Hart’s Hope, Orson Scott Card
Nov 10th, 2007 by craig
Orson Scott Card, like Robert Heinlein and Ken Follet, writes at least two very distinct types of books – in Card’s case at least one way they can be categorized is by their quality, some are very good, some not so good. Hart’s Hope would fall into the very good category.
While very much a fantasy tale, the style of Hart’s Hope is almost medieval, and the story itself is medieval in nature. The setting is very much that of the dark ages, but with a feel for something even older in nature. The brutality of the simple life of slaughter and the elegance of Kings and Queens clash in the tale of the rise of a power greater than our world could contain, and the young peasant type boy that brings about the fall of that power through his own tortured decisions and sacrifices. This is not a story for kids, but the innocence of the young plays a very vital role.
While the story is very good, perhaps inspired, what makes the book enjoyable is the style of the writing – very old school, very consistent with the characters the story is about. Because it’s written in an almost archaic voice, it’s a little harder to read, but that only adds to the ability of the book to transport you to a whole different time and place. I would have liked to have had a little more in the way of character development, but the style does a lot for the characters and so the book works in spite of a shortfall in the character development.
I started reading this… in fact, I have started to read this… four or five times now… I don’t know. In any event, I don’t get so far because I personally don’t like how the story is written… yes, I agree, it’s done very well, but it’s not something that appeals to me. A story is a story, to be told straightforward. Poetic and abstract style tends to lose both my interest and my understanding.
I prefer Card’s more basic writing, i.e., the Oversoul series, although when I realized that was a play off of the bible story…
I am of the opinion that the Majority of Orson Scott Card’s books fall into the catigory you label “not so great,” but I thoroughly enjoyed Hart’s Hope. I also enjoyed the narrative – it gives the book the feel of a parable.
That’s the one that starts out with… what’s his name… I don’t remember. But it involves the family that is convinced by the Oversoul to leave the town they were living in, and then they had to steal a bunch of records from the corrupt leader of the town (representing the golden plates)…
The names and pronounciation are very strange, he made up a whole new language for that whole story. It’s very cool. If you want I’ll find you some of the books, you’ve got them on your shelves.