Three Hearts and Three Lions

This is a fantasy novel from 1961, based on a novella from 1953. I think it was well received at the time—the novella was nominated for a Retro-Hugo Award—and it's not a bad story for its age; but six decades have gone by since then. Probably I'd think better of it if I'd read it in the 1960s, which I could have done; but as it happens I didn't read it until 2024.

I don't have any major complaints about it, it's readable enough, and most of it is quite a pleasant tale—although it becomes rather grim towards the end. But the characters didn't grab me, the situation didn't grab me, the writing style is adequate but dated; and I was tempted to abandon it unfinished because I had so little interest in reading on. However, I plodded on and finished it.

I like some of Poul Anderson's sf stories, and reread them periodically; but this is an old-fashioned kind of fantasy, and it doesn't seem to suit me.