Hart's Hope
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (OSC) needs little introduction for anyone that has ever read a menagerie of Sci-Fi. OSC is responsible for the "Enders Game" series which has won him both the Nebula and Hugo award and thus making him the only author to consecutively win both awards. Although I have never read the "Enders Game" series, I am familiar with it's celebrity and have a general idea of what it is about. He also is a life long Mormon, who has advocated loudly in favor of the church. It just so happens that his uncle is the one and only, Brigham Young. He also apparently hates the gays, "Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down..." -24th of July 2008, Mormon Times. Amazing what people are passionate about and willing to say on public record, but I digress.
On to Hart's Hope.
According to Wikipedia the book was written before his acclaimed works and is of much darker tone. I don't know that I would agree that it is all that dark as I felt the book was equal parts dark as it was just frank account of a day in the life of someone living in this mythical land OSC calls Burland. Burland itself and it's capitol of Inwit, is a standard medieval make believe world where all magic must be paid in blood. The larger and more intricate the spell, the larger and stronger the animal needs to be. In some instances the blood must be worked as the animal transitions from life to death, leaving very little time for the mage to work his/her magic. There are several deities worshipped by the people of Burland. The Hart (Elk and their like) is held in high esteem by men and how they divine their magic's, The Hart appears to be the god of nature, rebirth, and strength. Females worship the sweet sisters who are rumored to be two females congenitally joined at birth who dispense wisdom. New to the pantheon is of course god, disseminating wisdom to anyone willing to hear it and widely encourages his followers to put his faith in him as opposed to the other choices.
The story itself begins with a tale of a king "Palicrovol" who seized power from a cruel and ruthless king who took advantage of the power he possessed. In order to seal his rightful place as king he takes the former kings daughter and rapes her on the gates for all of Inwit to see. After which he spurns her and sends her to live with a mage consort named Sleeve in the far reaches of Burland and takes the flower princess as his new bride. The daughter of the former king is a cruel woman, only made worse by the fact that her father was put to sword, her raped for the world to see, and then dismissed. On top of that her husband, the new king put his seed inside her which has resulted in a pregnancy. Stealing knowledge from Sleeve she works the magic of men and woman together and sacrifices her child which garners her the ultimate gift of power. She decides then to bind the world to her. She becomes a god and de-thrones all of the deities of Burland. She allows Palicrovol to keep power but is cursed. His bowels are always running, he is reduced to a feeble state, stricken blind, and his advisors killed.
In a desperate attempt to save the world the gods put forth all of their power into the fate of a young boy named Orem. Orem is a small farm boy with interesting parents and eventually sets out to the city of Inwit to make a poem for himself. He meets several shady people of good hearts a long the way and eventually comes into the service of a mage named Gallowglass. Inevitably he falls out of favor with Gallowglass and becomes the king of Inwit as the queens puppet. What she does not know is the power that Orem possesses but she will soon discover…
Over all I enjoyed it. It was good enough for me to chug through 170 pages to wait for the book to really engage. Once I was engaged I polished it off and was thoroughly happy with it. The first half of the book is written more as an oratory like Beowulf or any old legend. I found Gallowglass and the magic of Burland to be an interesting take on magic and its description of it's effects was pretty cool. The book itself does not have a traditional ending and it's probably best to be prepared for that. If you enjoy fantasy and are looking for something to read, let me know.
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