Reviews

Busted Flush by George R.R. Martin

benlundns's review against another edition

5.0

I'm pretty sure that the Wild Card series is my absolute favorite. This is the third time I have read this book and I've loved it every time. The idea of this shared universe with so many colourful characters written about by so many different authors. I can't get enough of it. Tachyon, Captain Trips, The Great and Powerful Turtle. They are all there, and it feels real, (as much as an alternate reality, 1980's can feel). And it's all so seamlessly woven together, thanks to, I'm sure, some heavy editing, but it's worth it.

If you like the current Comic Book movie craze, or just super heroes in general, do yourself a favor and pick up one of these books. Read just one of the stories and see if you're not hooked.

scheu's review against another edition

4.0

Coming from an old-timey reader of the Wild Cards series, I like the direction that the newer books have taken. The more you stick with a real-world sort of time frame, the less you can talk about the same old characters decade after decade. Although honestly I liked that Billy Ray showed up. What a jerk.

snowwolf75's review against another edition

4.0

Having not read any of the Wild Cards series (19? Seriously?) I didn't know what I was getting myself into. However, I got this book free for attending a con and since it's SciFi, I decided to try it out. I was rather impressed with it because it juggled a number of characters and plot gracefully, imho, due to the mosaic aspect of the book. The emotions evoked from reading it ranged the gamut of happy, sad (nearly to the point of tears), jovial (laughing on the bus gets questioning looks), and pensive. My hat's off to the authors.

booksandladders's review against another edition

3.0

See this review and more on Books and Ladders!

Honestly, I don't know how this averaged out to three stars because it was just so boring and bad. The anthology part of it was completely missing and it was trying to be a full novel that tied itself together with an extremely boring character and two antagonists that didn't really make sense. I really like the alien invasion portion of it but it was so glossed over that I couldn't even enjoy it. I'm not sure if I will continue going through all the volumes or just read the ones that seem more interesting. Really disappointed with this one.

butterfly2507's review against another edition

1.0

Es ist schon einige Zeit her seit ich das erste Buch gelesen habe. Trotzdem habe ich mich auf den zweiten Teil gefreut weil mir der erste relativ gut gefallen hat. Dennoch muss ich sagen dass ich es abgebrochen habe. Für mich mal wieder zu viele verschiedene Charaktere, Eigenschaften (Gaben, was auch immer) bei denen ich immer durcheinander komme. Ausserdem habe ich das Gefühl das zwischen den Charakteren auch Zeitsprünge sind? Es ist mir zu konfus.

cakegeek's review against another edition

4.0

Took a while to get into this one properly. This one read a lot more like a single storyline than the first one :)

calamity_mary's review against another edition

4.0

This time around the Wild Card universe takes us trough an alien invasion, giving clever nods to ancient mythology and even the ctulhu mythos, while introducing several new characters like Walrus, the Astronomer, Dr. Tachyon’s family and their sentient ships (Hellcat and Baby), Captain Trips, Modular Man, and many others.
I was again mesmerized by this alternate Earth that George R R Martin and his friends created, even if it did not amaze me as much as the first volume, it felt as if I was reading about old friends. Jokertown in itself is gripping, a city within the city, where everything seems to happen, a town of endless possibilities.
This second volume read more like a pulp adventure, with alien invaders and a secret society of villains that’s trying to rule the world against the good guys that are always saving the day in the nick of time. Yet it was good, interesting and I’m certain I’m gonna keep reading the series.
Honestly, if you love sci-fi, horror and superheroes then so should you.

stuckonamber's review against another edition

4.0

Second volume of the shared world Wild Cards anthology. Moving forward to the eighties, the world is under threat from an alien menace. Dark in tone at times, and focusing more on the aliens than how the wild cards react to real history, this was sometimes a harder read than the previous book. However, the returning characters remain engaging and the final confrontation with the alien resulted in a surprising and positive outcome. Overall I enjoyed the story, if finding it hard read at times

llona_llegaconlalluvia's review against another edition

3.0

stavolta c'è una storia!
Tachy e gli assi sventano l'attacco alieno della Madre Sciame

tikitoka's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense 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

3.0