Three Hearts and Three Lions

Operation Otherworld #2.5

by Poul Anderson

Book by Anderson, Poul

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Classics, Audiobook, Time Travel, Sword and Sorcery

167 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1953

About the author

Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]

Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.


Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Don't play coy with me Mr. 'one middle name isn't good enough for me.' What the hell does R.R. stand for anyway?"

"Rich and Ridiculously famous."

"Why you arrogant S.O...."

"Just kidding, Poul. Now what do you want?"

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Anderson’s novel The High Crusade, I remarked how I wondered if Anderson was influenced by Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Twain must have influenced Three Hearts and Three Lions as the basis of the two stories are so close (there is even a direct reference to Twain’s work).

Poul Anderson was born in America but was of Scandinavian ancestry and his mother moved the family to Denmark to live for a time prior to World War II when they all moved back to the states. This book, like several others of his authorship, is set in Denmark and reveals sentimentality toward the nation and culture.

Anderson explores ideas of law and chaos that may have influenced Michael Moorcock and, further, Gary Gygax (Dungeons and Dragons may be a literary descendant of this book). This is, like the brilliant The Broken Sword, another visit to the realms of Faery, but Three Hearts and Three Lions is less mythic and more purely fantastic. Anderson does a good job of piecing together a modern setting, myth, historical, and fantastic elements into a pleasing whole.

Fans of this book will also enjoy Anderson's short story "The Man Who Came Early" which is re-printed in his 1969 collection of short stories The Horn of Time.

Finally, a recurring theme of Anderson’s work is an objective ability to produce a balance of extremes, and Three Hearts and Three Lions expertly presents both sides of an entertaining conflict.

Not just for Anderson fans, this is excellent fantasy.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was charmed from the get-go for I knew that this was a classic, more SF/F Andersonian mix, a retelling of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and that is exactly what I got.

There's plenty of old adventure that's a little less nuts than White's Arthurian adventures, with a bit more in the straight adventure arena, including a sphinx/troll Scene, clever science fixes for epic battles, swooning women, time travel, witches, Faery courts, dragons, hidden memories and unbreakable promises. It's an all-around good story.

Does it really live up to, say, Anderson's The Broken Sword? No. But this one is a bit more light-hearted and it's straight-up Arthurian legend Plus stuff. I'm glad I read it but it's not nearly as good as his others.

It doesn't have quite that special kick since its ideas are all common-stuff. Still, it's Poul Anderson, so it's still head and shoulders above most of the rest, and I can see this being a nice precursor to so many of the modern fictions we have today, considering how straightforward the plots are.

It came out in 1961 and I'm honestly most charmed by all the modern-science considerations and speculations. :) This, more than anything, made it stand out for me. I'm now interested to see if anyone else has decided to do this with today's knowledge of science. You know. An upgrade, like this one was an attempt to upgrade Twain. :)

[Apatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Wave mechanics already admits the possibility of one entire cosmos coexisting with ours. It was not hard to write the equations for an infinity of such parallel worlds. By logical necessity the laws of nature would vary from one to another. Therefore, somewhere in the boundlessness of reality, anything you can imagine must actually exist!”

As in the The Broken Sword Poul Anderson likes to back up his fantasy with some science. I am not sure why but it does add to the enjoyment of the book if your taste, like mine, leans more toward science fiction than fantasy. Three Hearts & Three Lions is one of Anderson’s several fantasy novels, I don’t know how many of these he has written but this book and The Broken Sword are clearly the most popular ones. (The High Crusade reads like a fantasy romp, but is entire sci-fi)

Three Hearts & Three Lions is the story of Holger Carlsen, a Danish engineer who is shot in a battle against the Nazi and suddenly finds himself in a parallel dimension where magic is functional.

“The ordinary laws of nature, like gravity and chemical combination, appeared to obtain; but here they apparently had clauses permitting, well magic. Conceivably the magic was nothing but a direct mental control of matter.”

Holger and Hugi. I always love the more "obvious" covers.

