Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Hart's Hope
Book Review: One of my Fantasy top 5!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book when I was about 19 years old. I still can't forget it! It seems to combine fantasy with a bit of in-your-face whimsy. Fantastic!
Warning: you have to be a critical thinker to get this book. Otherwise, it will go right over your head.
Book Review: Powerful and Haunting!
Summary: 5 Stars
So a few weeks ago I picked up this book at the Salvation Army. It was called "Hart's Hope" and had a funky cover and a nearly nonsensical description, so I had to have it, of course. And it was by Orson Scott Card, who I've heard of.So like the first thing I noticed was that the book is told in these almost biblical sections, and is narrated like a letter from one character to another. And wow, was this the most gritty, graphic fantasy i've ever read.
This guy decides to take a mission from god to depose an evil King and make himself King. He takes the capital,and kills the King in front of his 12 year old daughter.Then he decides that to seal his position as king, he forcibly marries the 12 year old daughter, marches her through the town tied up and naked, then puts her on the giant alter of the town's god and publicly rapes her, then expresses his disgust for her attempts to cause her to be unforgotten by him. At that point it was expected that after his ceremonial rape of a child, he would then kill her, but as an act of "mercy", he does not despite dire warnings from his advisors. The story is about what becomes of the child, the unspeakable things she does to get power over everyone including her tormenter and the Gods themselves, and whether her revenge on her tormentor is justified. In the book, she is represented as the villian, and the King(the child-raper) is played as a long-suffering hero. In a calculated way-it all leads up to a delightfully ambiguous ending, that leaves the question of who is the real villain after all, and whether "neccesary evils" are really neccesary at all.
It really reminded me of the work of one of my favorite authors, Tanith Lee, in the themes and imagery it worked with. Kind of with the themes of Dark Gods, Pagan Gods, Imprisoned Gods, rape and its warping effects,Nature as a direct influence in people's lives, and the question : Are those who are broken as children really responsible for their actions?
This book had me thinking about those questions for a long time after I finished the book.
Book Review: Simply but powerfully written, darkly profound and complete
Summary: 5 Stars
Hart's Hope is a 300-page fairy tale so cruel it would be grotesque were it not so beautifully-written. Too hopeful to be dark, too real to be tragic, too simple to be subtle, too profound to be simplistic, too direct to be either pretty or coarse. It's not the sort of book I like to read, but I cannot give it less than 5 stars. But be forewarned: it no tale for children.Book Review: The most touching and tragic fantasy tale of all
Summary: 5 Stars
The most lingering question you will have after reading 'Hart's Hope' is, 'What is evil, anyway?' Is Evil a single act? A single retribution? A single greed? Or is Evil a festering wound that takes years to nurture, molding it as you would a lump of clay? If Evil is singular, can it be absolved? Where does Evil end, and where does it begin?
'Hart's Hope' is one of the best books I have ever read. It still clings to me like a sticky web, trailing from my fingers as I pass my hand across all that I own, all that I am. And I ask myself, "What If?"
When Palicrovol defeats the bad King Nasilee, he only has to force the king's daughter Asineth to marry him and consummate the marriage in order for him to rule Burland. Palicrovol's single act of mercy in not killing Asineth as he was told he should do would eventually become his undoing. Instead of killing her, Palicrovol sends Asineth away with the powerful wizard Sleeve, but not before he has tagged Asineth with the name 'Beauty'.
Beauty's thirst for vengeance and power over the man who defiled her is legend, overpowering even the bonds of motherhood when she gives birth to a ten-month child, a bad omen. Obtaining magical powers through her child, Beauty sets out to challenge King Palicrovol.
Beauty leaves Palicrovol with his kingship, but takes over her father's city, renamed Inwit. She transforms Palicrovol's virgin bride into a hideous visage and renames her Weasel. Palicrovol, banished from the city, eventually finds himself spellbound to take a farmer's wife on the shores of a river.
The farmer's wife births a son named Orem. The majority of the story is about Orem's upbringing and adventure into Inwit, where Orem will meet his fate with Queen Beauty. Along the way are many unsettling events, one of my favorites being Orem's encounter with the Sweet Sisters, deformed co-joined twins separated by magic.
Hart's Hope is written with such lavish and precise prose that I could feel the wind, hear the lapping waters of the river, see the gates of the city, and smell the putrescence of Beggarstown. 'Hart's Hope' is as magical and mystical as your imagination will stretch, yet completely absorbing with its realistic description and dialogue.
It is a heart-wrenching tale of despair and broken promises, of abuse and outright evil, and of the hope that lingers in the hearts of those who keep faith. Steeped in curious creeds and mysticisms, Orem faces off against Beauty even knowing that he must sacrifice the one thing he holds most dear to his heart.
If you are a fantasy lover, you mustn't miss out on this spectacular tale. Though I warn you, it is dark. Truly one of the best books I have ever read. Enjoy!
Book Review: an incredible feast of imagination
Summary: 5 Stars
I think this is an incredibly original book. During the last ten years or so, I read lots of fantasies just to pass my time, and forgot most of them (which is what they probably deserved anyway). Not so with this story, which I read again recently. The first thing that captures the reader is the style of the writing: it is a letter written by one of the characters to another; but softly, without the reader noticing how, the perspective switches and all of a sudden we have a story narrated from an outsider's perspective. The ending brings it all back, in a manner that leaves you almost on the verge of frustration: you don't know exactly what will happen, the book doesn't tell you. Yet, you know the choices. In some sense, you can write your own ending. This is one of the beauties of this story: it includes the reader in it. The characters are so interesting because they are, after all, very ambiguous. The character you would think was the hero at the beginning of the book has to commit rape to fulfill his destiny; the true hero is in fact an unwilling victim. The villain commits gruesome acts, but you understand her motives and you cannot help but feel that she, too, is trapped in something bigger than herself.
The theme of the story is downright bloody - like a dark secret that you would rather not know, yet it fascinates you. It leaves the reader with a feeling of uneasiness, perhaps because there's a strong taboo that gets violated in the book. The feeling of distress is compounded by the fact that the narrator of the story is supposed to be a character who tells only the truth. A great story.