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ohnopatrick's review
3.0
Not a bad book. Not great, in my opinion, either. The novel is made up of short-story chapters written by different authors. Being such it suffers a bit from a lack of coherence. A good spin on the super-hero genre, though.
scheu's review
3.0
Starts out like it isn't much of a Wild Cards book, but ends like a for-real Wild Cards book. As a jumping-on point for new readers, it's all right. Longtime fans will wonder where everyone is.
On a side note, after 25-plus years of reading WC books, I'm starting to be creeped out by the way some of the authors write about women. I would say it's not quite as big a creep factor as reading Piers Anthony, but still, creepy. It's more jarring when you read the stories BY women ("Metagames" for instance). Also, what is the deal with WC writers saying somebody has "cafe au lait" skin? This is a term I have only ever seen in these books. There's got to be a better way to say that. "She had skin like a grande Misto".
On a side note, after 25-plus years of reading WC books, I'm starting to be creeped out by the way some of the authors write about women. I would say it's not quite as big a creep factor as reading Piers Anthony, but still, creepy. It's more jarring when you read the stories BY women ("Metagames" for instance). Also, what is the deal with WC writers saying somebody has "cafe au lait" skin? This is a term I have only ever seen in these books. There's got to be a better way to say that. "She had skin like a grande Misto".
lunchlander's review
4.0
After a long time away (I don't know that I read the last couple of books), I was drawn back to Wild Cards by the promise of an updated universe and my interest in George R.R. Martin thanks to Game of Thrones.
I was very pleased with the results. As with all of the "mosaic novels," there are chapters, writers and characters who are not as strong as the rest, but the American Hero reality show and its varying contestants make up a pretty strong group, as diverse and interesting as the original Wild Cards (and I see that Holy Roller, mentioned in the GURPS Wild Cards book, made it into the universe he helped create after all). I was particularly taken with Jonathan Hive and the blog post entry style used to convey his writing, but I also really liked Curveball, Drummer Boy and the British spy, whose identity and powers I can't really talk about without giving away one of the cooler surprises of the book.
The story transitions nicely from the manufactured TV drama of American Hero to the more serious politically-infused drama in Egypt, without making either story feel like a waste of time. I'd love to see it adapted to comics, because there are a lot of cool visual moments in the writing, but even as a standalone novel about superheroes, it shows why the Wild Cards universe captured my attention way back when and sort of makes me long to reread them all. Except that I don't own them anymore, and I definitely don't have time for such a mass re-reading.
I was very pleased with the results. As with all of the "mosaic novels," there are chapters, writers and characters who are not as strong as the rest, but the American Hero reality show and its varying contestants make up a pretty strong group, as diverse and interesting as the original Wild Cards (and I see that Holy Roller, mentioned in the GURPS Wild Cards book, made it into the universe he helped create after all). I was particularly taken with Jonathan Hive and the blog post entry style used to convey his writing, but I also really liked Curveball, Drummer Boy and the British spy, whose identity and powers I can't really talk about without giving away one of the cooler surprises of the book.
The story transitions nicely from the manufactured TV drama of American Hero to the more serious politically-infused drama in Egypt, without making either story feel like a waste of time. I'd love to see it adapted to comics, because there are a lot of cool visual moments in the writing, but even as a standalone novel about superheroes, it shows why the Wild Cards universe captured my attention way back when and sort of makes me long to reread them all. Except that I don't own them anymore, and I definitely don't have time for such a mass re-reading.
butterfly2507's review against another edition
3.0
Wisst ihr wie lange ich gebraucht habe um das Buch zu beenden? :o Fast ne Woche! Ich weiss nicht was es war aber alles hat sich so lang gezogen. Manche Stories waren uninteressant und ich weiss ehrlich gesagt immer noch nicht so richtig was passiert ist.. :S
eososray's review
4.0
Fantastic! Great chacaters, wonderful plot! Makes you laugh and I can't wait to see what happens next.
jonmhansen's review
4.0
A strong contender. Reminded me of how much I enjoyed this series in the first place.
rohkostjana's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Continuity between the different stories: 5/5
Likeable/Interesting characters: 2.5/5
Too many characters to care about: 5/5
Too random wild cards to get an accurate feeling of the world (you got rules, you got conflict, you want conflict): 4/5
Bonus points for a strong theme,
But, as expected, some parts were better than others.
Maybe I'll pick up the first book in the series. Because the writing was so simple and easy to get through. And I'm a little curious.
Continuity between the different stories: 5/5
Likeable/Interesting characters: 2.5/5
Too many characters to care about: 5/5
Too random wild cards to get an accurate feeling of the world (you got rules, you got conflict, you want conflict): 4/5
Bonus points for a strong theme,
But, as expected, some parts were better than others.
Maybe I'll pick up the first book in the series. Because the writing was so simple and easy to get through. And I'm a little curious.
mechbutterfly's review against another edition
2.0
I liked the concept of several authors writing short stories set in the same world build, but I ended up liking just two of the stories, the rest was kinda meh. I'd like to give the next book in the series a shot though, since the premise is really nice.