Upon his arrival Holger finds a shield emblazoned with three hearts and three lions, some perfectly fitting clothing, armor, a lance and other knightly equipment waiting for him; also a huge black horse. Quick to adapt to circumstances he sets out to find some way of getting back to the world he knows. Soon he meets Alianora, a swan maiden, and Hugi, a dwarf who become his constant companions. The trio set out on a grand adventure where Holger finds he has a major role to play in a war of good vs evil (Law vs Chaos).

Three Hearts & Three Lions is based on a number of Northern European legends, particularly Ogier the Dane, the Matter of France (Carolingian cycle), and the Arthurian romance. It reminds me a little of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court where a modern man from our world finds himself in medieval time and goes on an adventure, often using his knowledge of science to get out of life-threatening situations.

As I expected the book is something of a romp, along the line of The Broken Sword. It is fast paced and fun throughout. Halfway through the book I expected to rate it at four stars but Anderson really ramps up the action and accelerates the narrative toward five-starsdom. I was particularly thrilled by werewolf hunt chapter, though it is a subplot that has little bearing on the main story arc. The characterization of the supporting characters is a little perfunctory but Holger is a very likable protagonist, not too prone to moping about his predicament, and his interactions with several extraordinarily beautiful women make him seem like an adorkable, clumsy and awkward James Bond.

The medieval English dialogue spoken by some of the characters is nicely written and suitably flowery. Unfortunately, the dwarf bestie speaks some kind of medieval Scottish dialect that it sometimes hard to decipher. Compared to today’s fantasy epic which tends to be of doorstopper length (700 pages up) Three Hearts & Three Lions is very short at under 200 pages. Its tone is also much lighter, not overly earnest, brooding or grim. There is a theme of humble and reluctant heroism running through the book but at the end of the day, I think Anderson just wants to tell a ripping yarn using the European legends as a foundation. The low page count and the rapid pacing mean that there is not much depth to the book. Just kick off your shoes, pick it up and go on the wild ride. This is often enough.



Holger and Alianora (and beasties)


Note:

Poul Anderson is a sci-fi writer's writer, David Brin, Vernor Vinge, Jo Walton and others swear by him and Vinge even dedicated his epic A Deepness in the Sky to him. His influence on their work is fairly obvious, Anderson knew his science and was able to employ that knowledge to max effect in his fiction. He was also a natural storyteller who never neglected the human element in his sf stories.

Quotes :
‘“Metaphysics.” The word means, literally, after or beyond physics. In other words, when the physics you know, the kind you measure with your instruments and calculate with your slide rule, when that ends, metaphysics begins. And that’s where we are right now, my lad: at the beginning of being beyond physics.’

“She drooped her lids, smiling with appreciation. His own eyes had a tendency to fall too – that décolletage of hers. He searched his mind for more cribs from Shakespeare.”

On finding himself given a temporary ability to breathe under water:
“Somehow, he thought – striving for a toehold on sanity – the forces called magical must be extracting oxygen from the water for him and forcing it into a thin protective layer, perhaps monomolecular, on his face. The rest of him was in direct contact with the lake. His clothes flopped soggy. Yet he was warm enough . . .”

‘What’s the thocht here?’ the dwarf growled. ‘Would ye gang oot in mere cloth? There’s a mickle long galoots in yon woods were glad to stick iron in a rich-clad wayfarer.’

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aug2011: I've read this maybe half a dozen times in the past 40 years & still love it. In the tradition of an Arthurian legend, a modern man is dumped into a fantasy world with abilities & limits that he doesn't understand well. He winds up on a quest with some very interesting characters, faces challenges both internal & external, & winds it all up in a rather abrupt fashion. I can never quite decide if I like the ending or not as the realism of it is somewhat at odds with the tone of the rest of the story. On the whole, I'd have to say it's perfect.

This is a short book by one of the grand masters of fantasy & SF. Too few people read his works today & that's a shame. He's a wonderful writer with a better handle on fantasy than most today. He brings the old legends alive. I loved this story as a pre-teen & still enjoy it 40 years later. Such an enduring piece of fiction has to get 5 stars.

