Down and Dirty

In the afterword to ‘Down and Dirty’ George R.R. Martin, who edited it, freely admits that the structure is an unwieldy mess. I did find the various plot strands a little hard to follow, especially in the first half which was heavily concerned with a gang war. In fact, the gang war business was the least interesting part of the book, as there was nothing specifically original about it. Obviously, aces and jokers took part, but only in a mafia struggle for territory. None of the characters involved had unusual enough motivations to make the narrative stand out from one without superpowers. More appealing were the threads following the Great and Powerful Turtle as he re-evaluated his life and Croyd Crenson as he ricocheted around show more causing increasing amounts of chaos. As is usual with Wild Cards, there were also some intensely creepy moments, especially those involving Ti Malice and the Puppetmaster (who I remember from a later book). I also have a soft spot for the ridiculous alien Doctor Tachyon, who gets involved about a third of the way into the narrative. Overall, there is a lot of enjoy and thrill at in this instalment, but it doesn’t hold together all that effectively. It’s even harder to follow if you’re reading the series completely out of order, which I definitely do not recommend. show less

[b:Down and Dirty|67959|Down and Dirty (Wild Cards, #5)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375859712l/67959._SY75_.jpg|1037828] is a bit of an odd duck, with some stories taking place at the same time as the world tour of [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] while others take place after. There are mafia plotlines, political plotlines with the Puppetman, and a bit of an internal struggle for both Tachyon and the Turtle. As with any of the short story collections, there's a wide variety of stories, for better and for worse.

Individual show more stories:

Only the Dead Know Jokertown: Yeoman is surprisingly interesting and I'm intrigued by his developing relationship with Wraith. The actual crime families storylines are not my favorite, but I do like the characters.

All the King's Horses: The story of the Turtle (one of my favorite characters) after the events of [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]. Seeing Tom as independent from the Turtle and investigating all the baggage and PTSD that can come from clashing super heros is fascinating. A good story, split into parts throughout the book.

Concerto for Siren and Serotonin: Croyd/The Sleeper is another one of the most interesting stories of the Wild Cards series. It's always interesting to see what new powers and trouble he'll have and with the added trouble of stimulants driving him more and more mad the longer he stays awake... It's a crazy story (and a fun title). The Typhoid Croyd story is a bit odd as well, but interesting. How do you stop and contain someone that powerful who may not be in entire control of themselves? Without killing them...

Breakdown: Bagabond is one of my favorite characters, Rosemary is one of my least. I don't really care for the Mafia storylines. It feels out of time (despite the fact that the Mafia is still active in organized crime even today in some cities, particularly in the Northeastern US) and despite the feeling of 'people doing the right thing for the wrong reasons', I can never quite getting as far as rooting for Rosemary. So it goes.

Jesus Was an Ace: Connects the plotlines more or less and gives Barnett as a counterpoint to Puppetman. But a weak story.

Blood Ties: Tachyon is not my favorite character, but there's little to doubt that he's the very core of the Wild Cards series. It is interesting to see some of the more 'human' aspects to his character. And playing him off his part human grandson (who might actually be more powerful) is fascinating.

The Second Coming of Buddy Holly: This is actually one of my most liked stories in the series so far, especially the absolutely bizarre final concert by Buddy Holly. It builds and builds through the story and I am rooting for things to all come together the entire time. On the other hand, it barely relates to anything else going on at best, so doesn't really 'fit' with the rest of the stories. Also, the last rapey scene at the end... could have just not been a thing.

The Hue of a Mind: Man Puppetman is creepy. Seeing a variety of 'evil' Jokers and Aces come together is interesting. The way this entire book treats homosexuality is... odd at best. Something of a product of the times?

Addicted to Love: Ti Malice is the perfect example of dark and creepy, body horror type stories that you get sometimes in these stories. It's terrifying to realize just what Ti can do to Hiram and Jane and no one realizes enough to help them. Oy.

Takedown: So ends one of the subplotlines at least. I like Bagabond.

Mortality: Modular Man! I'm glad he's not gone forever and it's actually pretty interesting to see an exploration of what it means to be humanity and think about mortality--from the point of view of an otherwise theoretically immortal android. Also lots of crazy fight scenes and interactions of various Wild Card powers. show less

I find these Wild Cards novels very enjoyable probably due in part to the great variety of authors and a terrific mix of wonderfully eccentric and original characters that inhabit Jokertown and the Wild Card universe. This one seemed to be one of the better ones of the five I've read so far. The last one dealing with the world tour didn't hold my attention so much, and so it was with relief that I found myself back in Jokertown again with all our favourite haunts and well known and loved characters.

Very enjoyable.

The Wild Card virus which hit Earth at the end of the second World War caused devastation but also mutated some people into becoming superhumans. This series was edited by Martin but was written by a group of ten writers. In its time it was an amazing feat of writing.

The second mediocre outing of the series. Last one I read.