Three Hearts and Three Lions

Rating:
Summary: A nice, quick escape...
Review: "Three Hearts & Three Lions," published in the early 1950s, certainly proved to be an influential work in the fantasy genre. It is a clear inspiration to writers such as R.A Salvatore (see his Spearwielder series), and many other authors with close ties to TSR. (The Dungeons & Dragons concept of a troll is taken almost verbatim from the sinister creature that appears here.) Poul Anderson writes with a generally favorable prose while relating the tale of Holger Carlson, a Dane who, amidst the chaos of World War II, is transported to a strange, alternate reality where magic is commonplace and he is destined to become the realm's champion in an epic struggle against the forces of Chaos. Some interesting characters crop up (but dialogue is not Anderson's strong point), and a few of the brief, dislocated adventures that somehow manage to appear in so short a read are worthwhile affairs, but there's no overriding sense of purpose in "Three Hearts & Three Lions." The battle between the forces of Law and Chaos is vague at best, and never comes to a head. Female characters are sexual objects with generally irritating personalities (it was the '50s, after all!), and relationships are scarcely solid enough to involve the reader in any significant way. (One character's death is unearned and out of place in the otherwise light-hearted yarn, and is immediately followed by merrymaking that further compounds the problem.) Also, despite several attempts to compare the fantasy royale battle in the novel to the struggles of the second World War, I found few actual parallels that made any sense or even hinted at the same urgency (How could they, after all?). Despite these faults, "Three Hearts & Three Lions" is a nice look back at the genre before it was stolen by blatant commerciality, and it's one of the first in the subgenre of "modern guy (or gal) transported to a magical netherworld to ultimately save the day." The late Anderson offers a nice, quick escape that's very worthwhile to this day.

Rating:
Summary: Clasic Fantasy that has stood the test of time
Review: "Three Hearts and Three Lions" is a good book, but it's not great. It was groundbreaking in its time (the 1950s) but now appears dated and rushed, mostly because this book was originally written as a serial for magazines.

Knowing that, it's easier to comprehend the less-than-fully-fleshed-out characterizations. Holger Carlson, our man out of time (he's from the 20th century and is adrift in a new, fantastic world filled with "swan-mays" and witches and elves), is a cipher at the beginning, and is almost as much of one at the end. He wants to do good, and does it -- but is hampered by lack of faith, and is sometimes helped by greater knowledge of engineering, chemistry and especially physics.

All of this is realistic, interesting, and well worth your time to read.

Where this book falls flat, in my opinion, is in the realm of characterization. Granted, this was the 1950s, so Alianora the swan-may's fluffy characterization was about the best most authors would manage. However, Mr. Anderson had already written about a strong woman in "Brainwave" if I recall correctly; he knew how to get strong women across in the marketplace, and moreover, he knew how to write romance.

This is not romance by any stretch of the imagination, although there's a fair amount of sex (along with a goodly amount of violence). Unlike much literature of the 1950s, Mr. Anderson makes Holger question his morality and judgement; this, in my opinion, is the one really good bit of characterization Holger has, and is the only reason he is likable.

The good points about "Three Hearts and Three Lions:" It's quick. It's interesting. It is realistic. And there are spots of humor.

The bad points? There isn't much characterization or romance. Alianora the swan-may is rather trite and boring, and most of the other minor characters are no better. And there isn't much explanation of why everyone recognizes Holger, but why Holger doesn't recognize them.

Still. It's readable, interesting, and has its good points. And it was groundbreaking in the genre.

Better reads by Mr. Anderson include the massive "King of Ys" saga, the Dominic Flandry series, the "Last Viking" trilogy about Harold Hardrede, and "Brainwave."

Compared to those others, this is a three star novel, and that's how I'm rating it.

Barb Caffrey

Rating:
Summary: Quick, readable fantasy
Review: "Three Hearts and Three Lions" is a good book, but it's not great. It was groundbreaking in its time (the 1950s) but now appears dated and rushed, mostly because this book was originally written as a serial for magazines.