------------------------

2003: This is one of my favorite books by Anderson. He writes both fantasy & SF, but this one is definitely fantasy. He dusts off some old myths & tosses a modern man into one. Very well done.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose many of my friends here will wonder at the rating I've given this book. Looking at my screen name you can probably tell I like the paladin character. Reading this book I find myself wondering if possibly Gary Gygax may have been influenced in the creation of the Dungeons and Dragons Paladin by this book. Holger Carlsen is definitely a Paladin.

There is a dearth of good books about Paladins (I actually have several in various stages of completion...pray for me. I need to complete them). The trilogy The Deed of Paksenarrion is probably the best and I'm hard pressed to think of another. Most people who write about the character tend to use him or her as a parody of the actual character.

This book in many ways lays out the character as it was to be played in the first editions of D&D. He's rather noble while still being realistic. When push comes to shove he does the right thing. All good.

This is another of those books where a man from this world awakes in a different world...and off goes the story.

So, why only 3? Well, the story telling itself is part of the problem. Told in a style that dates back a few years and in places rather slow you need a little "stick-to-it-of-ness" to stay with the story. Then there's the writing of the book in a dialect... I mean he could have just told us the guy had a heavy accent. Instead Anderson chose to write the accent into the story and sections of it are rather...tedious to read.

All in all I'd say try this one yourself. I've read a lot of Poul Anderson's work and like a lot of them. Growing up his science fiction and fantasy were some of my introductions to the genres. However this one was only mildly pleasing...

As noted, try it yourself and see what you think.

[Lizz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

And I really can’t make my brain create a note for this book (I’ve been empty-headed on this one for days) so I will list thoughts.

Lizzie likes: Holger, swanmay, Hugi, introduction of Law vs. Chaos, werewolf hunt, troll riddles, magic

Lizzie let-downs: the ending, stretching short story into novel, what was really happening?, the ending, kill-off, the ending

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t been completely enthused with Anderson’s science fiction, but so far this is 3 for 3 in the fantasy category.
The broken sword is an amazing piece of work that is criminally under appreciated. The high crusade was a fun mashup of aliens and medieval crusaders. This one is more “pure”fantasy, where a guy fighting in WW2 is transported to a Middle Ages that includes a Fae realm. He finds that he’s known as a knight of some renoun there.
He is joined by a dwarf and a babe who can turn into a swan for a series of episodic but fun and funny adventures.
Really enjoyable book, I’ve gotta give more of his sci fi a shot.
I think he was just so prolific that not everything was going to be great, but when he was firing on all cylinders he was as good as the best of his contemporaries.

[Lilyan · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Yawns*

This was an extremely basic fantasy novel. It felt like the author was reading the following handbook:

The Idiots Guide to Writing a Fantasy Novel

1. Choose your Hero. Preferably a male. Someone with strong, chiseled features.

2. Put your Hero in an awkward, fantastical, situation. (In Poul's case, he transported his lead character to another world riddled with a war between magical beings and non magical beings.)

3. Send your Hero on a quest. And another one. And another one. In fact, send him on as many quests as you can. Oh ya, make sure he's in a forest and that there are howling wolves.

4. Give your Hero some Side-Kicks to aid him on his Quest(s). Make sure to include a good looking female of consenting age.

5. Sprinkle your story with dangerous situations. You may want to alternate between endangering your hero and endangering the fuckable female lead. This way, they can "Save" each other, and we can gag on the building sexual tension.

6. Introduce a flock of slick and cool bad guys.

7. Consumate the love between our heroes right before the big bang finale

8. Allow your hero to complete his final quest, most easily done by finding an object he seeks. (Over here we had a sword... how original).

9. Shut down your lap top and never attempt to write a novel again.

The End.

