, която може да бъде дадена. И все пак не е една негова книга е привличала вниманието ми пре...more Тази книга очаквах с голям интерес, нетърпение и копнеж. Още щом открехнах корицата, знаех че съм намерила точните думи, които описваха състоянието ми не само в онзи момент, но и сега, когато най-после намирам времето да я прочета - "...да задоволи ненаситния глад на читателите." Признавам, не съм чела всичко написано от Стивън Кинг и преценката ми за него като творец далеч не е най-добрата или правилната, която може да бъде дадена. И все пак не е една негова книга е привличала вниманието ми през годините. Сигурна съм, че "Годината на върколака" няма да е последната. И ако в крайна сметка тази му творба не ме впечатли, то поне ще се насладя до безкрай на илюстрациите към нея.

P.S. Трябва да си призная, че "Годината на върколака" е доста по-различна от това, което съм свикнала да чета под знака на Кинг. Кратките като разкази глави ( поднесени като месеци от годината) ме накараха да се усмихвам. Не да се смея или надсмивам, и да си казвам колко просто и елемнтарно е всичко, а да се усмихвам от удоволствие, защото не само дългите описания, от които кожата ти настръхва и от които тръпнеш в напрежение, могат да бъдат главозамайващи. Кинг е автор, който може да те впечатли и ужаси както със страховитото, така и с лаконичните и кратки случки, които надничат от страниците на "Годината на върколака". Мога да говоря още много за тази книга. Сега, когато всичко е все още прясно и ясно в съзнанието ми, имам усещането, че съм способна да разнищя всяка сричка и запетая от историите, с които се сблъсках в книгата като читател. Те са тъжни, понякога страшни, но напълно "противоречиво" на жанра, са и изключително реалистични и изпълнени с човешки емоци.(less)

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May 03, 2010 chucklesthescot rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: YA,werewolf fans,short horror story fans

Shelves: fiction, horror

I liked this story and they made it into a good film version.A young boy in a wheelchair survives an attack by a werewolf who has been leaving a trail of bodies around town.With help from his sister,they decide to find out who is the monster and stop him.But telling the man that you know what he is just makes you the next target.
I've got this short story in a lovely graphic novel form and its a nice short read to look at.A good werewolf tale that would have been good in a longer novel form.

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Mar 06, 2009 Nick Wallace rated it 2 of 5 stars

Not all that interesting.

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Mar 09, 2013 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone, nobody, I'm rather indifferent

Recommended to Jason by: King's bibliography

I finally got this book, and now I officially have all of Stephen King's books (not counting the limited editions and kindle books). It was pretty hard to find, and I didn't find it in a store, but ended up ordering it online. I can understand why it's not in widespread circulation; it's not his greatest work. However, it also wasn't a time-waster either since so little time is needed to read it. I did it in an hour and a half or so, myself, and consider it time well spent.

The story is broken in...more I finally got this book, and now I officially have all of Stephen King's books (not counting the limited editions and kindle books). It was pretty hard to find, and I didn't find it in a store, but ended up ordering it online. I can understand why it's not in widespread circulation; it's not his greatest work. However, it also wasn't a time-waster either since so little time is needed to read it. I did it in an hour and a half or so, myself, and consider it time well spent.

The story is broken into twelve segments, one for each month when the moon is full. The moon in Maine (yes, believe it or not, this particular Stephen King story is set in Maine) follows its own lunar cycle, but King explains that in the afterword. He was aware of his error, but did it intentionally for creative license so he could make the full moon fall in line with a couple of holidays, so we can just stick that in our collective pipe and smoke it.

Each segment is a short story in and of itself. Some are 2 pages long; some may be as long as ten, at most. I figured out who the werewolf was rather early on, but that didn't detract from the enjoyment of the overall story.

One thing I enjoyed in this book was the pictures, even though some of them were placed in the story before the scene depicted, and thus gave away what was going to happen on the next page, usually a crucial plot element, so that was kind of sucky. However, the pictures were good, and definitely added to the enjoyment of the book. I don't think it would've been as cool with out them. There were also 12 woodcut pictures for each month that depicted a scene in the town: houses, trees, snow. Stuff like that. I was indifferent to those.

