Customer Reviews

Busted Flush (Wild Cards Novel)

5 star:		(3)
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The first thing you should know is that this book is not written by George R. R. Martin. He is the editor, and the novel is made up of shorter pieces by several different writers. This is #19 in a series, and while it can be enjoyed on its own, you should at least read the previous book, "Inside Straight", as most of the characters are introduced in that volume and it can be hard to keep up.

The other thing you should know is that this is completely different from GRRM's "A Song of Ice and Fire." This is superhero fiction, which owes a great deal to comic books, and is reminiscent of recent TV series such as "Heroes" and the "The 4400." If you like those shows, or have enjoyed X-Men or Justice League comic books, then Wild Cards will probably appeal to you.

Finally, the Wild Cards books are far more creative and inventive than what you'll see on "Heroes." (And I am a "Heroes" fan.) In a parallel world, humanity has been infected by an alien virus that kills 90% of its victims, horribly disfigures another 9%, and gifts the remaining 1% with a useful super-ability. These people are called "aces."

In this volume, which is a close sequel to "Inside Straight", a group of aces under U.N. auspices travels to three hotspots in the globe, where they learn how difficult it can be to solve problems, even with superpowers. The action takes a little while to build, but the story quickly builds to a breakneck pace and ultimately to a satisfying conclusion.

For fans of the series, I have to recommend this one highly. I enjoyed this one more than any volume since "Black Trump" and look forward eagerly to the next book.

As a longtime WildCards fan (since 1987) this latest entry, the nineteenth in the series, is a pretty solid part two to the Committee trilogy and a decent introduction to the fictional world as a whole.

If you're curious about the series and the other 17 books seem daunting, give this and Inside Straight a try. You don't have to know anything other than the background info about the wildcard virus (explained at length in other reviews here) and the fact that the idealistic 20-somethings that make up the Committee have to live in the shadow of aces past.

Most compelling to me is the drive of these kids to use their abilities for the betterment of man and the exhausting realization they're coming to that you can't save the world from every disaster. It's a sacrifice that's beginning to take its toll on their united vision and I'm excited to see Suicide Kings follow this out to what feels like a catastrophic conclusion. As with all the other books in this series, the characters are strong, memorable and well-served by their respective authors.

As I told a friend of mine, this is what Heroes wishes it was.

I would suggest that you find some way to start at the beginning with the Wildcards it is a big and expansive set of anthologies this is #19 in a set if I remember correctly. Speaking for myself I always have one problem with the books the series is so large and the cast of characters so expansive I have trouble remembering who is who and where the action is going. Still they read very quickly and the read is entertaining. I think its great that the group of authors going Wildcards has managed to keep it going for so many years.

Busted Flush continues the adventures of next generation of Wild Cards, with a few of the originals in pivotal roles. All of them are survivors of the deadly alien Joker virus that triggers strange deformities and powerful abilities, and most of whom work for various governments as authorized superheroes or weapons. It's set in a 10 degree variant universe, wherein American Hero is a Survivor-style show for testing/recruiting new Wild Cards, the U.S. President is named Kennedy, the Attorney General is Hilary Rodham, and fuel from the Mideast costs 300 dollars a barrel, so not many people are driving cars; and evidently our politicians are still clueless and ineffective, because no one is producing ethanol from hemp. If only Arizona could send Leslie Fish to the Senate.
The "Double Helix" pieces are by Melinda Snodgrass, who wrote The Edge of Reason last year. Teleporting hermaphrodite British Interpol ace Noel leads a duplicitous life as a double-agent. As assassin Bahir, he spies on/works for/sabotages the United Arab Emirate's Prince Siraj, the man who sets the prices on oil. As Lilith, she spies on/works for/sabotages the Committee, the organization which directs superhero activities of Aces on this side of the pond. Lilith is sexy and snarky; Bahir is by turn respectful and flippant with authority figures; but Noel is trying to cope with a dying dad and accumulated self-loathing.
"Could, Would, Shoulda," penned by Caroline Spector, follows the activities of Bubbles, who has PTSD from her rescue work in Egypt and a troubled relationship with her girlfriend, but still has the heart to visit young jokers and aces kept in hospitals or other holding facilities. She befriends a Wild Card named Niobe, after the Greek queen who grieved inconsolably for the death of all her 14 children. Niobe births fully activated Wild Cards every time she breeds, but all her children die in a matter of days.
Niobe also shares the "Political Science" storyline with 13 year old Blake, who mysteriously survived a nuclear explosion in a two-bit, played-out oil town in Texas. Blake's reaction to the Joker virus is just emerging, and when it proves to be out of control, he's slated for termination. Niobe and her children bust Blake out, but they inadvertently release some of the most dangerous criminal Jokers on the planet, and the Committee sends some of its finest to clean up the ensuing mess. Ian Tregellis and Walton Simons write this story arc, and John Jos. Miller gets to tell more of it in "Mortality's Strong Hand."
"Just Cause," by Carrie Vaughn, follows Committee members Ana, Kate, and Tinker, who specialize in mitigating natural disasters. Kate is involved in a romantic triangle with her boss, John "Fortune" Tipton-Clarke, and fellow Ace Michael, aka Drummer Boy, who gets his own storyline in "Dirge in a Major Key" by Stephen Leigh.
Kevin Andrew Murphy's "The Tears of Nephritus" follows the senior Ace, Ellen, who can channel the memories and abilities of others if she has something of theirs to hold onto. Too bad for Ellen - she's in love with a ghost.
Victor Milan writes the other sections, giving each its own title. These are the darkest, since his focus is the politics of genocide and power plays, featuring the seemingly indestructible shadow Ace, The Radical.