Knowing that, it's easier to comprehend the less-than-fully-fleshed-out characterizations. Holger Carlson, our man out of time (he's from the 20th century and is adrift in a new, fantastic world filled with "swan-mays" and witches and elves), is a cipher at the beginning, and is almost as much of one at the end. He wants to do good, and does it -- but is hampered by lack of faith, and is sometimes helped by greater knowledge of engineering, chemistry and especially physics.

All of this is realistic, interesting, and well worth your time to read.

Where this book falls flat, in my opinion, is in the realm of characterization. Granted, this was the 1950s, so Alianora the swan-may's fluffy characterization was about the best most authors would manage. However, Mr. Anderson had already written about a strong woman in "Brainwave" if I recall correctly; he knew how to get strong women across in the marketplace, and moreover, he knew how to write romance.

This is not romance by any stretch of the imagination, although there's a fair amount of sex (along with a goodly amount of violence). Unlike much literature of the 1950s, Mr. Anderson makes Holger question his morality and judgement; this, in my opinion, is the one really good bit of characterization Holger has, and is the only reason he is likable.

The good points about "Three Hearts and Three Lions:" It's quick. It's interesting. It is realistic. And there are spots of humor.

The bad points? There isn't much characterization or romance. Alianora the swan-may is rather trite and boring, and most of the other minor characters are no better. And there isn't much explanation of why everyone recognizes Holger, but why Holger doesn't recognize them.

Still. It's readable, interesting, and has its good points. And it was groundbreaking in the genre.

Better reads by Mr. Anderson include the massive "King of Ys" saga, the Dominic Flandry series, the "Last Viking" trilogy about Harold Hardrede, and "Brainwave."

Compared to those others, this is a three star novel, and that's how I'm rating it.

Barb Caffrey

Rating:
Summary: A 20th century man fights chaos in a world full of wonders.
Review: "Three Hearts and Three Lions" by Poul Anderson is a wonderful tale of a 20th century man who must fight chaos and evil in land full of magic and oddities in order to keep his dream alive. I personaly found my self lost in this book of high adventure as unimaginable events unfolded before my eyes. A great book for the first time "fantasy" reader, and for the experienced as well.

Rating:
Summary: Neat book for swan-may fans
Review: A main character is a swan-may, or Scandinavian were-swan. It's so nice to see some good, decent shapeshifters in fantasy instead of all that werewolf/curse/bloodlust crap that gets so boring and melodramatic after awhile. There is that kind of werewolf in here too, but doesn't take up much of the plot and the wonderful swan-may makes up for it.

Rating:
Summary: More awesome fantasy from the late, great Poul Anderson
Review: Although Poul Anderson (who died in early 2001 after a long, distinguished career) wrote the majority of his books in the science fiction genre, he also turned out excellent work in fantasy as well. His best in this vein is the astonishing, but hard to find today, THE BROKEN SWORD. But he personally preferred this more light-hearted romp, THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS, first published in 1953. It a fun and incredibly clever look into the nature of fantasy itself, as a rationalist from the 20th century is plunged into a fantasy world, where he finds his scientific knowledge and straight-forward approach actually help him, not hinder him.

Chapter after chapter is filled with clever devices, funny characters, and exciting action. (The idea for D&D trolls was borrowed from this book, by the way.) The ending is a surprise as well -- not quite what you would expect considering the tone of the rest of the book, and yet completely appropriate and raises the book beyond mere light entertainment.

I recommend this book to any fantasy lover (it had a huge effect on many other authors, especially Michael Moorcock and his Elric novels), but I especially think that young adults who are just discovering fantasy literature will absolutely fall in love with this book: charm, humor, action, a great hero, a speedy read, and something to think about at the end. What more could you ask for?

