Busted Flush

Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele

Ich muss zugeben, ich bin extrem verwirrt. Beim ersten Band „Das Spiel der Spiele“ habe ich noch geschrieben, es handle sich um den ersten Teil einer neuen „Wild Cards“-Reihe, die zwar an die 22-teilige „Wild Cards“-Reihe aus den 80/90er-Jahren anschließt, aber nicht direkt Teil davon ist und ich muss zugeben, ich habe gerade keine Ahnung mehr, wie ich da vergangenes Jahr drauf gekommen bin. „Wild Cards: Der Sieg der Verlierer“ ist offiziell Band 19 der Reihe und im Vergleich zum vorherigen Teil merkt man das hier auch tatsächlich, denn ich hatte große Schwierigkeiten mich in der Geschichte zurecht zu finden.

So bin ich nach wie vor ein show more großer Fan der Art, in der diese Geschichte erzählt wird – zusammengesetzt aus Kurzgeschichten verschiedener Autoren, die alle gemeinsam eine zusammenhängende Geschichte ergeben – und auch inhaltlich gefällt mir „Wild Cards“ mit seinen mutierten Superhelden theoretisch wirklich gut, aber in dieses Buch bin ich einfach nicht hineingekommen. Es gibt eine große Flut an Namen, die einen schon auf den ersten Seiten quasi überrollt und da fast jeder Charakter auch noch mehrere Namen hat, war es für mich quasi eine Unmöglichkeit hier den Überblick zu behalten. Mit der Handlung ging es mir leider ganz ähnlich, auch hier hatte ich große Probleme. Theoretisch ist sie etwa ein Jahr nach den Ereignissen des letzten Bandes angesiedelt, praktisch hatte ich dummerweise das Gefühl, dass mir einfach sehr viel entgangen ist.

Alles in allem fand ich „Wild Cards: Der Sieg der Verlierer“ daher doch recht enttäuschend, denn im Gegensatz zum ersten Teil hat hier für mich das Konzept aus vielen Kurzgeschichten verschiedener Autoren einen Roman, eine Art Mosaik-Roman, zu machen nicht gut funktioniert, ich hatte große Probleme durch die Handlung durchzusteigen und auch wenn mich Idee und Konzept noch immer begeistern können, wirklicher Lesespaß wollte hier nicht aufkommen, daher reicht es auch definitiv nicht für eine wirkliche Empfehlung. Schade! show less

I really liked the Wild Cards series as a teenager and still have a soft spot for it. The X-Men-esque superpowers combined with alternate universe history really appealed to me. Unfortunately, back then my local library didn’t have very many of the books in the series. Then recently I found a library with several I haven’t read, although I have skipped quite a few. That is a shame, really, as ‘Busted Flush’ is 19th in the series and references many characters and events that I hadn’t previously come across. It was also a bit odd to be reading casual, thriller-esque writing for the first time in a little while. At first it was disconcerting to read sentences that started with ‘And...’, ‘But...’, or ‘Because...’. show more Obviously, this is not a series to read because they are ground-breaking literature; the point is that they’re fun.

As usual, I found the world-building interesting. The action here centres around a team of superheroic Aces sent to deal with hurricanes hitting New Orleans, oil wars in Kuwait, and genocide in Nigeria. Like [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442239711s/472331.jpg|4358649] writ large, the overriding message is that superpowers usually complicate and exacerbate rather than diffuse emergencies. The role of Aces in politics and society is depicted with nuance, as indeed is the fine line between Ace, Deuce (a minor power of little use), and Joker (a useless or damaging mutation). The usefulness of a power is very situationally dependent. I also enjoyed some of the absurd aspects of superheroics - notably the rancor between Lama and Llama, who are constantly mistaken for one another.

Such lightness is pretty rare though, as the book is for the most part grim, violent, and bloody. Plot is given precedence over character development, in part due to the cast of thousands. I found 'Busted Flush' to be an exciting page-turner, well suited to reading at 4am during a bout of insomnia. It did make me wish I’d read the intervening parts of the series first, though. It can be enjoyed without knowing all the backstory, however I suspect it would be better with it.

EDIT: I wrote this review while sleep-deprived and forgot a couple of minor pedantic matters. Some sections of the book take place in Cambridge, which is definitely not laid out in 'blocks'. The city centre laughs at the notion of a grid system. Moreover, the river Cam is not caramel coloured unless in flood. I can see it out of the window and it is more of a greenish grey. (Sorry, I just can't resist being pedantic.) show less

There is an undeniable meta-fictional aspect to a science fiction novel that is written by a talented group of writers which is centered on a team of superheroes. Teamwork is essential in both cases in order to achieve success. One mistake by a hero and people die. Similarly, one mistake by a writer and the reader suffers (there are some things worse than death). Individually then, each writer mimics the heroes they write about as both are responsible for the completion of a specific task that contributes to a greater goal. And like all superteams, the quality of the team is dictated by the quality of its members. One weak link and the team goes from being the X-Men to being Alpha Flight. So the inherent difficulty in producing a mosaic show more novel is in assembling a top-notch team of writers. To write about the Amazing Bubbles and Drummer Boy, you need to have Action-Packed Plot Man and Snappy Dialogue Girl in your Legion of SuperLiterati. (Episodic writing for a television series also parallels the writing of a mosaic novel. Once again, the quality of each individual episode contributes to the overall quality of the show.)

