King, Warrior, Magician, Lover is a great book.
Personally, what I've found most interesting was the picturing of how men can manifest the archetype's energies in infantile manners. It's also very interesting how it maps the archetypes with certain myths and religions. Personally, I like the "all the different theories fit together" feeling it gives.
I would not say that this is a self-help book. But in times where children raising is so poor, the book plays its part in helping men become more mature. And that is very, very valuable.
That's it. Sorry for my bad english.

This concise book is an excellent introduction to the four subsequent books that the co-authors published about each of these four archetypes (structures) in the human psyche. These four archetypes are centers of energy in the human psyche that we all need to learn to draw on. The authors use strikingly colorful language to characterize the various patterns of behavior that they detail, which resemble Theodore Millon's account of dependent, independent, ambivalent, and detached personalities.

In such a slim volume, the authors did a splendid job of introducing the reader to their 4 male archetypes. They concisely describe these archetypes and provide some arguments for their theory and some applications of their findings. Moore is a Jungian psychologist and Gillette is a mythologist. It's an interesting and fertile collaboration of specialties. But, they simply cannot do justice to the 4 archetypes in one, tiny, volume. Thus, they wrote and published a volume on each of the 4 archetypes (5 books in all). Therefore, I'd consider this an introductory volume or prequel (a bit like the Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings trilogy). It's good in its own right, but better viewed as part of a much larger work. This larger work rates at least 5 stars. By the way, Dr. Moore has also produced numerous audio tapes for the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago (I'm a life member) which you can buy (or rent if you join). He's a great speaker. In addition to listening to the tapes, I've heard him in person when he came to Maryland. Great drawl!

I have no background in psychology, I am a tradesman. I read KWML about 6 months ago and found it to be the 'how-to' guide to repair and rebuild following a devastating personal loss. The four mature archetypes and their attendant immature 'shadows' were highly illustrative to me. The benevolent King, the courageous and disciplined Warrior, capable and knowledgable Magician, and the connected and loyal Lover all have their place, while the immature archetypes provide a guide for what really needs repair within the psyche. Moore is right: there are a lot of us who are still little boys in many ways. I regard this book quite highly, and will re-read it again after I recover it from the last person I lent it to.. This is one of the pivotal books of my life. It has its flaws, and could be twice its length, and still leave the reader wanting further study. I highly recommend it.