You know how when you read a book, you wonder about the motivations of the writer? How did they get that idea, and why did they run with it? Better yet, how in the world did that publisher know that idea would sell?

Honestly, the less easily I can answer those questions, the better. When I read authors like Lois McMaster Bujold, the motivations for the stories aren’t immediately clear, yet the stories speak to me by revealing something about human nature. I find myself wanting more when I finish the story.

When I read Christopher Stasheff’s “The Warlock in Spite of Himself” (Ace Books, 1986), which launched a lengthy warlock series, I find these questions too easily answered. The book felt simplistic. The characters were slightly better - after all, a computer/robot that has seisures is pretty new to me - but not much. Most of the women used sex and emotional manipulation to get what they wanted. Most of the men were equally stereotypical in their own ways.

I wanted more when I finished “The Warlock,” that’s for sure. I wanted more explanation and for more to make sense. There’s a difference between incorporating fantastical elements into a well-woven plot and just throwing in crazy stuff that isn’t connected.

Don’t get me wrong: I laughed a decent amount while reading this book. The jokes were often pretty bad, but they were occasionally funny. It all felt rather dated, and not in a charmingly nostalgia-inducing way. (Not that I remember much from 1986, myself...)

Luckily, the book was a pretty quick read. The incessant harping on the need for democracy and insertion of political theory everywhere smacked of Poli-sci 101 reasoning. What romance was in the book was boring and inexplicable.

People often tell me that they don’t expect “best-sellers” to be for more than entertainment; they don’t expect them to reveal much insightful about the “human condition,” so to speak. I beg to differ. My favorite authors are those who, with a nice turn of phrase or well-established scene can make me go, “Oh, that feels right.” It’s as though the author has succeeded in emulating humans in written form.

Stasheff didn’t do that for me. I often found myself cringing at the responses characters gave and the thoughts evinced. I feel like I may have learned more about the author’s frame of mind than anything more widely applicable in reading the book.

“The Warlock in Spite of Himself” seems to be well-received by science fiction readers, but it paled in comparison to works by David Weber, Bujold, Elizabeth Moon, and Julie Czerneda.