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Title: Jokers Wild (Wild Cards, Volume 3) by George R.R. Martin, Tom Palmer, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Leanne C. Harper ISBN: 0-7434-3489-7 Publisher: I Books Pub. Date: January, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (20 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: a hit, a palpable hit...
Comment: There are those who have complained that the stories in this book aren't complete, but seem like they're just beginning. This complaint is valid, but the reasoning is inaccurate. Look at the Wild Cards series as comics books told in narrative rather than picture form. A regular comic book series doesn't usually have a complete tale, without clues to the future, and neither does this book. Some of these stories are setups to larger stories, and believe me, that ain't bad. I have read all sixteen books, and in my opinion, while some of the stories ARE weaker than others, the whole is much bigger than the sum of its parts.
The fact is that I grew to care about these characters. I wanted to know more about them, and that need to know drew me deeper and deeper as the series progressed. Now that the series is being re-released, I can honestly say that if you are comic book fan in search of more serious fare, where even the so-called "good guys" can have some unpalatable personality traits, than the wild cards series is for you. If you don't want to blow the bucks for a brand spanking new one, than get one used. I will say that if you dismiss this series without at least trying ONE book, you are missing out on the next level of superheroics.
Try Vol.1 out. If you don't end up loving Croyd (the Sleeper), I'll eat my hat!
Rating: 5
Summary: A triumph
Comment: Aces High delivers on the promise of Wild Cards. It is a magnificent story, and an addicting one at that.
Unlike the first Wild Cards book, Aces High is a tightly written tale, following some threads to their end, more or less. It means that, generally , the individual stories are less note worthy( with the exception of the remarkable "Winter's Chill"and the half comic "Ashes to Ashes") but the overall quality is high.
The book introduces us some new heros. the most entertaining of them are Jube, an extra terrestrial who knows more jokes than anyone else around, and Kid Dinausaur, a boy who can change into any dinausaur he wishes, thought they're always tiny.
We have some new villans, only hinted to in the first book. It is more of a comic book than the grim first volume. The writing seemed to have risen, and it is, all by all, a much more entertaining tale.
A special notice deserves George R R Martin. After writing the frankly disappointing 'Shell Games' in Wild Cards, Martin returns in full shape with a remarkable, touching story. Winter's Chill is the story in Aces High most resembling the WILD CARDS town, and is also the best.
If you can find this, BUY IT
Rating: 4
Summary: Solid stuff from Martin et al...
Comment: The third book in the "Wild Cards" series by George R.R. Martin (editor), this is a "shared world" series, where various authors get together and write in the same world. The world is one where an alien virus was dumped into the air shortly after WWII, and still randomly infects people nearly forty years later.
The virus - called the Wild Card for its very random results - proliferated in earth's atmosphere. First, nine in ten people who contract the Wild Card virus "draw the Queen of Spades," and die. Of the survivors, nine in ten people "draw a Joker," and end up hideously disfigured. Of the non-Joker survivors, some draw a "deuce," and get a power or ability that's pretty much useless ("I can change my hair colour at will!"), but many who survive as non-jokers "draw an Ace," and gain super-powers. The massively telekinetic Turtle, the projective teleporter Popinjay (who I really liked in this book), the any-lizard shapeshifter Kid Dinosaur - these are some of the Aces. They're solid, fun to read, and quite well drafted.
This story all takes place in one day, and the novel is very well sewn together (especially given the different tones and styles of the various authors) and has a very complicated and complex interwoven plot. Kudos to Martin for wrapping it up so well.
This forty years later is the anniversary and what is likely to be the largest "Wild Card Day" celebration ever - except one recurring villain is using this day to kill off all the Aces who bested him in the previous books... Who will survive?
As Martin is well known for in his "A Song of Fire and Ice" series - there are no holds barred in these books - heroes die. And horribly. Very solid stuff.
'Nathan
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Title: Wild Cards IV: Aces Abroad: A Mosaic Novel by George R. R. Martin, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Tom Mandrake ISBN: 0743452410 Publisher: I Books Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Wild Cards by Various ISBN: 0743475208 Publisher: I Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Wild Cards V: Down & Dirty by George R. R. Martin, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Timothy Truman ISBN: 0743445449 Publisher: I Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Wild Cards VI: Ace in the Hole by George R. R. Martin ISBN: 0743458370 Publisher: I Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Wild Cards Vol. 2: Aces High by Various ISBN: 0743479343 Publisher: I Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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