King Kobold Revived

Warlock #2

by Christopher Stasheff

Completely revised by the author...the new second book in his warlock Series.

Here's Gramarye, a gentle planet where, in the Thirty-first Century, people choose the life-style of medieval England; except they're prejudiced against and persecute their witches and warlocks (espers, naturally).

Rod Gallowglass (dubbed High Warlock in spite of himself) is stationed there as an agent of the intergalactic DDT--Decentralized democratic Tribunal--to protect the precious esper colony from its primitive fellow Gramaryans, and to insure a gradual integration.

This already whacky society is stirred up with a batch of paranoid esper Neanderthals led by the strane King Kobold, brought in by alien futurians to destroy those espers so vital to DDT's future.

When this unhealthy mess starts brewing, our warlock-cum-everyman is the one to watch.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Humor, Magic, Ebooks

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

The late Christopher Stasheff was an American science fiction and fantasy author. When teaching proved too real, he gave it up in favor of writing full-time. Stasheff was noted for his blending of science fiction and fantasy, as seen in his Warlock series. He spent his early childhood in Mount Vernon, New York, but spent the rest of his formative years in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Stasheff taught at the University of Eastern New Mexico in Portales, before retiring to Champaign, Illinois, in 2009. He had a wife and four children.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a re-write of an earlier novel from 1971, King Kobold, and is the second book in Stasheff's series about Rod Gallowglass, the Warlock-In-Spite-of-Himself. (Though there's some confusion and debate about the numbering.) Rod is an interstellar agent sent to a medieval planet to protect telepathic natives, one of whom he marries, and as the series progresses they have four children and we see them grow and go on to have families and adventures of their own. It's one of the best science-fantasy series of its time, and one of the best family-values series the field ever produced. Some of the Cold War political themes are a bit dated, but they're delightful moral fables with realistic family dynamic tensions and considerable humor. Good stuff!

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have actually read both versions of this book--I found the 1st version more in tune with the tone of The Warlock in Spite of Himself, and Revived closer to that of the rest of the series. His editing was a little spotty, but reading the 1st version will also explain a couple other things, such as what Brom was doing in Beastland, even though Galen is mentioned in Warlock Unlocked.

Either way, not his best work, though Baby Magnus is awfully cute!

[Aaron]

I enjoyed this whole series a lot when I was a teen, but I wasn't in the mood for it just now, so I quit about halfway through.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sci Fi and fantasy are my two favourite genres, so when I was given the opportunity to get this little set of books from a friend I jumped at the chance.

The thing is that the story is ….dated. I know these things were raised int he 1960s, and this one was even rewritten, but you can pretty much guess how things are going to work out. Yes, there are a few surprises, but the central joke of Rob being a warlock kind of wore itself out in the first book, and quite why no-one’s guessed there is something suspiciously electronic about Fess by now I just don’t know. I mean all those witches and magicians bouncing around, with ESP, telekinesis, teleportation, and sundry other bits of “magic” and yet still no-one’s suspected the horse to be anything other than a horse.

So. Yes you have elves and various magical races, but the story this time lacked the charm and intrigue of the first book and simply revolves around an invasion of ‘cavemen’ who have paralytic properties who are defeated by Rod and friends gathering up the some of the ancient magic users. The denouement is an unsubtle criticism of genetic research and modification on animals.

Bottom line: I’ve got the rest of the books to read but I think I’ll put them on hold for a while whilst I consume the small pile I’ve been gathering from the independent book shops in Dulverton and Sherborne.

[Stuart Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is much more like it. So much better than the first two books in the series, and I credit this to the rewriting of same by the author in the 80’s after letting it sit in the old form since 1971. You can see that this story was well thought out, blending a combination of science with “magic”, particularly with the deductive reasoning of where and why the Neanderthals appeared on the main continent and brought war to the island. The plot moved in a fast paced linear fashion, the characters were better developed and the story used prior information from the past novels to appropriate advantage. Again I cannot emphasize enough that the author elegantly used scientific theory/principle to combine with the events which unfold in the novel to explain why the story moved from one issue to another. I sure hope the upcoming books in this series move just as fluidly. Onward!

[Emmalyn Renato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars rounded up to four. Science fantasy. This was the revised version that the author rewrote 13 years after it was first published because he and his publisher (and his fans) were not happy with the original. We are getting more of the back story and hidden truths are being exposed, with a lot of politics unerringly familiar to what the U.S. is going through at the moment. As I said with the previous book, "his humor reminds me of Robert Asprin, but his puns are gloriously awful". There are ten sequels and I still need to read the origin story (Escape Velocity). Sadly I think there are a lot of other books that will vie for my attention first.

[Tammy McGaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Missing pages

I had read this book years ago, so certain parts I really looked forward to reading again. Imagine my unpleasant surprise when at that very place, the page is blank. As if that weren't bad enough, several more pages were also blank...about one every two to three pages to the end of the book. If I am going to pay money for something I fully expect to get what I paid for.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole thing seemed trite. Despite deaths by the hundreds, the protagonist was unphased, maintaining his self-satisfaction at all times. In other words, there was a tonal clash with the subject matter. It wasn't helped that the big-bad time-traveling enemy was a no-show. They simply set things up and left the field.

This series has not aged well. I'd rate it as mid-grade fiction rather than young-adult. There's really nothing morally or intellectually challenging here.

[Al · Rating 2 out of 5]

(spoiler alert!) Somewhat farfetched story for this one and found it personally hard to read. Smart neanderthals that time traveled to a different planet and bred to have superpowers, kid from alternate dimension who found their exact copy of parent.... story pushes politics as well which for me is not what you would expect from a fantasy/sci fi book.

