Hart's Hope

By Orson Scott Card

Book Overview

A dark and powerful fantasy from Orson Scott Card, the bestselling author of Ender's Shadow.

Enter the city of Hart's Hope, ruled by gods both powerful and indifferent, riddled with sorcery and revenge. The city was captured by a rebellious lord, Palicrovol, who overthrew the cruel king, Nasilee, hated by his people.

Palicrovol, too, was cruel, as befitted a king. He took the true mantle of kinghood by forcing Asineth, now Queen by her father's death, to marry him, raping her to consummate the marriage. But he was not cruel enough to rule.] He let her live after her humiliation; live to bear a daughter; live to return from exile and retake the throne of Hart's Hope.

But she, in turn, sent Palicrovol into exile to breed a son who would, in the name of the God, take back the kingdom from its cruel Queen.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765306786
• ISBN13: 9780765306784
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

The most touching and tragic fantasy tale of all

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!

an incredible feast of imagination

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.

A strange fantasy novel, very well written

Full of cruelty, brutality, pain, and anguish.The strange way of telling little stories within the larger one threw me at first. I was expecting this to be a device only in the prologue. After reading for a while, I got into the flow of the story telling. I easily became enraptured of this tale and read it vigorously throughout the day and night. The style of the book seems biblical, with the names and the little titles throughout each chapter remincent of biblical names/titles. His new ideas were sharp and refreshing, in other words not a fantasy novel I had read before. The basic fantasy constructs are there: Nobles, witches, wizards, and magic. The plot has epic proportions, but has Card's brevity and simplicity of description.The worst and best part of the novel is the ending. The reader is left hanging at the end, but if you are able to come to the (almost) inevitable conclusion, then you will be satisfied. (Otherwise it leaves you pulling your hair.)The villianess of the story is evil yet abused in such a way that she should be pitied for her situation, but still justly delt with in the end. Great and powerful, abused and flawed. The debate over her abuse makes this book less black and white, and more shades of gray.

Brilliant!

A very good friend recommended `Harts Hope' to me years ago. It was my introduction to Orson Scott Card and it shattered my concept of fantasy.I have yet to this day found another novel that has stuck with me so completely. I became engrossed in the story from the first paragraph and enraptured by the end. The words flowed through you like liquid poetry. I found myself stopping many times to re-read paragraphs that stunned me with the beauty of their flow and imagery. I have purchased this book for many friends who have come back to it as many times as I have. I recommend it highly!

"Hartfully" Done!

I was told that Orson Scott Card was a prolific writer. That may be true, but I'll tell you another thing about Mr. Card, based on this book (which is my first by him), he is a brilliant writer in addition to a prolific one.It's a short book, but every chapter, every page, every word carefully guides you through a story that has your "heart" racing throughout. This book exuded more emotion in me than any 1000 page Fantasy book ever has. Mr. Card creates a world in which magic, love, sadness, guilt, hope and dreams are so intertwined that without any of them, none can exist. I suppose that's what life is all about. Imagine, a fantasy book teaching the ways of reality.