I somewhat disagree that you shouldn't be aware of how the engine works. The mechanics are quite simple. Prolog's horn clauses are combined in depth first search manner trying to proof that the negated goal is false.

However, most prolog books focus on rooting the declarative mindset because programmers are generally more familiar with imperative programming. But just as with SQL or lisp there are definitely good ways, bad ways and plain mistakes you can make when approaching a problem.