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

A hard one to rate; my mind says 4 but my heart says 5. First, the thing I didn't like:

The book feels very disjointed. This was throwing me off as I read it until I checked out the wiki page and saw that this was intentional, being a "pastiche of interwoven stories", though it doesn't really present itself as such anywhere. I guess I can't really fault it too much for being written in a particular style, but it was still a bit jarring to read at times. I imagine on a re-read this would be less of a problem.

What I liked:

The world. If you are looking for traditional European classic high fantasy, then this is it. Unicorns, faeries, swan-women, wizards, nixies, trolls, dragons, werewolves...this book has it all. Much like Anderson's The Broken Sword, he plays with myth, legend, and fairy tale to create something that feels both magical and familiar. It's like candy for your imagination.

As an aside, if you are familiar with Dungeons and Dragons then it is no surprise that this book was a big influence on it, not only for its high fantasy world but also for its use of a concrete morality system (law vs. chaos, much like Moorcock's work only a bit more black and white) and the depiction of a paladin-type hero.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was first published as a novella in 1953, and later expanded into a full novel in 1961. It is among the "educational and inspirational reading" listed in the famous Appendix N of Gary Gygax's Dungeon Masters Guide, and the influence it had on Dungeons and Dragons will be obvious. Michael Moorcock also admitted that he cribbed his ideas about an epic struggle between Law and Chaos (rather than Good and Evil) from Anderson's work, so this book is, in a way, an ancestor of the Elric stories and by extension many other books in the "dark fantasy" genre. Having said that, this book is certainly not a part of the "dark fantasy" genre itself. It draws very heavily on European legends, in particular the romances of King Arthur and of Charlemange, but also Norse mythology. Where The Broken Sword (which Anderson wrote the following year) concentrates on inventing a sort of modernized Norse saga, 3 Hearts and 3 Lions more or less invents a modernized medieval romance. I still like the Broken sword a bit more, although I'd be more comfortable recommending this one to a younger reader. The pace is very rapid and the story is exciting, but more importantly the characters are all interesting and the world they inhabit is highly imaginative, so any fan of fantasy should give this a read.

[Marquise · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. This wasn't as good as The Broken Sword, and I think Anderson recycled many of the same tropes from that other book without much variation, but it's still an enjoyable high-adventure romp, with more action than character progression (besides the lead character) in the style of the old epics. I liked that the knight quester in this story had very unusual quest companions: a dwarf and a swan-maiden, both of which speak with a Scottish accent (!) that I found hilarious instead of bothersome, for a change.

And I still find it a curiosity worthy of note how morally ambiguous, when not downright rotten, the Elves are in Anderson's world. Suppose I, like many readers, got used to the Tolkienesque version of these creatures; and that makes it a novelty that sticks out. Before Anderson, I can remember only one other example of this interpretation of Elves, in Sapkowski's Witcher series. This is one reason why I wish this book wasn't so much of a straight epic ride after epic ride adventure novel, and that it were longer, with denser worldbuilding, because it ends exactly in the moment the questers arrive to the location they were going to on quest, and the rest is merely wrapped up in a short epilogue chapter.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chaos invades on two worlds at the same time, and all Law has to throw against them is a single warrior to split between those two. But Law also has the narrative on its side - underdogs always do, and it couldn't be a whole lot more of an underdog in this instance. So it wins, in the end.

This was a fun enough romp, but ultimately a fairly shallow one compared to most others of the author: a simple adventure, with little more to it. Even the prose was less effective, and the thick accents of the fantasyland folk made it difficult to read through. But if you've ever played Dungeons & Dragons, or think you'd be interested in the sort, you owe it to yourself to read this book - a great deal of the game's concepts and creatures have their origin in here.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poul Anderson books always seem fun but tiresome. I think it's because all of the innovations either become standard tropes or have been further refined by more recent sci-fi/fantasy writers, and all of the classic genre elements (Knights fighting! Vikings! Weird magic!) are present but you feel like you could get the same thing elsewhere with the added bonus of it having some kind of literary merit. Not that his books are without merit, you just feel that there's always something better or faster or more whatever somewhere else.

[Emy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is often heralded as one of the forebears of the fantasy genre, though it usually eclipsed by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which was published little more than a year later.

