Wild Cards, Jokers Wild: Jokers Wild (Wild Cards, Book 3) (Volume 3) [Paperback]

George R. R. Martin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

The streets of New York have erupted in celebration of Wild Card Day—the annual event held every September 15th to remember the dead and cherish the living. With each passing year, the festivities become larger and more fevered. And this year—1986, the fortieth anniversary—promises to be the biggest and best Wild Card Day ever. The media and tourists have discovered the celebration, and taverns and restaurants expect record-setting business. But lurking in the background is a twisted genius who cares nothing for fun and festivity. The Astronomer has only one concern: destruction...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George R.R. Martin's work includes many short stories which are dominated by visual imagery. His most recent work A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, a dynastic epic which includes A GAME OF THRONES has won him a number of fantasy writing awards. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Ibooks, Inc. (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596872845
• ISBN-13: 978-1596872844
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,171,785 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

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fans of GRRM need not apply, February 28, 2002

By 

Dana W. Dodd Jr. (Franklin, Pa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jokers Wild (Wild Cards, Book 3) (Paperback)

My reason for writing this review is the others have missed the mark by a mile. They are all fans of George R.R. Martain's other more fantasy oriented work. This series is wildly removed from them. Of the entire line the 1st three are the absolute best. Only the 3rd book is realy one compleat story. The 1st 2 books are a collection of short stories. This simple fact seems to have escaped all the other reviewers. After words the series slowly degrades, as they all do, but there are still gems. It never gets bad just average at worst. If you are a fan of comic book heros and want to see a very well executed, realistic look at them this is the place to be. Now if they would just relase some new ones and get Allen Moore to write a story.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pleasant surprise, February 2, 2003

By 

Lanfir Leah Marithsen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jokers Wild (Wild Cards, Book 3) (Paperback)

As a huge fan of Martin's SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series, I too picked up some of his older work. The WILD CARDS series was a pleasant surprise. The series has an interesting concept, and good writers participating (esp Roger Zelazny, who's Sleeper-character stole my heart).

The WILD CARDS stories are all different, dealing with different times and storylines, but they are without failing interesting and original. Some of the stories had me secretly wiping away some tears (the Turtle, Golden Boy), others had me chuckling (the Sleeper)or reading with my heart in my throat (Fortunato).

In retrospect, the first two books were a setup for the grand happenings of Book 3, when all hell bursts loose on Wild Card Day. I loved the way the stories were weaved together in JOKERS WILD, where everything seemed to come together. It had a superb story/tension arc, and the characterization was without failing very well done.

I have only read the first three books so far, but I'm definitely keeping an eye out for other installments of this series.

I give the authors involved a big thumbs up for an original project like this!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A different approach, November 13, 2005

By 

mr sachmo (Carrollton, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jokers Wild (Wild Cards, Book 3) (Paperback)

Last night I finished reading Joker's Wild, the third installment in the Wildcards series.

Joker's Wild reads a bit differently than the first two books of the series, in that instead of a collection of related short stories, this book reads like a regular novel. At the end of the book they have credits stating who wrote and invented what character, and each chapter is divided up into sections, so I'm guessing that each author wrote a "section" pertaining to one of their characters. It may be my untrained eye, or the fact that I was so into the subject matter, but I had a hard time telling the authors apart in this book. As I said, it read like a novel, but it was also quite a page turner, so I was swept up in the story most of the time, and perhaps not paying enough attention to the techniques of each particular section.

The plot centers around the Wild Card Day celebrations in New York City in 1986. I can't really get much deeper into it than that, because I don't want to add spoilers, but I really enjoyed the story. It spans a little more than 24 hours, but there is a ton of action and intrugue in that twenty-four hour span. As I said, I found myself swept up in the story many times, and can't really think of a part that I didn't enjoy.

All of the best known aces appear in this book, but we learn more about some of the jokers as well. I found myself watching the line between joker and ace blur in this book; for example, the character of Spector (aka Demise) is a big part of this book, but at times I could see how his power would be considered an ace power, but to others it would definately be seen as a joker. A deadly one, but still unwanted. Incedentally, I really like the character of Spector. He's very interesting and well written.

At times I found the focus on sex a bit much. Yes, I understand that Fortunato's tantric power relies on sexual energy, but we also have sexual murderers, sexual ice sculptures, old aces wanting to have sex with young aces, etc. I'm not a prude, but it was a bit much at times.

Other than that, this was a very satisfying addition to the Wildcards series. Now if I can just get my hands on the next book....