One thing I noticed in this story were some minor elements that were similar to some scenes or themes in It. Comparing those kinds of things in works by the same writer is a minor interest of mine. It's kind of like picking out continuity errors. It's just something I dig, and I was pleased to find a few.

Final thought: get this one from your library unless you're trying to get a complete Stephen King collection like myself. I also think anyone would be fine not having read it unless they, also like me, have a yen to strive for completeness in all things, such as reading everything King has written. I admit that's not a fantastic goal, but everyone needs goals, nonetheless, and that is one of mine, WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME???!!!(less)

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Mar 03, 2012 D.M. rated it 2 of 5 stars

There's no doubt that there are only two reasons I bought this book when it came out: Berni Wrightson's illustrations and the subject matter. In spite of a lifelong love of things horror, I've never been a fan of the so-called Master of Horror, Stephen King. This book goes a long way toward explaining why.
King sets up an interesting premise for a book: a tale of a werewolf, told in twelve chapters of one month each in a single year. And the story is interesting. The execution, however, leaves a...more

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Oct 04, 2011 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

For me, the Werewolf is quintessentially a creature of horror, and not an excuse for some pretty Native Americans to show off their overly developed pecs. They are the bestial side of humanity, the feral and unhindered darkness that dwells in all of us. It seemed appropriate then, that one of the reviews should be from, in my opinion, the quintessential horror writer – Stephen King.

Originally published in 1984, Cycle of the Werewolf is a short horror novel and uniquely features illustrations by...more For me, the Werewolf is quintessentially a creature of horror, and not an excuse for some pretty Native Americans to show off their overly developed pecs. They are the bestial side of humanity, the feral and unhindered darkness that dwells in all of us. It seemed appropriate then, that one of the reviews should be from, in my opinion, the quintessential horror writer – Stephen King.

Originally published in 1984, Cycle of the Werewolf is a short horror novel and uniquely features illustrations by renowned comic book artist Bernie Wrightson. The story is set in the small town of Tarker’s Mills, an isolated community in the state of Texas. Nah… I’m only kidding, it’s in Maine. C’mon … this is King after all.

The story spans a year in Tarker’s Mills, with each short chapter covering a single month. As each month goes by, the body count starts to rise and the murderer is inevitably called ‘The Full Moon Killer’.

The story centres around a young paraplegic called Marty Coslaw. As the town is gripped in fear, a curfew is placed and the Independence Day celebrations are cancelled. Marty is disappointed in missing out on the firework display, but he is consoled by a gift of fireworks from his slightly irresponsible Uncle. While he enjoys his festivities in secret that night, he is attacked by the werewolf and narrowly escapes after he injures his attacker in the eye.

He identifies the attacker to the authorities as a werewolf, and so his parents, believing he is in shock, send him away for the rest of the Summer. When he returns in the Autumn, while out trick-or-treating, he discovers one of the townsfolk missing an eye – sporting the same injury he had inflicted upon his attacker in the Summer.

Despite denials from the law enforcement, one aspect I found interesting about the book is that the townsfolk seem to quickly jump to the ‘werewolf’ conclusion, if only in whispers and quiet corners. This is why it is so brilliant that King continues to set his novels in Maine, a US state I also have a particular fondness for and fascination with. If this novel had been set in a sprawling metropolis, you would expect behavioural analysis talk from gritty cops over their coffee and donuts as they tracked down the latest in a long line of serial killers. Only in small town America is it believable that the fantastical is more readily accepted.

Each chapter is full of the colourful and descriptive narrative that you expect from a King story. King is an expert in characterisation and no one does it better in my opinion. In just a few pages, you get to know each and every victim in the final moments preceding their bloody demise. The early chapters focus on individual characters, but the story starts to merge, using multiple characters as the townsfolk start to unite in the common goal of finding the killer.

The overly critical amongst you (you know who you are) may spot that there are a few inconsistencies, but these are well documented. In early chapters, the werewolf is described as having yellow eyes, but later they are described as green. Also, when Constable Neary is killed in his truck, it is described as a Dodge truck, but a few paragraphs later it is described as a Ford pick-up. King himself makes a disclaimer at the back of the book, saying that he took artistic liberties over the frequency and timing of the full moon for the sake of the narrative.