There were parts of Three Hearts and Three Lions where I was genuinely interested in what was happening, and where I was excited to see what would happen next. I also enjoyed the juxtaposition between Holger's modern views and the advances of science with the pseudo-Carolingian world. Not to mention the tongue-in-cheek humour throughout. On top of that, Anderson's descriptive writing was first-class. Some of the ways he described the Middle World left me breathless.

But, sadly, there was much more I didn't like about the book.

Firstly, the dialect. Different characters speak in different dialects and (especially in the case of Hugi) I often found myself jolted out of the story whilst I attempted to translate the dialogue. This became less of an issue as the book went on, because I got used to it, but at the beginning it was a bit of a nightmare.

The plot felt rather episodic in nature, much like the 'monster of the week' device that you often see on television shows as filler. It seemed that Holger and his friends spent a lot of the time bouncing from foe to foe. This perhaps wouldn't have been a bad thing, necessarily, but I felt that the monsters/enemies were (with the exception of the troll) defeated too swiftly and too easily. At no point in time did I find myself fearing for Holger's life. At no point did I think that he wasn't going to succeed.

Which brings me to the ending. I don't know if it's just me, but the ending of Three Hearts and Three Lions is one of the most disappointing I have ever read. It reaches the moment before the final confrontation, the moment the whole book has been leading up to... and then we're back with the narrator and the 'battle' is summarised in a paragraph or two of Holger's speech. I actually felt kind of cheated, though I can see the reasons why Anderson might have told it this way.

Although this wasn't a book I enjoyed over-much, I feel that anyone with a keen interest in the fantasy genre should read it at least once. It is one of the books that has had a huge influence on the genre (a fact that can be seen through the fact that a lot of what happens in the book may seem cliché or generic nowadays) and is part of its history. For this reason, rather than anything I got from the reading experience itself, I am glad I read it.

[Althea Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally published in 1953, this book was selected for reprint as part of the "Fantasy Masterworks" series, so I thought I would check it out.

Holger Carlsen is a Danish-American engineer, who, while involved in a daring attempt to smuggle people out of Nazi-occupied Denmark, finds himself mysteriously transported to a medieval-esque land on the border of Faerie. He awakes naked, with no memory of how he arrived in this place - but finds a knight's steed and trappings sitting next to him, ready for his use, so he sets off on a quest to find a way to get home. Soon joined by an earthy little dwarf, Hugi, and a beautiful, nubile swan-maiden, Alionora, he experiences a set of adventures (in which his knowledge of engineering repeatedly comes in handy), faces the machinations of Morgan le Fay, and gradually comes to realize that his true place may be here, in this magical land.

It's a bit cheesy in parts, and suffers from some innate sexism (it was written in the 50's), but overall, a fun, light read.

[David Rubenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern man, fighting for the underground in Denmark during World War II, is snatched into another world. He does not initially understand this fantasy world, but it seems like he really belongs there; he understands the language, and finds that he is a brave knight capable of sword-fighting, jousting, and spooking his enemies.

The story is wonderful, but the audiobook narration by Bronson Pinchot is absolutely marvelous. I am simply amazed by the narrator, as he alternates between multiple accents and voices during complex conversations. By all means, if you are interested in this book--listen to the audiobook!

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

My god, do I ever love Anderson's descriptions of trolls! The rest of the book is good, too. But man, those trolls!

