Three Hearts and Three Lions

 

I finished reading this book, Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson. I can't think of another book by the late Anderson that I've read, and my expectations weren't high. They sagged even lower when the story began with the hero finding a splendid charger with armor, lance, and sword awaiting him as he regained consciousness in a strange new world after blacking out at a WWII skirmish against the Nazis. Fortunately, I didn't abandon the book.

Our hero, Holger Carlsen, comes across as a little John Carter-esque. Actually, he's got advantages Carter didn't because he seems to intuitively know how to ride and sword fight and doesn't have to deal with gravitational issues. He does have to get to know the strange place, but he has advantages there too. All these unearned advantages at the start of the story put me off. Nevertheless, I continued and eventually found myself caught up in the adventure with Holger, Alianora, and Hugi in this Middle World where the chaotic forces of the Faerie East strive to defeat order as represented by humans and the Empire in the West in this medieval fantasy tale.

Holger doesn't realize it, but he is an impressive dude in this realm. His troika of trouble is drawn by discovering who he is supposed to be in Middle World, dealing with romantic and relationships, and battling the forces of chaos. He first encounters an old witch-woman who recommends Duke Alfric of Faerie as to connect him with someone who could send him back to his own world. Along the way, Holger finds an ally in the dwarf Hugi, who leads him to Alianora, the swan-maiden. These two escort him to Alfric, where he meets Morgan Le Fay. 

Alianora warns Holger before Alfric traps him in Elf Hill.The forces of chaos and Morgan Le Fay pursue him through the rest of the story with help from Morgan's allies. Holger and his friends manage to defeat, outwit, or contain a dragon, a giant, and a werewolf. After Holger solves the werewolf problem, a Saracen knight joins the team. He's looking for Holger, but the hero's magical disguise keeps him from being recognized. Then they're off to find the sword Cortana.

The quest for the sword takes them through the territory of the hillmen, where a good time was not had by all, and finally into a troll hole where they fight a vicious creature to escape at great cost. They find the sword's hiding place as the Wild Hunt catches up to them. We don't get to see how Holger deals with chaos once he has Cortana. He eventually gets back to WWII, and after the war seeks to return to the Middle World and Alianora. Naturally, I've left out a lot details because you might want to read this book. I don't want to ruin it entirely for you.

Do I recommend it? Sure. It's a fun tale. Although some aspects are completely predictable, the journey is an exciting romp. It did feel like the forces of chaos and Morgan Le Fay never devoted their complete power and efforts to defeating Holger--of course, that whole super allergy to iron does hinder the Faeries and Morgan has personal reasons for not trying to crush him like a bug.

I say take the tale for a spin. It was a flavor I hadn't had in sometime, and I enjoyed it.

I do have The Broken Sword by the same author. I'll have to try it now.