[James]

Gramarye is a forgotten colony of Earth, an abandoned planet of telepathic outlaws, where elves and witches are real, and the fantasies of the Middle Ages endure. Wizard Rod Gallowglass is the only one who can save Gramarye from doom--if he can rid himself of the insidious mental fog that drains his powers. Reissue.

[Susan Murdoch · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old book recrafted by the author. I enjoyed the tongue in cheek telling of the story. But you really should read the "Warlock in spite of himself" first.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Totally enjoyed reading this book 2 of a modern Yankee in King Tuan's Court. Not usually a fan of time travel, but this book is GOOD.

[Joseph Youren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in the Warlock series. Still fun although the cold war themes from the 60's doesn't shine in the one as well.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far more understandable now then when I first read it in junior high.

[Tim Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still a good book, but does feel a bit dated, even though it is the second incarnation of this novel.

[Mary Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of battle scenes that got old. However the universe building is interesting enough to keep me going.

[Fronk · Rating 3 out of 5]

☆3.5

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I picked up a stack of these Warlock books for $0.25 each at a local used book store (Zia Records on Thunderbird in Phoenix, AZ), mostly because they looked very Appendix-N-like, and because I needed some light reading. The series is goofier than I expected, but fun - the basic premise is that in a spacefaring future, a colony was founded on a distant world by a sort of SCA group that wanted to have a medieval society. The kinds of colonists who were attracted to this were mostly latest psionicists, and a few centuries of breeding from a population that self-selected (unknowingly!) for this trait in a medieval world bred "witches" and "warlocks" with uncanny "magical" powers (psi-powers). Worse, there is a native fungal life-form, which they dubbed "witch moss," which reacts to psi power by reshaping itself into other forms - the subconscious projections of a world of psi-wielders created fairies and monsters and such out of witch moss. So it is a complete fantasy world, a lost colony of humans in space . . . until Rod arrives on the planet. He represents a government agency tracking down lost colonies and trying to prevent them from being manipulated by shadowy enemy organizations. They - and he - realize that the concentrated psi-powers of this planet may be just what the democratic future of humanity in space needs - instant communications between worlds via telepathy! So Rod is safeguarding the world for humanity's future - but in the meantime, he needs to fit in, and uses his technology (including putting his ship's AI into a robotic horse body) disguised as an unknown form of magic to become the High Warlock. All is going well . . . until the island kingdom, the planet's only settlement, is attacked by Viking raiders from afar . . . who are Neanderthals?!?!? Something is very wrong here! And so it goes . . .

[Patrick Lemieux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many readers here, I've read both versions and actually preferred the original. I don't think it was nearly as flawed as its reputation makes it out to be. It's uneven in places and a touch slowly paced, perhaps, but there is a lot great stuff in it. The original is a valid entry in a series that was just getting on its feat.

"Revived" itself is also good and it's not often readers get two different, distinct versions of the same story, so fans will definitely want to read this version in addition to the original. It also provides some insight it how authors themselves can view their own, older works as imperfect and attempt to "fix" what they see as mistakes.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where I did indeed really enjoy this novel, it is not a great one. It does indeed suffer from several problems. The prominent being telling rather than showing. The action of the novel is skipped over through out which is somewhat annoying I would rather see Rod do these things than here about them after the fact. Yet the characters are still wonderful and charming especially rod and gwen's baby magnus. I plan to read the whole sereis but this one is more on the silly side of life.

[Matt Kruse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book shifts the series from soft sci-fi to soft fantasy. It's decent overall, but at least at this point it doesn't seem to quite know what it is - is it meant to be more serious, as the overall style seems to indicate, or more tongue in cheek, maybe not so far on that spectrum as the Discworld series, but along those lines, where you just need to ignore the anachronisms and occasionally weak logic?

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this one isn't Stasheff at his best, it's still a decent read if you've started the series.

** Please note that depending on where you find this book (which I believe is out of print atm) you can end up with a "different" book; the author was allowed to rewrite the book after the first edition went to print to work in some major edits to the text.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came back to me as I read it (30 years and a plethora of books intbe meantime are reason enough for a little literary amnesia), and I remembered enjoying it even as I enjoyed it this time. Very fun. Someday, I hope to run across a copy of the original...Stasheff says it's not the same story and I'm curious as to the differences.

Nice piece in the canon.

[Jenny Preston · Rating 1 out of 5]

As good as the rest of the series is, this book is terrible. I have no earthly idea what happened, but this book missed the mark. I had to practically bribe my husband to finish it and keep moving with the rest of the series instead of just giving up the Warlock. Do yourself a favor and skip to book 3.

[Đenis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do Gramarie vniknú neandertálci s paralýzou v pohľade. Rod sa musí s týmto problémom nejak vysporiadať a zistiť, kto je za to všetko zodpovedný. Samozrejme spolu s kráľom, kráľovnou, Bronom, čarodejníkmi a nakoniec aj so svojim dvojročným synom Magnusom. Prišlo mi to ako priemerná poviedka stretu renesancie a praveku, pričom obe strany vládnu esperickými schopnosťami.

[Ariana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm having a hard time putting my finger on why these books a so annoying to me, but I believe that it's the writing style. I really enjoyed the characters, and the plot is decent, but the delivery is rough. I think with a better editor I would enjoy this series much more.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually own both this version and the orignal. Each has its own charm. The revised version fits better into the timeline of the series while the original has more of the tone of the early books in the set.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this second book of the series the warlock, his wife and son must match wits against an army of boogeyman. Brought to Gramarye by future totalitarians to put a stop to its chance of developing democracy.

[MarsianMan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skimmed this because I did not like it as much his other books (even if it is a rewrite to make it better).

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting.