Pi in the Sky

Hart’s Hope

Posted on October 10th, 2007 at 5:05pm by Pi.
Categories: Books.

Hart’s Hope is a fantasy novel written in 1983 by Orson Scott Card. Hart’s Hope is not the usual sword & sorcery book, with a hero who finds allies to fight against the darkness. It’s very far from the genre’s standards, and maybe that’s one of its strong points.

In Hart’s Hope, we learn the fate of Palicrovol of freeing the land of the cruel reign of the king, by conquering its capital city Hart’s Hope. However, Palicrovol has mercy on the king’s daughter, princess Asineth, and leaves her alive after marrying her to become the king, and ritually raping her to consolidate the marriage. Asineth soon comes back with terrible powers given by the blood of her own daughter, whom she sacrificed to gain the magical strength needed for her revenge.

Asineth not only recovers the country’s control from Palicrovol, but also ties down the gods who used to be the source of all magic: the Sweet Sisters, the Hart, and the young God. Some centuries later, the gods gather the remains of their old powers to allow the still living and suffering Palicrovol to have a kid, Orem, which will help them to destroy Asineth.

The novel lacks the usual magic creatures like dragons, elves, etc. However, the world described as background is deep and detailed. The small details given to the reader are more than enough to describe a rich universe, full of magic and mythology, but dark and cruel. It reminds of what the Middle Ages were, a harsh society living under the uncertainty of higher powers, but instead of feudal lords, this time it’s the magic powers the ones struggling for control or harmony.

Card also develops the main characters in the usual manner that it’s his signature. Orem is a young guy, left alone in an unknown world, and having to learn to survive while everyone else is trying to take advantage on him. Instead of the narrative style that Card uses in his works from the same era (Songmaster, Ender’s Game), the novel is told as a series of letters, telling the story of Orem as if it was past done, and drafting a complex and strange plot, full of changes and thrills.

And the tone is much more obscure and darker than what Card has accustomed us to. In a place where magic comes from blood, where a good man has to ritually rape a twelve year old girl (who just saw how his father was killed) to save the country, and where the cruelty of the dark queen Beauty/Asineth thinks of new tortures to anyone who helped such good man, there’s no more place for the common fantasy elements of brightness, goodness, justice, which are usually the enemies of the evil darkness. At the same time, dwelling in all this cruelty and unfairness, Card deals with a lot of real life subjects about hate, revenge, justice, and everything, but far away from the usual good/bad dichotomy.

All in all, Hart’s Hope is a very unusual fantasy novel, but it is, in my humble opinion, a great work very much worth the reading. Lovers of the fantasy genre will have a different, original approach full of quality. Although not one of Card’s most famous works, this novel deserves as much attention as any of his other best sellers.

A special mention for my cousin Gonzalo for giving me this book, which has become one of my favorites.

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