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chosen for inclusion in both David Pringle's "Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels" and Cawthorn & Moorcock's "Fantasy: The 100 Best Books," "Three Hearts and Three Lions" had long been on my "must read someday" list. This compactly written epic of "hard fantasy" was first serialized in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" in 1953 and released in an expanded book format in 1961. Author Poul Anderson was seemingly well suited to write this tale. The son of Scandinavian parents, a student of medieval lore and a translator of the Norse Eddas, he applied his considerable scholastic background to this, his first fantasy novel (predating his influential work "The Broken Sword" by a year). "Three Hearts" introduces us to Holger Carlsen, a Danish-born engineer living in America at the onset of WW2. A good-natured galoot, he goes back to Denmark to help fight the Nazis and is grazed on the head by a bullet during a beachfront battle. When he awakes, he is in some kind of alternate, medieval universe; a realm where Charlemagne reigns and fairies, trolls, dragons, unicorns and witches are NOT the stuff of fantasy. Holger inevitably becomes embroiled in the upcoming showdown between the forces of Law and those of Chaos. He is aided in his quest for the mystical sword Cortana by Hugi, a gruff but endearing dwarf; by Alianora, a swan-may; by the lusty Saracen Carahue, who seems to know more about Holger than he lets on; and by the valiant black stallion Papillon. In his quest, Holger comes up against Mother Gerd, a cronelike witch; Duke Alfric, one of the lords of Faerie (the entrance into Faerie itself, which Holger reaches merely by crossing an uninhabited wilderness area, may remind some readers of Lord Dunsany's 1924 classic "The King of Elfland's Daughter"); the legendary sorceress Morgan Le Fay; and a wide assortment of malevolent creatures, such as a giant, a fire-breathing dragon, an impressively unkillable troll, cannibal hordes , a bodyless knight, a water sprite and even a werewolf.

"Three Hearts and Three Lions" is not a long book (the whole thing runs to under 170 pages), and it is remarkable how much incident and humor Anderson manages to work in. As Pringle so rightly puts it, "It is a pity that most of the multi-volume fantasy epics of recent years cannot show a comparable degree of wit and economy." Yes, the book is often very amusing (occasionally almost laugh-out-loud funny) at the same time that it is evidently the work of a serious scholar. Prospective readers of the novel are advised to have a good UNabridged dictionary at hand to help with such words as "thutter," "byrnie," "cantrip," "paynim," "carline," "rede," "kittle," "mickle," "maun," "sith," "glaive," "unco," "caitiff," "bigging," "fleer," "jo," "geas," "nixie" and "chine." Besides the archaic language, Hugi and Alianora usually speak in the pure Scottish dialect, and a little adjustment may be necessary. Still, as always, some effort on the reader's part will bring about a much more informed reading experience. The novel is a remarkably imaginative one, and there is no way to predict what will happen to Holger and his friends from one page to the next. With likable characters, many exciting confrontations, a real sense of wonder, a concise and economical writing style and even a surprise ending of sorts, "Three Hearts" should please just about any lover of epic fantasy. I would give the novel a top grade if not for two problems I had with it, one small and one large. The minor problem I had was with Hugi using the word "caboodle" at one point. According to Webster's, this word did not come into use until the mid-19th century, over 1,000 years after the time of Hugi's alternate universe. My major problem with the book, however, is the ending; a terribly rushed affair , I feel, that leaves several major plot threads dangling, and several questions unanswered. Perhaps I will have to look for Anderson's belated sequel, 1974's "Midsummer Tempest," for some explanations. Still, despite my quibbles, I can certainly confirm that "Three Hearts and Three Lions" deserves to be on those top 100 lists mentioned above. With the exception of its last three or so pages, it is as nearly flawless a fantasy creation as you're likely to find.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: First of all, a clarification: Poul Anderson did not invent the multiverse with this novel. In science-fiction, the space-type multiverse appears first in a 1939 short story by Clifford Simak, later expanded into the 1950 novel The cosmic engineers. The time-type multiverse dates from the short story Branches of time, by David R. Daniels (1934). In fantasy, parallel worlds appear in many earlier works, notably The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis, whose first book was published in 1950. In physics, the many-world interpretation of quantum mechanics was proposed by Hugh Everett III in 1957, four years after Anderson's novel.

Could Anderson have influenced Everett? Perhaps we won't ever know. Could Anderson have influenced The golden compass by Philip Pullman, which also describes a parallel world similar to ours (although different) as in this Anderson novel? Perhaps Pullman could tell, although both stories could very well be totally independent.