Foremost, you need someone responsible for assembling the team. Assuming the Professor X role here for the latest Wild Card-themed mosaic novel “Busted Flush” is the incomparable George R.R. Martin. In his editorial stewardship, Martin has assembled a fantastic collection of talent. Stephen Leigh (writing as S.L. Farrell), Victor Milán, John Jos. Miller, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Walton Simons, Caroline Spector, Ian Tregillis, Carrie Vaughn and Melinda M. Snodgrass all make valuable contributions to the novel. There are no weak links in this collection. Snodgrass, in particular, really shines with some beautifully written interludes. She is so talented and underrated that people should probably be chained to desks and forced to read her. She’s the glue of the story and the literary Batman of the team.

As a group, the writers have created an intensely powerful and intelligent novel filled with political and social context seemingly ripped from today’s headlines. Populated with beautifully developed and extremely complex characters, “Busted Flush” goes beyond the two dimensional superheroes in comics. These superheroes have that additional dimension often missing from their comic brethren—human complexity. They live, love, do good, make mistakes, and most importantly, they must cope. Cope with their power and its repercussions. And like in real life some do it better than others. Throughout all this angst and drama though, “Busted Flush” never degenerates into a soap opera when it very easily could have. Like Martin’s fantasy series The Sword of Ice and Fire, the tone is firmly adult without being exuberantly over-the-top. So elements which on the surface would appear to be salacious or seemingly ridiculous like one hero’s lesbian experience during a hurricane or another hero being a hermaphrodite come off as believable in the course of the book. For these seemingly outlandish incidents to seem believable, the characters must work. And they work incredibly well here.

John Fortune and his U.N.-sponsored team of aces known as the Committee find themselves contending with three separate world incidents. In the oil region of Nigeria, war is blossoming between the Nigerians and a newly-formed nation called the People’s Paradise of Africa which is backed by the ultra-powerful ace The Radical. Reports of genocide have reached Fortune who decides to lead a team into Africa to further investigate the conflict and make recommendations.

The world is also in the grips of a terrible oil shortage which has sent oil prices skyrocketing. Prince Siraj of the Caliphate has manipulated oil production in order to artificially induce the crisis (as well as financially benefit from the higher prices). The U.N. has deemed Prince Siraj’s actions to be, in essence, economic terrorism. A Committee team lead by Drummer Boy is assigned to the region to support U.N. troops in opening up oil production.

New Orleans is being threatened with a brutal hurricane season. The U.N. decides to post another team of aces to the region to help with storm preparation and to provide emergency help. On their arrival, the team discovers another problem plaguing the city—someone appears to be creating zombies.

Meanwhile, a tremendous explosion has obliterated the town of Pyote, Texas. The lone survivor is a young boy named Drake who is immediately rushed off to a government facility called the Biological Isolation and Containment Center (BICC) for further evaluation. The Committee believes that a nuclear explosion is behind the town’s destruction, and the U.S. government is treating the situation as an act of terrorism. But doctors at the BICC discover that, in fact, Drake is an ace with the power to cause nuclear explosions. Determining he is too dangerous to live, the BICC administration decides to terminate Drake. With the help of another ace named Niobe, Drake eventually escapes from the BICC facility. On the run, Niobe and Drake must evade a team of aces sent after them by the U.S. government as well as avoid being captured by other organizations that would have a great interest in a young man who can cause nuclear explosions. Soon, the Committee is forced to get involved with the pursuit of the fugitives. But in the end will they help or harm Drake?

Interspersed throughout the novel are interludes focusing on the ace Noel Matthews who not only has the ability to teleport, but also the ability to shape-change into other personas. One of his alter-egos, Lilith, is an active member of the Committee, while another, Bahir, is a confidante of Prince Siraj. To complicate matters, Noel himself is a double agent working for a British organization called the Silver Helix. While caring for his dying father, Noel (through the appropriate persona) must often run conflicting errands for the Committee and Prince Siraj. Noel’s life though suddenly changes when he is sent in pursuit of Niobe and Drake.

Though it deals with hot button topics like the problems in New Orleans, America’s energy dependence on foreign oil, and genocide in Africa, “Busted Flush” is both subtle and remarkably shrewd in its political and social commentary. Issues are well-treated, fairly presented and the writing does not devolve into pedagogy. The writers refrain from getting on their soapboxes and making political statements. Instead, they focus on the human drama that arises out of these situations. This is not to say the novel doesn’t take political stances on issues. It’s just these stances evolve out of the characters, and not out of the writers. And of the character responses only Drummer Boy’s “blood for oil” meltdown near the end of the novel could be considered bombastic; however, his response perfectly mirrors the emotional trauma he is dealing with.

