The Warlock in Spite of Himself

Warlock of Gramarye, Book 1

By: Christopher Stasheff

Narrated by: Dennis F. Regan

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to Gramayre - where witches, warlocks, elves, and gnomes are real; where a spoiled girl-queen and an army of teenage witches, and ragtag beggars battle an overwhelming force of rebel knights and time-travelling anarchists for the future of the most unique, and perhaps most important, planet in the galaxy.

This is what cynical, hard-bitten, intergalactic spy Rod Gallowglass faces when he and his robot horse, Fess, try to bring peace and democracy to this magic-ridden Renaissance-age society. Rod's mission is threatened at every turn by anarchists, communists, and double-dealing royalists playing vicious political power games. Things are made even worse when Rod's advanced technology gets him labeled a warlock despite his constant denials. Help comes from the most unexpected sources when he meets an ancient ghost, the King of the Elves, and the most powerful witch on the planet.

This classic science-fantasy novel has been completely remixed to address issues with uneven volume some readers have experienced.

Gramayre comes to life in 11 hours of dramatic sword-and-sorcery, featuring well-known narrator Dennis Regan and a full cast.

©1969 Christopher Stasheff (P)2012 Geoffrey T. Williams

A classic of science fantasy, expertly performed!

... staged & read to come alive with all the excitement of a classic radio drama.

Wizard has arrived!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I read this book when I was in high school. I enjoyed it very much. Since I love to read, I kept a look out for Mr. Stasheff's books. I accidentally found this book while browsing. I liked the way a little drama was done. The time I spent listening to this book and the many, many others is time well spent. Depending what I listen too, I can relax, turn my mind off, plan things, and more.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I have lived Sci & Fantasy since I discovered them in the 6th grade. This author is one who has reenforced my decision. Fess the artificial intelligent brain disguised as a horse was my favorite character.

Which character – as performed by Dennis F. Regan – was your favorite?

Fess, the artificial intelligent brain is my favorite.

Was The Warlock in Spite of Himself worth the listening time?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I hope to see more of this author's books audio.

when science fiction meets fantasy.

even after the third time going through this book series and listen to it this time around, I still love the series. A very fun book to listen to , just wish I could find the rest of the series in audio format!

Great book, Great narrarator but with a warning.

Would you listen to The Warlock in Spite of Himself again? Why?

yes, I read this originally as a child and it was great to revisit the series.

What other book might you compare The Warlock in Spite of Himself to and why?

They don't write sci-fi like this much anymore. I might put some of Harry harrison's stainless steel rat series as the closest to this series.

What does Dennis F. Regan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He does a great job with the voices and helps bring the characters to light. Like much of the sci-fi of its time the story is more concept driven than character driven. The characters aren't terribly well developed and the narrarator does a great job of fleshing them aout with his voice acting.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes.

Any additional comments?

The warning I mentioned is that this is the first in a very long series of books. It seems they only made the first one into an audiobook. So, if you only want audio format you are out of luck. the good news is that this is a very old series and you can get it for free at just about any local library.

I had some issues with the acting and mixing

Unfortunately I felt that the accents used sometimes kept me from being able to make out the words the actor was attempting to say. The canned sound effects also were tedious to me.

A Classic, well executed.

As I said, the story is a classic. the voice acting is good. production values are sometimes sketchy, but that's minor in my mind.

Fun

Well done, I hope for more from this group. cast was great, story was good hope for more.

Hard to listen to

I've loved this story for years. I almost couldn't make it all the way through because of all the background sounds. especially when certain voices are engineered to be quieter than normal (Fess for instance).

Production: disappointing Story: good

What did you like best about The Warlock in Spite of Himself? What did you like least?

The production of this audiobook was awful. The narrator was so much louder than some of the character voices that I had to adjust the volume. In some places the sound effects were so loud that I couldn't understand the dialog and some of the voices were so over done that, once again they were not understandable. A straight reading of the story would have been an improvement.

I did enjoy the story. It was not great literature but it was entertaining, the parts I could hear.

The start of a great series

Where does The Warlock in Spite of Himself rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Somewhere in the top third of my collection.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Fess, Always there and by Rod's side.

What does Dennis F. Regan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Not to much. I tend to have a very active imitation, I did not like on some of his character's voices his voice dropped to where I could barley hear him.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Sword's, Sorcery , and Science???