Anderson's novel uses as main character a classical figure of Medieval Chansons de Geste, whose first appearance took place in La Chanson de Roland. For an educated Dane reader, his identity should be obvious from the beginning, but for me it wasn't until the end of the book.

ESPAÑOL: Lo primero, una aclaración: Poul Anderson no inventó el multiverso con esta novela. En ciencia-ficción, el multiverso de tipo espacial aparece primero en una historia corta de 1939 de Clifford Simak, más tarde expandida en la novela de 1950 The cosmic engineers. El multiverso de tipo temporal data del cuento Branches of time, de David R. Daniels (1934). En el género de fantasía, los mundos paralelos aparecen en muchas obras anteriores, como Las Crónicas de Narnia de C.S.Lewis, cuyo primer libro se publicó en 1950. En física, Hugh Everett III propuso en 1957 la interpretación de los muchos mundos de la mecánica cuántica, cuatro años después de la novela de Anderson.

¿Podría Anderson haber influido en Everett? Quizá nunca lo sabremos. ¿Podría Anderson haber influido en The golden compass de Philip Pullman, que también describe un mundo paralelo similar al nuestro (aunque al mismo tiempo diferente) de forma similar a la de esta novela de Anderson? Quizás Pullman podría decirlo, aunque ambas historias también podrían ser totalmente independientes.

La novela de Anderson utiliza como personaje principal una figura clásica de las Canciones de Gesta medievales cuya primera aparición tiene lugar en La Chanson de Roland. Para un lector danés culto, su identidad seguramente es obvia desde el principio, pero para mí no lo fue hasta el final del libro.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had heard the name of this book bandied about as a Dungeons and Dragons inspiration, but was surprised to find such striking similarities to Michael Moorcock's writing: an eternal battle of Law and Chaos as metaphysical entities; the idle suggestion of a system of related universes, each a distorted reflection of the others; and a Defender figure fated to walk the worlds, who figures greatly into the Law/Chaos conflict.

Aside from the trappings, the direct Appendix N inspirational value is in the idea of a frontier between civilization and the monstrous wild lands, where life is uncertain and adventure awaits the ambitious. This is practically the introduction to The Keep on the Borderlands.

I was amused to see that Holger Carlsen, to remain incognito, fabricates an identity as a knight of Graustark. It was a clever reference.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three Hearts and Three Lions is my favorite of the Anderson fantasy novels that I've read. It may not be as lyrically composed as The Broken Sword, but he pulls out all of the stops in incorporating a whole raft of fantasy tropes and creatures, and it's much more readable as a story. It was first published as a short novel serialized in F & SF magazine edited by Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas in the September and October issues in 1953 and was expanded for book publication by Doubleday and the SF Book Club in 1961. I originally read the book version, but the novella was nominated for a Retro-Hugo, so I read that and preferred it to the longer iteration.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one of those books that I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading it, especially considering that it was called out in the Appendix N inspirational reading list in the original Dungeon Masters Guide.

I guess technically this is a portal fantasy, although the set-up reads more like sword & planet -- Holger Carlsen, in WWII, is in the Danish Resistance fighting the Nazis when something catastrophic happens (he gets shot? a bomb gets dropped? a grenade?), and when he wakes up, he's in the Middle World, sort of a fantasy-inflected Middle Ages with Elfland on one side and the Holy Roman Empire apparently somewhere off on the other side. And there's a suit of armor and set of arms that fits him perfectly and that he apparently knows how to use, and he starts encountering people (for a broad definition of "people" who seem to recognize him, most notably his eventual traveling companions Hugi (the original Scottish dwarf) and Alianora (the swan-may); and it turns out that going to Elfland was kind of a bad idea, and Morgan le Fay is also somewhere in the mix making things difficult for him ...

