The Warlock in Spite of Himself

I volunteer at a secondhand bookstore where we get a lot of volumes from this series, so I figured I'd see what it was all about. The set up, I thought, was very clever: we have a sci-fi setting (robot sidekick, space travel) blended with a lost colony of medieval enthusiasts (sounded basically like a Ren Faire, haha). So the inhabitants of the colony have now forgotten all about the advanced technology they left behind, and now the adventuring astronaut (our main character) and his knowledge come across as magical to them. Hence, warlock. :)

Overall, I liked the setting, which allows the author to play with lots of medieval references. The narration, too, was amusing, often tongue-in-cheek. The portrayal of the female characters doesn't hold up with what I would expect from a book written today; there are two active women in the story, and they fall into very distinct, rather pejorative roles. One's motivation is attributed simply to her unlikable arrogance, and the other's motivation is that she fell in love with the hero . . . for reasons that aren't entirely clear (to a female reader). Descriptions of all women are a bit single-minded. That said–it's a fantasy adventure written decades ago. So, grains of salt must be taken with character portrayals.

The plot is very active and political, and ends up with several character reveals, etc. It was intriguing, definitely, and came together satisfactorily–though occasionally our main character would hash out a new development with his robot just a little too repetitively (leaving me thinking, ‘Yes, but didn't we already know that?'). It ended up being pretty easy to follow, which is good because I don't have much of a head for drama. ;) A couple of explanations came rather suddenly at the end of the story, including one I particularly liked about witches and why everyone was interested in the colony in the first place. But, as a primarily mystery reader these days, perhaps I've become picky about my reveals. :)

Overall, I enjoyed the story and its twists, especially for the creative world-building. If you're into funny, clever fantasy–and especially if you're familiar with that sort of classic, swashbuckling hero adventure from decades past–you'll probably have fun reading it.