JOKERTOWN SHUFFLE (Wild Cards) [Mass Market Paperback]

George R.R. Martin (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (August 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553291742
• ISBN-13: 978-0553291742
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

George R.R. Martin sold his first story in 1971 and has been writing professionally since then. He spent ten years in Hollywood as a writer-producer, working on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and television pilots that were never made. In the mid '90s he returned to prose, his first love, and began work on his epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. He has been in the Seven Kingdoms ever since. Whenever he's allowed to leave, he returns to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with the lovely Parris, and two cats named Augustus and Caligula, who think they run the place.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as some, May 19, 2008

By 

General Pete (SC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: JOKERTOWN SHUFFLE (Wild Cards) (Mass Market Paperback)

I don't think that anyone blames the authors individually the jumpers are just a terrible story arch.

Most of this story is set in a world where a madman released a bomb in 1946 that spawned the Wildcard Virus resulting in "Aces" gifted with superhuman powers and "jokers" cursed with various physical and mental deformities. While most stories are focused primarily on the Aces and the roundabout good they do humanity this one is focused primarily on the character of Hieronymous Bloat. Bloat genuinely concerned about the plight of the jokers and wants to use his mental powers to help. However he also never developed past the mental level of a particularly needy teenager. He quickly becomes a pawn in someone else's game.

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to the Rox..., November 14, 2002

By 

"t_i_r" (Frederick, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JOKERTOWN SHUFFLE (Wild Cards) (Mass Market Paperback)

The other reviews I've read here seem overly harsh to me. The only fantasy I've ever enjoyed was Tolkien, and I'm an avid reader (and critic) of Science Fiction, and I Loved this book, comic book elements and all. Yeah, Tachyon (or, more accurately, Melinda Snodgrass) is getting really boring really quickly, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything else about this book. We are first introduced to Bloat in this book and the events that unfold around him from here on out in the series (the Rox War) I thought were some of the most exciting and well-written of the entire series. I would say this book is well worth the read.

3.0 out of 5 stars An Improvement, May 9, 2001

By 

Omer Belsky (Haifa, Israel) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JOKERTOWN SHUFFLE (Wild Cards) (Mass Market Paperback)

After the terrible 'One eyed Jacks', the Wild Cards make a return to form of a sort with 'Jokertown' shuffle. Of a sort, I say, because even though I enjoyed this book way more than the last one, I still think the Wild Cards have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

Start with the good? Well, the good is Walton Simon, who wrote another 'nobody' story, and this time more succesfully than other times, maybe because he doesn't have to carry a whole book on his back. Even Lewish Shiner surprises us with a story almost decent - how unbelievable is that?

The Really good is Stephen Leigh and Walter Jon Williams. Boy do these guys deliver. The Wild Cards need way many more writers like them. I've heard good things about 'Black Shadow', and it is all true. He's become one of my favorite characters. Strong, vicious, and ultimately just.

Leigh's Bloat is one of the main narratives in this Wild Cards book, and while I don't QUITE like his stuff as much as I like the Puppetman, but this is also high quality fiction.

The Bad, though, is the general story. The Jumpers were a mistake, making St. Lethem the villain was a mistake, some of the plot twists concerning Bloat seems like a mistake, and the entire Blaise character ark ( and some might say his entire character) have been misconcieved.

However, the REALLY bad is Melinda Snodgras's Tachyon.

What happened to the woman who wrote what is still one of the best Wild Cards stories out there 'Degredation Rites'? That story had real emotion, cleverness, subtlty. But this...

Her story in WC 9, 'Lovers' is an awful 'hit you over the head' feminist message thing. OK, so Tachy's a chauvinist, what else is new? The story is so weak, pathetic and uninteresting, it actually ruined several stories which were more or less related. The dignity of Tachyon is all gone ( I believe I've discussed the over-exosure of the character back in WC4. Boy, was I right). I do hope they'll kill Tach off and Snodgras will either try and write more stuff like 'degredation rites' or go away.

Because, at the end of the day, we need more stuff like 'Degredation Rites' to make the WC world interesting again. The Wild Cards aren't SUPERHERO stories - they're, at their best, an action and plot oriented attack on the problems of society using Science Fiction. Plotlines like the 'Jampers' only make the story weaker, because mindless action we can get elsewhere. The entire Jampers ark is, for this reader, insubstantial and reeking of Fantasy, not even wild Science Fiction.

Maybe this review has been too harsh. Jokertown Shuffle is entertaining. But to me, the Wild Cards can be much more than that, and I hope it'll return to form soon.