All the characters are wonderfully imagined, and the interpersonal drama between them rings true. Niobe and Drake’s relationship is poignant and extremely touching as both of them must learn how to cope with tremendous personal loss. Noel must undertake a journey of self-discovery, finding out who he is apart from his personas. John, Kate and Michael must find out who they truly love. Michelle must deal with betraying the trust of people that care about her. These are real problems, and like real problems they often don’t have simple answers. It’s this tremendous character complexity that makes “Busted Flush” such an absolute success. The characters live and breathe. How else could a character named the Amazing Bubbles whose power is shooting out bubbles be not only believed, but embraced?

Of the various storylines, the least engaging is the one in which the aces open up the Caliphate’s oil production. This is mainly due to the lack of an interesting foil in this scenario. While the Africa team must contend with the misguided and completely insane Radical and the New Orleans’s group has their hands full with Hoodoo Mama (and her army of zombies), Drummer Boy’s team essentially has limited opposition, allowing them to easily accomplish their objective. I would have liked to have seen a greater resistance from the Caliphate rather than them immediately surrendering the field, but their overall lack of resistance is likely a subtle commentary about America’s easy path through Iraq during the initial invasion. But sometimes reality doesn’t make the best drama, and it’s most evident in this case.

Last Word:
A stunningly powerful and smart novel, “Busted Flush” features an amazing level of character complexity and interaction. George R.R. Martin has assembled an incredible team of writers who through hard teamwork and long training sessions have accomplished one hell of a goal—writing one of the best science fiction books of the year. show less

In a world where new Aces are recruited to appear on Suvivor meets American Idol type programs, the latest crop of reality TV graduates find themselves making some deadly serious choices. For Neil, Niobe, Michelle, and the rest, having a social conscience is much harder than it appears at first glance. Actions have consequences. Just how far are they willing to go to defend a line in the sand, blood, oil rights, and the future of children. Some things shouldn't be left up to the government - but can a handful of aces do any better?

Not as bleak and scary a picture as was painted in previous installments, but if you're looking for optimistic worldviews, elsewhere would be a better choice.

I've only gotten about a quarter of the way through at this point, so I am not giving it a final rating yet. (It took me several tries to get past chapter 4 of Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone but once I did I loved the whole series.) Right now I would put it at 2 stars.

Having heard of the Wild Card series before I was very interested in the opportunity to give it a try. Getting past the first couple chapters was a very hard slog. I'm not against the concept of shifting point of view--I have enjoyed several books that use that style of narrative. But I completely missed that it happened in chapter 2 (a second first person POV) until I got to chapter 4 (a third person POV). Then I had to go back and re-read chapter 2 for it to make any show more sense. And then having realized that, I notice that it looks like it is several short stories/novellas that have been woven together into one overarching story and assume the shuffling together was done because they will periodically cross paths or merge together before the ultimate climax..

I think that there is potential. Right now I don't understand this series's universe well enough to give it fair judgment. I want to like it. I think that in order to do that I need to circle back to the first book. Some may think that just points out an inherent weakness in the book--that you should be able to pick up any book in the series and start. To me that is like picking up a book and opening to the middle of it and start from there. show less

A new Wild Cards volume, courtesy of LibraryThing early reviewer copies! Trouble is, I really should have reread a couple of volumes and didn’t. Now there’s a reality show for new aces, plus a UN-affiliated group of aces going around the world on “peacekeeping” missions, plus an oil crisis in the Mideast. The US government is experimenting on aces and the British government is using one in particular to destabilize other governments. So it’s a lot of commentary on current events. Melinda Snodgrass has a bad “as you know, Bob” habit, and she and some of the others have some sort of weird hate-on for Hillary Clinton (when your AU is that she's a bitter, unmarried, power-hungry bureaucrat who hasn't risen as far as she wants, show more I'm thinking you have Issues with her). But I ended up mostly entertained. show less

Busted Flush is the 19th Wild Card novel, and thus as you might imagine it is not very new reader friendly. Now I've read the entire series up to this point and I still felt lost for the first 100 pages or so, which is probably not a good sign for anyone else coming to this book.

Part of this lack of clarity is due to the nature of the Wild Cards project. With a few exceptions each book is composed of a series of short stories edited together by George R.R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass. Sometimes this works very well, and other times not so much. This book leans towards the later. The book has nine writers, just as many lead protagonists, four A plots, and a ton of B plots (that largely lay unresolved by novel's end). And to make show more things worse, there's no real effort to reintroduce any of the characters from prior books. You have to get through half the book before you can match names to codenames and powers (this is a superhero story after all).

On the other hand this is the rare book that ends better than it begins. The individual character arcs are pretty strong and they fit together into a whole quite well, and the last third of the book actually starts to recapture some of the feel of the series' earlier volumes. And then it stops with a fairly blatant lead in to the next book, which might actually be pretty promising in that it seems likely to resolve a plot that can be traced back to the very first Wild Cards novel. And that's enough to keep my interest, although just barely, but I can't really recommend this to anyone else. show less