For those of you who think they are not familiar with the story, you may know more than you think as it was made into the 1985 film Silver Bullet featuring Gary Busey and a young Corey Haim. The novel itself is a quick read, with only 127 pages (including the artwork) and it is definitely doable in one session.

The only real criticism I have about this book is that the story is perhaps a little underdeveloped and I would have much preferred a full length novel. However, I recently found out that this book was originally intended to be a Calendar, featuring Wrightson’s artwork and a small vignette from King. Finding this too restrictive, King elaborated on the story slightly until it became the short novel we know today. If you haven’t read the book – grab yourself a second hand copy, you won’t be disappointed.(less)

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May 02, 2010 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: stephen-king, fantasy, horror, library, 2010, reviewed, challenge-1010

I saw this at the library yesterday and snagged it, so excited to read it! I actually liked it very much, simply because it is so different from the usual King offering - lengthy, intricately described works of brilliance. Not to say that this wasn't brilliant, or up to par, it was just different. Like comparing a golf ball to a ping pong ball. Yeah, they are both small, round, usually white balls that are used in sport, but other than that, they are not really similar to each other at all.

From...more I saw this at the library yesterday and snagged it, so excited to read it! I actually liked it very much, simply because it is so different from the usual King offering - lengthy, intricately described works of brilliance. Not to say that this wasn't brilliant, or up to par, it was just different. Like comparing a golf ball to a ping pong ball. Yeah, they are both small, round, usually white balls that are used in sport, but other than that, they are not really similar to each other at all.

From what I understand, this book was originally intended as a calendar, with each month telling a little bit more of the story. I read it in book form, and unlike a friend of mine did NOT wait for each month to actually read that month's story. I don't think that I could have done that even if I had had the actual calendar. I skip ahead with those Page-A-Day calendars, so a monthly story by King would never stand a chance. I have no willpower. *sigh*

Anyway, getting back to the story itself, I really enjoyed it. I feel like it might have been a little bit of a test for King to write something so short. He is used to writing short stories of course, but this is a bit different. Each month from January to August, we meet a different resident of Tarker's Mills, and learn about their run-in with the werewolf that has been stalking the town. Each story is only 2-3 pages long, and in my opinion, does a really good job of characterization, while still moving the story along at a pretty good pace. The writing is much simpler than I'm used to with King, out of necessity, but he still manages to get his point across and make me feel like I knew these people, even though many of them only live for about a page.

I really liked the artwork here as well. Bernie Wrightson does a great job of bringing King's words to life. There are pen and ink "month" drawings, which represent the month for each story, then there is a color story panel depicting a scene from each month's chapter, and then at the end, there is a little ink sketch which kind of sums up the chapter, and is generally a forgotten or cast aside "leaving" of one of the characters.

I did notice that there were a few typos and errors here, which brought this down from 4 stars to 3. I also wished that there was just a little bit more to the story, especially in regards to the origins of the werewolf. But all in all, I really liked it. :)(less)

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Feb 27, 2009 Linda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Unfortunately the story begins to be exciting after reading half the book ... Worth it anyway

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Dec 18, 2012 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: stephen-king, zombies-vampires-and-other-scary

This is how werewolves are meant to be.

Deadly, rip-out-your-throat beasts that have no recollection of being human. Their human counterpart doesn't remember violently taking the lives of the innocent, with only bruises and scratches making them suspicious of the beast they are.

None of this high school sweetheart turned fuzzy lap dog. No love triangles, vampires, or sexy Native Americans.

Nope. Terror, blood, violence. Of course Stephen King would get it right.

"There is another shattering roar...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Samantha rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ya había leído una edición en inglés previamente con ilustraciones a color, y tuve la oportunidad de adquirir esta edición en español.
Es un libro bastante sencillito, fácil y rápido de leer, y se lee un Stephen King más simple, menos elaborado y no está tan atemorizante como otros de sus posteriores libros.

Eso si, no decepcionan sus brillantes y bastas descripciones.