George Martin edited but did not actually write any of the storylines that are woven together to make up Busted Flush, which I will only forgive if he is working on another Tuff Voyaging story. That being said, his touch at the helm is sure, and the actual authors do this series fantastic justice. It's the literary equivalent of The Traveling Willburys

i love wildcards. i mean, i loooove the wildcards. read every volume published. "inside straight", the previous one, was AWESOME. it centered around an (intentionally) hokey reality show called "american heroes" and i was a little unsure about the premise. maybe the writers were loosing their touch. then it read it. i shouldn't have doubted GRRM and co. they made it WORK. not only that, they made it damn GOOD.

so it is with this in mind that i went into busted flush. i must admit i hated the first few chapters. where were the characters i've grown to love? what happened to them? the chapters featured unlikable, miserable strangers. i was regretting pre-odering the book.

then slowly but surely, it started getting better. these sad sack characters started to change, evolve, grow. then the point-of-view switched to more familiar cast members, and by then the book was firing on all cylinders and all was right in the world. by the end i grew to love the new characters as much as the old ones. i CANNOT WAIT for the next book!

the book? well, i don't want to spoil anything... if this were a star wars movie, this would be empire strikes back. things get darker, new aces and jokers are introduced, and there are major shake ups in the status quo. i won't say more because the developments are too damn delicious to spoil. this is another damn good chapter, and i hope to god the next one comes out in the next twelve months. anymore and i would burst.

(BTW i'm assuming you've read the previous novel "inside straight". you can come into this book cold, but i wouldn't recommend it.)

The pandemic disaster that changed the modern world occurred in 1946 leading to the establishment of the United Nation's Committee on Extraordinary Interventions. These wild cards have worked for years to solve global catastrophes and failures. Their current leader John Fortune is a former Ace operative so he knows how difficult field work is as there is never enough resourcing especially manpower to deal with all the calamities.

Recruiting and training a new group of Aces who think 1946 is ancient history, he sends the squad out into the world though his gut questions whether they are ready. He knows they are out of time so they must do their best with the hand dealt them. He sends rookies with vets as much as possible. The crews go to the powerful Caliphate Islamic Empire whose leaders are causing economic havoc everywhere; they deal with genocide in Nigeria and its African neighbors; a hurricane in New Orleans leaves them to battle the aftermath of zombies attacking the survivors; and a nuclear explosion in Texas has led to a deadlier new arms race. This and much more including nasty lethal stuff inside the government is the normal world chaos for a new generation of Aces to contend with as best they can.

The latest Aces interrelated anthology is held together by Melinda Snodgrass' delightful "Double Helix" whose depressed hero makes all the superheroes seem real. Each entry is strong and enhances the overall mythos. Fans of the saga will relish the latest calamities and superheroes contending with them; while newcomers will enjoy this entry that can be read by it self but also seek at least the previous compilation of the new generation of Wild Cards (see INSIDE STRAIGHT).

Harriet Klausner

Delivers that old Martin magic with wild abilities and personal conflicts well-pooled in the "Wild Cards" tradition.

Busted Flush is an adequate addition to the Wild Cards fold. At times better, and at times worse than its predecessor, Busted Flush continues the story of a UN sponsored Committee of super powered Aces, fighting trouble around the globe. The bad news is that most of the scenes with the Committee fall flat. Wild Cards has always kept the traditionally super heroic at arms length. Their world had a few traditional superheroes but they were never central characters. The Committee and its Aces are much more superheroic than normal for Wild Cards, and that tends to fail here.

The best scenes are the ones with non-Committee members. Melinda Snodgrass turns in an enjoyable turn here and manages to redeem a character who I had loathed in the last book by showing his inner demons. Victor Milan returns with the best installment in the book, following Capn Trips alter ego The Radical as he fights a bloody war in Africa. Of the new characters there's only one that really interesting. We get a new Joker named Genetrix, who manages to be an effective and touching character despite the ludicrous surroundings in which they've put her.

Wild Cards is one of sci-fi's most celebrated series, and after a long hiatus came roaring back to the life with the terrific, timely and inspirational Inside Straight. Using the framing device of a superhero (or Ace) reality show, it introduced a new generation of intriguing characters and then brought them to the Middle East in a story that could have been ripped from today's headlines. Wild Cards was back on track.

Busted Flush is aptly named. It takes everything that was enjoyable about the first book and drags it through the mud. Incoherently blending stories from Nigeria to the Middle East to Texas it goes wrong in every way possible. The Radical, one of the more central of the old series characters in his other incarnation(s) is reintroduced in a way that makes little sense from story to story. An inordinate amount of time is spent on a joker/ace named Niobe whose power is to have mayfly children with various powers that die as soon as we might get attached. The story is written around Lilith, a shapechanging and teleporting Ace who is one of the least appealing Wild Cards ever.

I could go on. I won't. I rarely say I wish I hadn't read a book, but Busted Flush is the Matrix Returns of sequels. It makes me doubt the quality of Inside Straight.