Not Anderson's best, but I did enjoy it. Of particular interest to D&D-heads because it introduced the notion of Law vs. Chaos (which was also lifted and used to great effect by Michael Moorcock), and because at one point Holger encounters a troll who is straight out of the 1st edition Monster Manual.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was already partway through The Broken Sword, which is deeply inspired by Norse sagas, when I accidentally picked this book up -- I only meant to read a couple of pages, figure out how long it might take me to read it. I ended up reading it pretty much all in one go, in less than two hours total. I found it more absorbing than The Broken Sword -- though admittedly I read Three Hearts and Three Lions when I was bright and awake, and when I started The Broken Sword it was nearly bedtime -- and though I'm more impressed, I think, with what he did with the Norse influence on The Broken Sword, I think I liked this one more. Still, I shouldn't really judge until I've finished The Broken Sword, and I just promptly looked up the titles of his other fantasy novels.

What did I love about this? I noticed how influential it seems to have been, seeing elements I've seen elsewhere (for example, going to another world and turning out to be the champion of it, and the way the two worlds impact on each other, reminded me of Stephen Lawhead's Paradise War books). I was impressed by the fact that it took the Matter of France for the backdrop: I think I've only read one other non-medieval text which drew on the stories of Charlemagne, at least in a way that I recognised. I love the Matter of Britain, but it does get used an awful lot. There was a blend of fairytale type mythology here, of course, including at least one aspect from the Matter of Britain, but that the central characters were strongly linked to the Matter of France struck me as interesting.

I quite liked the way it referenced science and literature from our world, too, e.g. when fighting the dragon, the blade made of magnesium, etc.

I suppose now it does read as something dated -- more so than his contemporary, Tolkien, given that he mentions Nazism and the like -- but I loved it all the same.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed. Certainly a solid story, but I was expecting something closer to the rich prose and world building of The Broken Sword, which I consider a masterpiece and among my all time faves. Especially since this was published only a year before, and has some similar themes and settings. There were hints at some of that richness, but inconsistently. The riddle competition between Holgar and the giant was a highlight:

"See you, mortal, a chicken is the human soul, and the road is life which must be crossed, from the ditch of birth to the ditch of death. On that road are many perils, not alone the ruts of toil and the mire of sin, but wagons of war and pestilence, drawn by the oxen of destruction; while overhead wheels that hawk hight Satan, ever ready to swoop. The chicken knows not why it crosses the road, save that it sees greener fields on the far side. It crosses because it must, even as we all must."

[Karen Witzler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first official "Fantasy" novel that I ever read. Recommended by Cousin Dennis. Not quite as good as it was when I was fourteen - too many battles with supernatural beasts. I soon moved on to Tolkien who has had more staying power.

A WWII Danish Resistance fighter finds himself hurled into another time and place where a similar war rages and he is the Expected One. Lots of references to Charlemagne and his Knights, Song of Roland. Originally published in 1953, I read it in 1974.

[Jim Kuenzli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid fantasy piece through and through. Nice usage of a different type of troll. I’m starting the second book now.

[Ettelwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poul Anderson mě tento rok chytil za srdce Zlomeným mečem, moje druhé setkání bylo o něco rozpačitější, podivnější, pohádkovo-brakovitější, na několika místech hřejivý, ale taky době odpovídající.

Cestování paralelními světy s příměsí elfů, draků, obrů, víl, vlkodlaků, inženýrství, boje Chaosu a Zákona, na dobu velice oblíbená artušovská příměs, oddechová věc. Na několika místech jsem si nahlas řekla, že kdybych tohle tehdy četla místo Hobita, byl by výsledek dost podobný, určitě bych fantastice opět propadla, ale pak přišlo něco, co mi ten pocit narušilo a on se mnou nedokázal setrvat. Vždy se objevil a rychle zmizel, asi jako všechna nebezpečenství, která se skrývají na stránkách této jednohubky, asi jako každá sukně, za kterou se hlavní hrdina až příliš rychle otočil, aby se v okamžiku vrátil ke své labutí dívce.

Svým způsobem jsem si tohle užila, pocitově jsem se zase přenesla někam, kde mě těší fantastiku objevovat, zkoumat a určitě to není naposledy, co pana Andersona záměrně vyhledám. Ale na další dobrodružství s Holgerem už se asi nevydám.