Reviews

I originally read this in high school, and I can see why I never read any further in the series after this book. It's not horrible, but most of the stories are average or mediocre with lots of comic book and sci-fi cliches rendered in fairly conventional ways with no subversion or expansion. The Mason plotline is especially bland. The two most notable exceptions are Zelazny's "Ashes to Ashes", a quick funny romp with the Sleeper, and Martin's "Winter's Chill," a touching riff on the old story where romance never works out for superheroes.

jonmhansen's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

A nice follow-up from the last. The characters are complicated, to say the least, but you can find something in each of them to empathize with.

juliahersum's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Well I bought this book not realizing it was #19 in a series I had never read. Luckily it had new characters so didn't matter too much, but the beginning was quite confusing and not too intriguing. As the book continued some of the characters really got fleshed out and I strongly cared about characters like Niobe, Noel, and Ellen- but some of the other narrator's I didn't care for much. The politics and complicated plots all came together in the end making for a pretty satisfying read and late game page turner- I wish there had been a couple more chapters to flesh out the ending and cover what happened to everyone.

magsimum_overdrive's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

erickmacgregor's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Muy buenas historias, se están desarrollando mucho más los personajes antiguos. Me gustó que incluyen un poco más del pasado de algunos personajes y que hayan incluído nuevos.

unwrappingwords's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Aces High continues the format and story from the first Wild Cards book; different stories told by different authors, about the on-going effects of the wild card virus, dropped on humanity a few years previously. The second book shows us some familiar characters, and introduces new ones. There's a new threat in the shape of the Swarm, and the aces have to band together to defeat it. In this book, we meet the alien race that developed the virus, find out more about them, their planet and their sentient spaceships (which, to be fair, I absolutely loved). We also meet Capt'n Tripps (someone does mention a reference to Stephen King with that, too), who very quickly became one of my favourite characters. There's also Jube, also known as Walrus, who wonders around Jokertown selling newspapers. The stories here felt more closely linked than in the last book - we've moved past the introduction of the world, and here we delve into the lives of the characters themselves, criss-crossing as they fight off aliens and as a group of cultists is uncovered. It's a fantastic follow-up, with characters that just completely draw you into this alternative history of America.

randalm's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

A satisfying trashy sci fi read. Sure, there are too many characters to keep track of, and, yes, the plot was overly intricate. But if you like super heroes that act like human beings (sexual, jealous, ambivalent, ambitious, etc.), then this book is a fun read.

More...