Jokers Wild

The repercussions of the battle with The Astronomer continue in Jokers Wild. It is the fortieth anniversary of the release of the Wild Card Virus (scientically known as Xenovirus Takis-A), and The Astronomer is out for blood. Fortunato is his main target, being his most powerful opponent and directly responsible for his previous defeat. He recruits killers, including Demise, and a woman that kills men with sex, to start taking out his enemies.

Last night I finished reading Joker's Wild, the third installment in the Wildcards series. Joker's Wild reads a bit differently than the first two books of the series, in that instead of a collection of related short stories, this book reads like a regular novel. At the end of the book they have credits stating who wrote and invented what character, and each chapter is divided up into sections, so I'm guessing that each author wrote a "section" pertaining to one of their characters. It may be my untrained eye, or the fact that I was so into the subject matter, but I had a hard time telling the authors apart in this book. As I said, it read like a novel, but it was also quite a page turner, so I was swept up in the story most of the time, and perhaps not paying enough attention to the techniques of each particular section. The plot centers around the Wild Card Day celebrations in New York City in 1986. I can't really get much deeper into it than that, because I don't want to add spoilers, but I really enjoyed the story. It spans a little more than 24 hours, but there is a ton of action and intrugue in that twenty-four hour span. As I said, I found myself swept up in the story many times, and can't really think of a part that I didn't enjoy. All of the best known aces appear in this book, but we learn more about some of the jokers as well. I found myself watching the line between joker and ace blur in this book; for example, the character of Spector (aka Demise) is a big part of this book, but at times I could see how his power would be considered an ace power, but to others it would definately be seen as a joker. A deadly one, but still unwanted. Incedentally, I really like the character of Spector. He's very interesting and well written. At times I found the focus on sex a bit much. Yes, I understand that Fortunato's tantric power relies on sexual energy, but we also have sexual murderers, sexual ice sculptures, old aces wanting to have sex with young aces, etc. I'm not a prude, but it was a bit much at times. Other than that, this was a very satisfying addition to the Wildcards series. Now if I can just get my hands on the next book....

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

My reason for writing this review is the others have missed the mark by a mile. They are all fans of George R.R. Martain's other more fantasy oriented work. This series is wildly removed from them. Of the entire line the 1st three are the absolute best. Only the 3rd book is realy one compleat story. The 1st 2 books are a collection of short stories. This simple fact seems to have escaped all the other reviewers. After words the series slowly degrades, as they all do, but there are still gems. It never gets bad just average at worst. If you are a fan of comic book heros and want to see a very well executed, realistic look at them this is the place to be. Now if they would just relase some new ones and get Allen Moore to write a story.

Wild Cards III: Jokers Wild is a novel, written by different authors. Each tells the story of one character: Melinda Snodgrass -roulette and her attempts to murder Tachyon. Leanne Harper - the Bag lady, bagabond Walton Simons - Demise, the black queen who survived Lewis Shiner - The annoying Fortunato, pimp in an endless quest against all sorts of things. John Miller - Wraith, a thief who can moce through walls. Edward Bryant - Sewer Jack, an Aligator man who's a friend of Bagabond. and, the highlight of the book, as well as most of the others: George R R Martin - tale o Hiram Worchester, the owner of the acclaimed ACES HIGH, a true anti hero.Basically there are two plot lines - Wraith steals a note book from Kien, a minor villan from Wild Cards 2 and 3, and lots of characters get involved in the attempt to reach them. This is a 'McGavin' of the worst kind, though there are some nice twists to the tale, and after all this is a parody of Comic books. The other plot involves the Astronomer, who summoned TIAMAT in ACES HIGH. He wishes revenge on all the aces who attacked his Mason in that book. All these events happen during 'Wild Card Day', September 15, when NYC is filled with Jokers, Aces and tourists, and Hiram Worchester puts a huge party in 'Aces High', his restaurant( not to confuse with ACES HIGH, the second wild card book).sound interesting? Well, it is, but it's also really confusing. Written by 7 authors, it follows 7 different tales, and they don't combine into a single one all too well. Oh, it's often exciting, but its difficult to follow, especially as some of the writers( Martin, Snodgrass), are far more powerful then some of the others( though they aren't the only talented ones, of course).Another flaw of the book( a complain, rather), is that none of the main repeat characters are favorites of mine. I've loathed Fortunato from the moment I've first read of him, and while he improves occasionally here, he's not someone who's tale I particularily enjoy. But at least his stories feature the cool Astronomer( A true Comic villan, though I would have liked him to interact with the heros a little more) and other aces. Sewer Jack and Bagabond deal only with each other, and with equally dull and bizarre DAs and Mobsters.Overall it's nice but I don't see the great varriety and uniquness of the first 2 books. Its neither a dark tapestry of interesting, if uneven stories like WILD CARDS, or a comics book with an edge story like ACES HIGH. Its just a highly readable, if disjoint, action novel.I liked it, but I hope the next ones will be better.