Reviews

In what reads like an homage to Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Poul Anderson time loops WWII anti-Nazi espionage with an alternate universe that is straight outta ultra-imaginative D&D.

A full year before The Fellowship of the Ring was even published Poul was delivering page after page of elves and trolls and fire-breathing you-know-whats. His reluctant protagonist is, quite literally, a time traveling knight in shining armor who embodies every cliché in the genre. If your happy places happen to be Hogwarts and Isengard and Camelot, this is probably your book.

ghostmeat47's review against another edition

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3.0

Fine. Fun. Loved the troll fight; very evocative. Fun and charming characters. And such a love story... across worlds and time and space-time!

ogreart's review against another edition

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4.0

It has been almost 40 years since I read this book. It has stuck in my mind. Listening to Pinchot's narration was satisfying. The story still holds up for me. Glad I had this chance to revisit it.

jalgorth's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This is a classic old fantasy book. For it's time, I'm sure it was revolutionary, but it feels somewhat tired today. It's kind of like that old movie, a New York Yankee in king arthurs court, or something like that. Light, fun, not amazing, but an enjoyable read.

sandin954's review against another edition

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4.0

Loved this classic fantasy that had great characters and a thrilling plot with no excess filler. Listened to the audio version read by Bronson Pichnot who really threw himself into all the different accents and dialects.

dantastic's review against another edition

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3.0

Holger Carlsen is transported to another Earth, where he is destined to play a part in the war between Law and Chaos. Assisting him are Hugi, a dwarf, and Alianora, a swan maiden. Can they overcome the forces of Chaos and get Holger home?

I got this from Netgalley.

Since I've been wanting to read this for several ice ages, since I first got into Dungeons and Dragons and, later, Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion craziness, it had a lot to live up to. Yeah, it was kind of a disappointment.

Three Hearts and Three Lions is a mish-mash of a ton of quest stories, combining Arthur, Charlemagne, Shakespeare, and various other sources. I can see the influence it had on many later works, like the aforementioned D&D and Elric. I wonder if Roger Zelazny and Philip Jose Farmer were influenced by it as well for Amber and the World of Tiers. The battle between Law and Chaos has been a staple of RPGs since the beginning and fantasy fiction not long after that.

Three Hearts and Three Lions is very much a product of its time, at least as sexist as the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. While entertaining on some level, the sexism yanked me out of the story a few times. Another thing I didn't care for was the phonetic Scottish accents of some of the characters. For a chapter, it was fine. After that, it got on my nerves.

All things considered, Three Hearts and Three Lions is an enjoyable Chosen One quest story. If you're looking for one of the ancestors of modern fantasy, it's worth a read.

scottwcoleman's review against another edition

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5.0

Three Hearts and Three Lions

This book is everything sci-fi fantasy should be. Poul Anderson penned a classic half a century ago that more than holds up today.

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