One of the inspirations for D&D as listed in Appendix N.
Poul Anderson, Three Hearts and Three Lions, 1953/1961.
You have:
- a paladin and his loyal and fierce warhorse
- a shady witch
- a dwarf (probably a ranger)
- the exact swanmay from monster manual II
- the land of Faery
- devious and seductive elves
- Law vs. Chaos
- a fire-breathing red dragon
- an ogre/giant and it's cursed purse of gold
- Morgan le Fey
- a werewolf
- lay on hands is mentioned
- a magician and his invisible servant
- a Saracen knight
- a beautiful but treacherous nixie, monster manual accurate
- druids mentioned.
- cannibal barbarians
- flint and steel and the need of a torch-bearer
- a roughly 10x10 passage at the back of a cave
- a mini dungeon crawl
- the exact troll from the monster manual
- the wild hunt
- and a sword of destiny.
Great cover! There shouldn't be any plate mail though and the dwarf should have white hair.
Unfortunately, this cover is much more accurate.
Cons:
- I find, Holger, unlikeable. Whines to himself too much. Can't stand protagonists that feel sorry for themselves, even a little.
- Didn't like the real world connection and Holger's scientific solutions to problems. Cursed gold coins are radioactive. Defeats a dragon by throwing water in its mouth. Would have preferred this story if it was simply about a paladin with amnesia, from wound or spell.
- Morgan le Fey and the swanmay arguing over Holger like junior high brats nearly killed my desire to keep reading. This scene was downright stupid. I expect better from Morgan le fey.
- Not really a con, but the Saracen Knight seemed pointless, or incomplete, maybe I missed something. Strictly to make Holger jealous of the swanmay?
Pros:
- Plenty of darkness and adult themes despite some silliness, even the old hag at the beginning wants the hero. Werewolves eat babies. There's human sacrifice. Combat is surprisingly brutal compared to the tone of the book. Action scenes were good.
- The nixie, troll, and swanmay are direct verbatim inspirations for their D&D counterparts. The troll fight was fierce and followed a mini dungeon-crawl. The nixie scene was awesome (except for the magnesium dagger, conveniently acquired earlier.) The swanmay, while flying, would change to human form and fall, then change back to swan just in time for the thrill of it, reminding me of a trapeze artist -- very creative and insightful of the author.
- The werewolf scene stands out, almost too much, as if it belongs in another book, but good none-the-less. Paladin almost becomes Inquisitor here.
- No wasted space, like all older fantasy, gets right to it, unlike the thousand page epics that sprang up in the late 80s/90s that were mostly hot air.
I finally read Three Hearts and Three Lions because I've been reading Brian N. Young's, Codex Celtarum, for Castles & Crusades where Poul Anderson is briefly mentioned and I figured it was high time... BTW, The Codex Celtarum is probably the best D&D source on Faery out there.
