A review by ashleylm
Three Hearts and Three Lions, by Poul Anderson
2.0
Tremendously disappointing. At times there were some decent sentences, but I didn't care about any of the characters, the plot went nowhere (it read like a rather long-winded first 3rd of a book, basically all set-up and meandering), and for the life of me I fail to see how this gained any reputation as a classic at all. I'll assume the novella was tighter and more interesting, because how could it not be?
There's something awfully dated about portal fantasy (to me, at any rate), of this sort--where you can't just accept the other realm, you have to make up explanations for why you have characters in it. It sort of put me off Thomas Covenant or the Fionavar series, made me quickly abandon Beyond the Pale, and annoyed me throughout the half of Glory Road I read before tossing it. Whereas, for contrast, I'm reading the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series for the first time and absolutely loving it--despite (mostly) being written earlier, it feels much more fresh and modern, as if Joss Whedon had written it. And Poul Anderson, you're no Joss Whedon.
I also wasn't that enthralled with his The Broken Sword, so I guess I'm just not a fan, despite some effort. At least I made it all the way to the end. But it's a weird, weird book, with antagonists who rarely show up, a disappointing climax, heroes who are just wonderful, apprently, and by the time they reached the Magic Sword (yes, it's one of those books) I'd pretty much forgotten why they wanted it in the first place.
Your time can be better spent!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
There's something awfully dated about portal fantasy (to me, at any rate), of this sort--where you can't just accept the other realm, you have to make up explanations for why you have characters in it. It sort of put me off Thomas Covenant or the Fionavar series, made me quickly abandon Beyond the Pale, and annoyed me throughout the half of Glory Road I read before tossing it. Whereas, for contrast, I'm reading the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series for the first time and absolutely loving it--despite (mostly) being written earlier, it feels much more fresh and modern, as if Joss Whedon had written it. And Poul Anderson, you're no Joss Whedon.
I also wasn't that enthralled with his The Broken Sword, so I guess I'm just not a fan, despite some effort. At least I made it all the way to the end. But it's a weird, weird book, with antagonists who rarely show up, a disappointing climax, heroes who are just wonderful, apprently, and by the time they reached the Magic Sword (yes, it's one of those books) I'd pretty much forgotten why they wanted it in the first place.
Your time can be better spent!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!