The Warlock in Spite of Himself (Paperback)

As for the way women are depicted: the author seems to be in the same camp as Heinlein and other male '60's SF authors when it comes to female charactors who all seemed to be oversexed kittens in need of a firm male hand (and this includes the supposedly strong women!). There were only two main female charactors in the book and both are powerful- one a queen and the other the "most powerful witch in the world" (and the hero's romantic interest). And yet both are depicted as badly in need of a man in their lives. The queen is young- about 20- and she isn't a very good one- arrogant, willful, foolish and childish. The hero's solution? He recommends she be spanked by her suitor and at the end of the book arranges for her to marry a man whose wisdom she can defer to. The heroine, Gwendylon, is a more positive charactor who knows her own mind and persues the hero- apparently because she is sexually besotted with him. When the hero first meets her, he mistakes her for a peasant girl interested in a roll in the hay. He obliges and then leaves her, feeling guilty about using her and not wanting to give her false hope that there was any more to it than that: ". . for a woman lives on love, and this was a woman near thirty in a land where girls married at fifteen. She had already accepted that there was to be no lasting love in her life; she must subsist on the few crumbs she could gather". Later, after she has reappeared in his life and shown herself to be intrepid, he marvels at how unusually brave she is for a woman (and this guy is supposed to be from an advanced society!).

I have to reiterate: other than the above type passages that had me snorting and rolling my eyes, the book as a whole is a real hoot and great fun. I didn't sense the Catholic agenda others mentioned but the author does seem to have an interest in comparing political systems. This doesn't get in the way of the story though. I will probably look for the next book in the series.

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You have to get past some of the cutesy acronyms in the first part of the book - and some of the characters are a little 2-dimensional. However, this is an enjoyable ride and excellent for what it is. The character of Gwen, in particular, is such a treat.

I read a number of the other Warlock series, but none had the whimsy and magic of this first book. Too bad, because we need more like this. It somewhat reminds me of Heinlein in his "Glory Days" and "Starman Jones" period. Written as juvenile fiction, but fun for adult kids-at-heart.

I'm going to have to buy a new copy - mine is over 30 years old and falling apart from being read so much.

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