"'Couldn't be just an ambitious nobleman trying to usurp the crown?'
"'Usurpation derives its support from the upper classes, Rod. No, this is a proletarian revolution - a prelude to a totalitarian government.'"
Christopher Stasheff was a Midwestern author known for blending science fiction and fantasy. This novel, The Warlock in Spite of Himself, is probably his best known work. It's also the first book in Stasheff's Warlock of Gramarye series, which consists of 12 books published between the late 60s and early 2000s. Stasheff passed away in 2018.
In the novel a star traveler representing a galaxy-spanning democracy visits the world of Gramarye, where a group of colonists have established a society modeled on the Middle Ages. This feudal community is ruled by the capricious Queen Catherine, a young woman new to the throne and her responsibilities as queen. Our star traveler, seeing in Catherine's troubled monarchy an opportunity to push Gramarye towards democracy, decides to intervene in local politics.
Given its date of publication, many of The Warlock in Spite of Himself's earliest readers drew parallels between the novel and American exploits in Vietnam. These parallels are, I think, a bit of a stretch. Yes, the novel's political underpinnings do invite some comparisons to American adventurism in Indochina, but The Warlock in Spite of Himself is a far from politically astute work. The politics at play in the book are more cosmetic, and concepts such as totalitarianism and democracy are treated in the most cursory fashion.
On balance I don't think this novel is any more timely than Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, a tale The Warlock in Spite of Himself much resembles. Both books involve a more "enlightened" protagonist transported into medieval times, both books involve this protagonist posing as a magician, and both books involve characters attempting to modernize medieval institutions. The main difference being that Twain's book is a work of satire, while The Warlock in Spite of Himself is offered with more of a straight face.
Then there's the misogyny, of which The Warlock in Spite of Himself has plenty. Sure, the protagonist overcomes some of his misogyny in the course of the novel, but there are still several troubling depictions of women and their ability to change (or even influence) events in this narrative, and this aspect of the novel will likely cause most readers to question the author's attitudes toward the female sex.
I wouldn't recommend this book. I found it hard to get through and less than convincing. It's not terrible, mind you, but I've read much better science fiction (and fantasy) from the same time period.
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