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Apr 08, 2013 Emery rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, read-in-2013, mystery

When I was a child, the monster I feared most was the werewolf. To me, this was an irrational fear, because I'd never really seen any werewolf movies, or been exposed to any werewolf stories. Yet I can still close my eyes and imagine being approached by the silhouette of a hulking wolf-like figure standing on his hind legs, it's details shrouded in shadow, the light shining through the edges of its matted fur, and hearing a low guttural growl and knowing it's maw is full of gnashing teeth coated...more When I was a child, the monster I feared most was the werewolf. To me, this was an irrational fear, because I'd never really seen any werewolf movies, or been exposed to any werewolf stories. Yet I can still close my eyes and imagine being approached by the silhouette of a hulking wolf-like figure standing on his hind legs, it's details shrouded in shadow, the light shining through the edges of its matted fur, and hearing a low guttural growl and knowing it's maw is full of gnashing teeth coated with thick drool pouring over it's chin.

My imagination as a child was horrifying. It still is, sometimes.

As I've gotten older, the werewolf mythos has gained interest in me, after viewing the classic Lon Cheney Jr. film and the excellent An American Werewolf In London, and also learning about some of the folk lore behind the horrors. I enjoy the symbolism of the duality of man, with the dark side overcoming the better half and reigning terror or those around them, much like the Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde story. It all works for me.

And yet I haven't found a werewolf book that works for me yet. They all fall short. To be fair, I haven't read many, but the ones I've tried to read just haven't really clicked yet.

I was hoping Stephen King, whom I really enjoy, could change this. And again, I was disappointed.

This book interesting take on the 'Whodunnit?' genre. I enjoyed the once-a-month formatting of the chapters, the illustrations aren't bad (more on that in a minute), and I like the small town setting. But it just doesn't all mesh.

I read Stephen King because he does a few things very well: he makes his characters believable, he is great at world building, and his dialogue is usually spot-on. He does have his faults as a writer when it comes to plotting, but his earlier books aren't as low-brow as many nay-sayers like to try to convey.

That said, the points about that I like about King are absent here. I know this is designed as a very small novella, but there is a fun plot here and an interesting setting and characters that could have been expounded upon for at least a hundred more pages. The only recurring characters get about three chapters at most. What's there to root for, a shadow of a character? It just needs more depth.

The illustrations are a positive and a negative, here. They add an interesting charm to the book, and the illustrator is very talented. I enjoyed the black and white illustrations for the Month/chapter headings, they are fantastic and really elicit the moods for each season. But the problem the color illustrations have is the formatting. After two chapters, I know a character is going to die each month, but before the story tells me who or how, there's a picture showing me exactly what happens. This wouldn't detract too much if it were an action novel, but this book is trying to be a mystery. And when an illustration shows you who the werewolf is several pages before it's even close to being revealed, you have a problem. It's like shooting yourself in the foot.

I picked this book while I was studying for a test and didn't have time to devout to a full novel. I wanted something light and fun. It filled that need, and it was fun. I just feel like it could have been more.(less)

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Nov 25, 2008 James Witherspoon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jen warned me to prepare for disappointment, so I did, but I wasn't disappointed at all really. It's a short story, that is mostly about different people getting killed by a werewolf. It's very straightforward and simple, but I liked it okay. It's not fantastic, or new, by any means, but it's still pretty enjoyable. The pictures in it were really good too.

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Jun 19, 2012 Tah the Trickster rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lycanthropic-library

All in all, an excellent snack for the werewolf-hungry.
Being that it is a novella rather than a full-sized novel, it is rather short. I finished my copy in approximately an hour. However, that was easily one of the better hours I've spent on a book.
It was an hour full not of the sappy romances and angsting werewolves as most newer werewolf novels are, but full of werewolf carnage and panicked townsfolk.
The novella was a bloody, gruesome, foreboding little book, a tale which was compounded by the...more

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Sep 06, 2009 Jonah Tarmu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-reading-09

Cycle of the Werewolf,was a mystery/ phantasy book.

Its about a reverend man who is a werewolf and doesn't realize it till about the middle of the book and thats about the 6 month. they did the book in 12 months because each month was another werewolf attack because the reverend would turn to a werewolf on the full moon.

each month someone died a different way. it depended on what they were doing. only on the last month did the werewolf from a silver bullet. The bullet was shot by the one person...more

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About Stephen King

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.(less)

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Quotes from Cycle of the Werewolf

“To those readers who feel that I didn't know any better, I assert that I did ... but the temptation was simply too great to resist.” — 3 people liked it

“There is nothing of God or Light in that heartless sound - it is all black winter and dark ice.” — 2 people liked it

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