Rating:
Summary: My first Anderson
Review: and not a bad place to start (I've read plenty since). This book introduces the reader to the Nordic themes that pervade Anderson's fiction, even his ostensibly hard sf (yes, this book is actually set in the world of Charlemagne's paladins, but guess which of the paladins is the hero? You guessed it, Ogier the Dane; well, Anderson is of Danish origin, so what does one expect?). The story is fairly formulaic, but with some nice touches. Virginity doesn't get the short shrift it frequently does in modern fiction, and the hero converts to Catholicism after his return to our world (which gave me a mistaken view of Anderson's attitude to orthodox Christian doctrine and morals--at least, many of his other writings give a somewhat different picture, though he is certainly rather intrigued by Christianity, especially Catholicism). Often praised are the pseudo-scientific explanations for why, say, it's dangerous to steal a giant's treasure, or exactly what might cause someone to become a werewolf. But on the whole this is a good rather than outstanding work of heroic fantasy--a pleasant evening's read, but not something one wants to come back to over and over again or live by the light of. One of the serious flaws, IMHO, is that the ending lacks climax. It should also be noted that this is part of a series of books describing alternate worlds--others include _A Midsummer Night's Tempest_ and _Operation Chaos_.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best!
Review: I read this book in my early teens (which by the way is the Golden Age of Science Fiction). I've re-read it several times! It's a darn good book. The part that stands out most in my memory is where he's trading riddles with the big and bad giant. It's a life or death situation and he had me laughing out loud!

Rating:
Summary: Tried and true
Review: It is so refreshing to read a fantasy novel that doesn't require a massive glossary of character names and two hands to hold. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy Martin et al., but this clean, relatively simple, well-paced story was a delight to read. The themes will be familiar: Law against Chaos, a seemingly everyday-guy-type hero, an unlikely little band on a quest, etc. But this book was published in 1953 before those themes were beaten to death, and it still sounds fresh. Poul Anderson is a master story-teller. It is not hard to appreciate why he was so prolific and successful as a writer in both the fantasy and sci-fi genres. Give this one a try.

Rating:
Summary: An Almost Archaeological Appreciation
Review: Like many others, I found out about this book long after being introduced to fantasy role-playing games, specifically Dungeons and Dragons. It is mentioned in the FAQ on a D&D newsgroup as a source for some of the ideas in the game. To be specific, this is where the regenerating trolls come from. There are a few more ideas in here that I recall from my early days of Basic D&D. The early D&D alignment system seems to draw from this book as well (Law vs Chaos with a sizeable Neutral populace), and possibly others. Other D&D concepts are mentioned as well, but those were the most noticeable. In that context, the book is fascinating, and a must-read for any gamer.

The story itself is a twist on the "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" idea. Though in this story, the modern man is taken into a fantastical world where magic works and the forces of Chaos are rallying to strike against the world of Law (humans). The modern man is Holger Carlsen, a Danish engineer who goes home to join the resistance in World War II. During a crucial fight against Nazis he loses consciousness and wakes up in a world where he is a great knight fighting on the side of Law (which equates to good in this book). Opposing him is an assortment of magical foes, and at his side is Hugi, the hill dwarf, and Alianora, the swan-may.

Carlsen, or Sir Holger as he is called in this fantasy world, approaches the magic around him with an engineer's eye. He reasons out the mechanics and laws governing certain aspects of the magical world, and identifies a couple of scientific reasons for the superstitions prevalent there. Though he wavers sometimes in the purity of his thoughts, he is the archetypical paladin, a good guy through and through. Soon after arriving in this fantasy world, he figures out what he must do and pursues that quest with unwavering sureness. The supporting characters are fairly well drawn out for such a short novel. It's a little hard to follow Hugi's brogue in the beginning, but you get used to it, so it doesn't really detract from the story.

Holger draws parallels between the magical world, with Law at war against Chaos, and our own, in his time at war against the Nazis. The causes for war are simplified in the fantasy world to the fact that Chaos more or less equates to evil, and Law is nearly synonymous with good. But Holger's quest remains the same: to defeat evil. A simplistic motivation, but it makes for a highly enjoyable story. In the tradition of Arthurian legend, Holger's quest takes him across the countryside, from adventure to adventure, meeting friends and enemies on the way. Because of its common themes, it can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

If you give this book to any fantasy reader, it's sure to become one of their favorites.