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"The journey into high adventure soars on! Let the secret history of the world be told--of the alien virus that struck Earth after World War II, and of the handful of survivors who found they now possessed superhuman powers. Some were called Aces, endowed with powerful mental and physical prowess. The others were Jokers, tormented by bizarre mind or body disfigurements. Some served humanity. Others wreaked terror. Now, forty years later, under the streets of Manhattan an evil genius show more unleashes the powers of darkness--and Aces and Jokers alike must fight for their lives. Here, in the third volume of the Wild Cards series, seven of science fiction's most gifted writers take you on a journey of wonder and excitement.Includes stories by:Edward Bryant, Leanne C. Harper, George R. R. Martin, John J. Miller, Lewis Shiner ,Walter Simons, Melinda M. Snodgrass"-- show lessTags
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Hee! In case you missed my recent post on the Wild Cards books, they’re a shared-world superhero series that is well-written, mostly holds up to modern eyes, and utterly bonkers. This installment is no exception, and as enjoyable a read as the rest of ‘em. There’s an assassination plot, a missing girl, a fermenting gang war, a bit of romance, some soul-searching, a stolen journal, an elaborate dinner… and the way all the stories weave through each other, intersect, and affect each other is beautiful. There are some elements that haven’t aged well or (hopefully) wouldn’t happen nowadays—the “sorcerer-pimp”, the cat burglar who spends most of the story in a bikini because reasons, the word “Oriental”—but there are show more also elements that are fairly progressive, like characters where “gay” is a footnote, mention of the AIDS crisis, and non-sexualized sex workers. George R.R. Martin and his fellow writers were clearly aiming to capture 1986 while thinking ahead to future audiences, and I think they’ve succeeded. This was fun!
(Yes, I read this because of the Book Discussion Challenge.)
(Yes, the original covers for this series are awful. The new covers are great, except for when they’re not. Note that I didn’t post the new cover for this one.)
7/10 show less
(Yes, I read this because of the Book Discussion Challenge.)
(Yes, the original covers for this series are awful. The new covers are great, except for when they’re not. Note that I didn’t post the new cover for this one.)
7/10 show less
What Mardi Gras is to New Orleans, Wild Card Day is to NYC. Jokers, aces and norms flood the streets, partying hard, rioting and carrying on. But this year is special - it's the fortieth anniversary. And a few people have something very special planned...
Not a feel-good story, by any means. The bad guys are bad, but the good guys have a charcoal tinge as well. Of course, they may be Aces, but their motivation's still pretty human. Love, lust, revenge and greed - the seven deadlies are hard at work among the main players. Well written, but when I finished I wanted something fluffy and non-threatening to escape into next.
Not a feel-good story, by any means. The bad guys are bad, but the good guys have a charcoal tinge as well. Of course, they may be Aces, but their motivation's still pretty human. Love, lust, revenge and greed - the seven deadlies are hard at work among the main players. Well written, but when I finished I wanted something fluffy and non-threatening to escape into next.
...That being said, the novel does show some of the shortcomings of a work with so many authors. In depth characterization is mostly absent and here and there, fault lines in the style of writing are noticeable. Martin has done a wonderful job in editing it so the very compressed time line of the novel makes sense however. It must have been particularly challenging to get everything to fit in just a twenty-four hour time span. It's not the most challenging reading material but it is fast and fun and hard to put down once you've started. I don't think it is quite as good as either Aces High or Fort Freak but a decent entry in the series nonetheless. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Tor reissue some more of the older Wild Cards books.
Full show more Random Comments review show less
Full show more Random Comments review show less
Rather than the collection of short stories found in [b:Wild Cards|147908|Wild Cards (Wild Cards, #1)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375859477l/147908._SY75_.jpg|1807663] and [b:Aces High|67961|Aces High (Wild Cards, #2)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375859546l/67961._SY75_.jpg|1037829], [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] is instead a mosaic novel, with the storylines all mixed into a single novel length story, with less clear distinction between the characters and their show more storylines.
I'm ... not thrilled with it.
In the previous case, if you didn't like a particularly story, it wasn't long before you moved on to something completely different. Here, it just keeps coming back again and again. Particularly when Jokers Wild primarily deals with Fortunato/Astronomer and the Egyptian Masons, which I've mentioned before wasn't my favorite plotline.
