Wild Cards I: Expanded Edition

by George R.R. Martin

Book Overview

Back in print after a decade, expanded with new original material, this is the first volume of George R. R. Martin's Wild cards shared-world series

There is a secret history of the world--a history in which an alien virus struck the Earth in the aftermath of World War II, endowing a handful of survivors with extraordinary powers. Some were called Aces--those with superhuman mental and physical abilities. Others were termed Jokers--cursed...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765365073
• ISBN13: 9780765365071
• Release Date: June 2012
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 4.1" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

It was a good book with a new and unique plot. It was a little disjointed but overall it was very entertaining and would definitely recommend.

Everything you ever liked about superheroes, and more

Do you remember how much you enjoyed reading your favorite superhero comics when you were 11? Then you grew up, and lost it. But now the magic is back: these books will make you feel in the same way even if now you've graduated, you've got a family and maybe you've already lost that also, you're a responsible grown-up in every sense. And the good thing is that these stories take place in the same time when you were becoming what you are now, and reading them will give you a new perspective on the way things were. The "Wild Cards" series is an alternate history of the second half of the XX century, in a world where superheroes really start to exist after the second world war and they find themselves at the center of the most important events in these last decades from Korea to Vietnam, with gems like McCarthy against communist superheroes, the ascent of a pervert politician with the secret power to manipulate people, comments in the style of Tom Wolfe, the Lizard King charming his audience through lysergic hallucinations until a reactionary Polish superhero fights back, a nerd Berkeley student who turns into random superheroes when he takes drugs. And all this just as a start. You better buy this book and all the sequels at once, because all George R.R. Martin's books always become cult classics, and there's no way to find them unless they are reprinted. This guy is really a very gifted storyteller, and here he proves to be also an excellent editor: not all contributors are on the same level, but he manages to make it all feel organic, and not just a bunch of separate tales. A grand parade of editorial techniques that make this project a paradigm for mosaic novels. It's a pity that there are "only" 15 novels... I'd love to see these guys in action even in this new troubled millennium, and certainly there'd be no shortage of inspiring events.

Here's Where It All Began-- An SF Epic

I'm still in the process of tracking down some of the later episodes in this multi-author, multi-book saga, but you can't go wrong with this first volume. (Last I checked, there were SIXTEEN books in the series.) It introduces the "Aces" (advantageously-mutated humans) and the "Jokers" (disadvantageously-mutated humans) who live in New York in the last half of the 20th century. After a catastrophic viral incident in 1946, the mutant "wild cards" respond in different ways to their fates, and the stories here are always entertaining. Best for me is the first story by the irrepressible Howard Waldrop, in which he gets the ball rolling. But all are excellent. This is entertaining, well-written, and thought-provoking SF with pulp overtones (Martin tells us early of his love for the great comic book heroes), and you may find yourself working yourself through the many volumes with as much enthusiasm as me...

A fantastic new world of heroes!

A month ago (as of this writing) I'd never ever heard of this series, but now I'm eagerly awaiting the next volume. George R.R. Martin has assembled some fantastic writers to concoct an entire universe of "Wild Card" superheroes that parallels our own world even moreso than the worlds of Marvel and DC Comics which serve as much of the inspiration.Here's the concept -- in the days after World War II a bomb went off in the skies above New York City, blanketing the people in a virus. Most of them died. Some, the "jokers" underwent a terrible transformation. A select few drew "aces" -- superpowers without a deformity. Each writer in this collection (an intriguing device martin calls a "Mosaic Novel") tells the story of an ace or joker of his or her creation. All of the stories stand on their own, although many feel very much like a chapter in a longer tale (John J. Miller's "Comes the Hunter" especially) and I hope these threads are picked up in the later books.As with any collection of diverse writers, some stories are better than others. Martin's own "Shell Games" is my favorite in this volume -- I could have done without the sewer tale, "Down Deep." Even with that lesser story, the concept and execution is wonderful -- I for one am hoping Martin deals out a few more Wild Cards in the future.

A golden oldie

I read this series when it was originally released. I wasnt happy with where the series eventually ended up late in the series, but the earlier works are fond favorites.People buying this book (or others in the series) because they are fans of GRRMartins Song of Ice and Fire series are likely to be disapointed due to misaligned expectations. The only thing this series has in common with the Song of Ice and Fire is a gritty certainty that favorite characters will get killed....or worse, and the use of widely scattered often disconnected characters and plotlines that sometimes may cross but also might never. Further, as this is a 'mosaic' novel, GRRMartin isnt the sole proprietor of the stories. Treated as a seperate entity from GRRMartin's more recent series, the Wild Cards series is a fairly unique and often brilliant body of work. Due to its nature, not all of the short stories will appeal to everyone; to be sure there are stories and story arcs that dont appeal to me either. Regardless, taken as a whole the series is really something special. Its similar to a massive wall mural which cant be appreciated from up close; you have to pull back abit and look at it in its entirety to fully appreciate the overall effect.The strength of the series lays in its deft characterizations. Some of my favorite fictional characters are from this series; the Turtle, Croyd Crenson (the Sleeper), Golden Boy, Mackie Messer, Carnifex, Mr Nobody, Jumpin Jack Flash (et al), Kid Dinosaur.....the list goes on and on.The series really picks up in the second book, but the 1st is where all of the necessary background resides. Unfortunately, the books are being released in a grossly overpriced large softbound edition; my advice it to find the original paperbacks in a used book store.

Why all comic readers need this book

For those of you out there that grew up on comic books as I did, this book is a must. From the get-go the collaborative authors strip down super-heroes to their roots and show how truly heroic people are. There aren't any fancy teams or 2 dimensional characters. These are all people that you might meet and love, hate, want... etc. Except some of them have weird powers and some of them as bizarrely misshapen. Oh, and make sure to watch a little boy name Tom become a true hero, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TURTLE, through the books.