After [b:Jokers Wild|67955|Jokers Wild (Wild Cards, #3)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304286902l/67955._SY75_.jpg|25805396], I'm glad to see [b:Aces Abroad|984792|Aces Abroad (Wild Cards, #4)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375859628l/984792._SY75_.jpg|970287] move on from Fortunato/the Masons (although Fortunato isn't gone for good just yet). After listening to the afterward by George RR Martin, that seems to have been intentional: the first three books were ordered together and made a self contained arc. A similar pattern will continue through the rest of the books.

It's also interesting this time that where we were mostly limited to New York and Jokertown before, now we're getting a look at the rest of the world--in the guise of a world tour taken on by a number of famous Aces, Jokers, and Nats (listening to the audiobooks, I was wondering why in the world they'd be called gnats... swattable? nats makes much more sense). The Wild Card virus may be rare the further you get from New York, but it seems to have impacted every corner of the world in various ways.

We're also back to the collection of short stories style, which I do appreciate.

Overall, a solid collection of stories. I'm mostly enjoying the Puppetman arc much more than the Masons. We'll see how that holds up through the next two books though.

One random thought in the stories that I didn't really think of: the Wild Card virus predates AIDS (or at least clinical reports and public knowledge thereof) by decades. There's some interesting commentary where from my point of view Jokers can represent AIDS victims, when in their world, it would be the other way around.

Individual stories:

The Tint of Hatred: The Puppetman is an interesting villain, especially having points of view. Creepy as all get out.

From The Journal Of Xavier Desmond: Interludes between all the other stories. Not as interesting as most of the stories, although he does catch a few things that only the reader knows the significance of.

Beasts Of Burden: Seeing Hatai in the world of the Wild Cards is interesting, with it being left vague what is real (courtesy of the Wild Card) and what is still myth. Seeing Blasie without knowing who exactly he is just yet was interesting in hindsight.

Blood Rights: Guatemalan/Mayan myths writ large in another story about revolution. Interesting, although I'm not sure if we'll see more about this.

Warts and All: Powers originally from [b:Frog and Toad Are Friends|537296|Frog and Toad Are Friends (Frog and Toad, #1)|Arnold Lobel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388179033l/537296._SY75_.jpg|1231880]? Gone a bit sideways (and upwards (and upwards))? Sure! I like Troll. Another I hope to see more of.

Down By The Nile: Peregrine's surprise pregnancy, especially given that Fortunato is the father was a lot better than I expected. It feels 'real', which is always a plus in a world like this. The Living Gods are an interesting idea as well--really, the entire idea that beliefs and situation around you when you turn your Wild Card influences your powers.

The Teardrop Of India: The fact that for several books, no one realized that the Wild Card doesn't impact animals... is actually really cool, since I doubt many readers (or even the authors) did either.

Down In The Dreamtime: Fun look at Austrailian tribal beliefs and just how strange of things the Wild Card can turn into reality.

Zero Hour: Oh hey. Fortunato. He's much better post-Astronomer. Still not my favorite.

Always Spring in Prague: I particularly like stories featuring Prague and Golems and Lady Black is an interesting manifestation of the 'can't touch or you'll kill them' power that's a fairly common trope. I hope to see more of her.

Puppets: Man the Puppetman is creepy. And now he has a new weapon...

Mirrors Of The Soul: Dr. Tachyon is interesting and I'm never sure how much I like or dislike him. I think that's intentional. Giving him a taste of family--the one thing he thought he'd never have? Yes please.

Legends: Underwhelming, particularly after the more exotic feeling (to me) stories of the first half of the book. That's about it.
( )

This was quite a large book at 956 pages(at least on my Sony ereader it was), although according to the book info here on goodreads it's less than 400 pages. Not sure what that's about but anyway, i wasn't quite so enamoured with this one as i was with the first 3. It still wasn't bad or even just mediocre, but i like stories that are set in the places that i originally encountered them and this was basically a fictional representation of a Lonely Planet travel guide. I'll be glad to get back to Jokertown and Aces High and other familiar spots.

Not exactly bad, more like a temporary distraction from the main attraction. ( )

This is this year’s first and hopefully only example of things not to do in fiction—and I’m not just talking about the stuff in my warning below. I also mean the whole premise of the book and the way it was executed in terms of narrative structure. It just totally flopped for me and I was seriously glad to be done with it.

Okay, warning stuff first: I’m not going to list everything. I cannot list everything without making my someone’s brain melt. The biggest things, though, are the sheer male gaze of the book and the well-meaning but utter failure to be culturally inclusive. POC and their cultures are reduced to stereotypes at every turn—the Muslim characters are extremist terrorists, the Japanese section revolves around the sex trade, etc.—and the writers are clearly trying to show positive characters and the positive impact of superpowers, but 30 years on, those bits read like a weird version of the white saviour. “Superpowers would totally allow the Maya to successfully revolt. Aren’t we nice to let them?”

I also got a voyeur vibe through a lot of this book, partly because of the white saviour/male gaze stuff and partly because of the related issue of, well, it’s either shoddy research or a genuine inability to find stuff out, and I’m betting on the former. The world tour feels very surface level, which ties into the premise of the junket, which is a very surface kind of thing, but I kept finding myself thinking I was seeing a lot of common knowledge stuff, not a lot of depth or difference. We go to Rio, we see slums and street crime. We go to Paris, there are street cafés and cigarettes and ex-lovers. I’d say modern novels and the internet have spoiled me, but there are less weird and offensive novels also published in the 1980s so.

(Would someone mind taking this premise and redoing it for the 21st century? I’d love to see a global take on superpowers that actually, y’know, tackles the superpowers and mutations within cultural contexts, rather than largely saying that a character’s an ace or a joker and not exploring them further than a label. And, um, not being offensive about it.)

Then there’s the structure, or more specifically, the almost lack of it. The world tour ties things together loosely, as does the diary of the one of the characters on the trip*, and there are a few subplots that thread through the story, but this feels way more like short stories in a shared world than the others in the series have to me, or at least those ones have had frame stories that wove the short pieces in better. This felt, ultimately, like a filler novel. Things had to be put into place for book five, so book four exists to get them there. It doesn’t help that the pacing is off and there’s an almost total lack of momentum towards the climax. It just kind of … happens, without much in the way of foreshadowing or payoff.

That said, some of the things the writers set up for the next book or maybe two, I do want to see resolved. A couple new villains show up, for instance. One of the politicians has a chance at greater things. I will probably read the next book at some point, if only to get that payoff, but also because I’m just slightly superhero novel trash and am hoping Aces Abroad is an aberration in the series. I’ll definitely be reading at least as critically as I ended up this time ‘round though, and if the quality doesn’t increase, I might have to call it quits on the series, or at least the older books in it, continuity be damned.

Regardless, I do not, in any way, recommend you read this book. You’re going to waste a week of reading time, same as me.

* Honestly, if he’d narrated the whole book, I’d have been more engaged. He was smart and perceptive and willing to look past his biases.

3/10

To bear in mind: The writers have not met an offensive trope or characterization they didn’t then include, and just when you think they’ve hit their low point, they find a new one. Proceed with caution unless you’re a straight white male, and even then, think critically and read with awareness. ( )

The Wild Card virus hit Earth at the end of the Second World War and caused many deaths but also caused some people to acquire superhuman abilities. This series was edited by George R.R. Martin but was written by a group of writers. It was an amazing ride while it lasted. ( )

Good read just like the previous volumes. ( )