Really, there wasn't much that I cared overmuch about in this book. Seeing Bagabond's dealings with the animal and human worlds was interesting enough. Wraith remains a ridiculous character (a cat burglar who can phase through walls--but only when nearly naked), but her story was fairly interesting. And Hiram Worchester has a lot of potential. So there's something going for it.
Still. I'm hoping for more in [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]. show less
I'm ... not thrilled with it.
In the previous case, if you didn't like a particularly story, it wasn't long before you moved on to something completely different. Here, it just keeps coming back again and again. Particularly when Jokers Wild primarily deals with Fortunato/Astronomer and the Egyptian Masons, which I've mentioned before wasn't my favorite plotline.
Really, there wasn't much that I cared overmuch about in this book. Seeing Bagabond's dealings with the animal and human worlds was interesting enough. Wraith remains a ridiculous character (a cat burglar who can phase through walls--but only when nearly naked), but her story was fairly interesting. And Hiram Worchester has a lot of potential. So there's something going for it.
Still. I'm hoping for more in [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]. show less
Very good. Definitely the best of the 3 i've read so far. It flows nicely from one chapter to another, which incidentally are hours of the day, since this is set over a 24 hour period.
I wasn't sure i was going to continue with the rest of the series after reading the first two books, but this has me wanting to read on now.
Very enjoyable.
I wasn't sure i was going to continue with the rest of the series after reading the first two books, but this has me wanting to read on now.
Very enjoyable.
Entertaining enough but not particularly enjoyable. The action takes place in an AU of the 1980s; Dialogue and characters seem egregiously dated. This is the 3rd in a series and it refers heavily to previoius events, a greater knowledge of which *might* ameliorate the flat characterization.
I love this whole Wild Cards story line. I understand that it has been optioned for a movie, and possibly a tv series. I think I enjoyed the first one the most, as I liked the WW2 setting, but they're definitely keeping with the time line and accuracy as far as the decades.
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81 works; 7 members
Author Information
George R. R. Martin was born on September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He began writing at an early age, selling monster stories for pennies to neighborhood children. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Journalism from Northwestern University. In 1986, he worked as a story editor for the CBS series The Twilight Zone. He was also an executive show more story consultant, producer and co-supervising producer for CBS's Beauty and the Beast. In 1970, he sold the story The Hero to Galaxy magazine. Since becoming a full-time writer in 1979, he has written many novels, stories, and series including A Song for Lya, Portraits of His Children, The Pear-Shaped Man, and the Song of Ice and Fire series. He has won numerous awards including five Locus Awards, three Hugo Awards and two Nebula awards. In 2013 he made The New York Times Best Seller List with his titles A Dance with Dragons and A Game of Thrones: a Clash of Kings, a Storm of Swords, a Feast for Crows. His title's Rogues and The Ice Dragon made the New York Times List in 2014. Martin's title, A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, A Song of Fire and Ice novel, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2015. He is number 4 on the Hollywood Reporter's '25 Most Powerful Authors' 2016 list. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Jokers Wild
- Original title
- Jokers Wild
- Original publication date
- 1987-11
- Dedication
- This editorial hat trick is dedicated
to the editors who have helped me along the way
to Ben Bova, and Ted White, and Adele Leone,
to David G. Hartwell, and Ellen Datlow, and Ann Patty,
to Betsy Mitchell, and ... (show all)Jim Frenkel, and Ellen Couch,
to the memory of Larry Herndon and the Texas Trio,
and of course to Shawna and Lou,
who knew a winning hand when they saw one. - First words
- There is Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Carnival in Rio, Fiestas and Festivals and Founders’ Days by the hundreds
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It was the first of Fortunato’s new teachers.
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- The third book in the series, but the first that has the appearance of a "mosaic novel." Chapters do not have titles, and individual credit is not given within the work itself. There is a "Closing Credits" which provides a li... (show all)st of characters and the authors which created and/or wrote their parts in the novel.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Science Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 813.087608 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fiction Collections
- LCC
- PS648 .S3 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Collections of American literature Prose (General)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 907
- Popularity
- 29,297
- Reviews
- 14
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- 8 — English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 25
- ASINs
- 9
