A review by jpv0
Jokers Wild by Leanne C. Harper, Lewis Shiner, Edward Bryant, Melinda M. Snodgrass, John J. Miller, George R.R. Martin, Richard Kriegler, Walter Simons

3.0

Rather than the collection of short stories found in [b:Wild Cards|147908|Wild Cards (Wild Cards, #1)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375859477l/147908._SY75_.jpg|1807663] and [b:Aces High|67961|Aces High (Wild Cards, #2)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375859546l/67961._SY75_.jpg|1037829], [b:Jokers Wild|67955|Jokers Wild (Wild Cards, #3)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304286902l/67955._SY75_.jpg|25805396] is instead a mosaic novel, with the storylines all mixed into a single novel length story, with less clear distinction between the characters and their storylines.

I'm ... not thrilled with it.

In the previous case, if you didn't like a particularly story, it wasn't long before you moved on to something completely different. Here, it just keeps coming back again and again. Particularly when Jokers Wild primarily deals with Fortunato/Astronomer and the Egyptian Masons, which I've mentioned before wasn't my favorite plotline.

Really, there wasn't much that I cared overmuch about in this book. Seeing Bagabond's dealings with the animal and human worlds was interesting enough. Wraith remains a ridiculous character (a cat burglar who can phase through walls--but only when nearly naked), but her story was fairly interesting. And Hiram Worchester has a lot of potential. So there's something going for it.

Still. I'm hoping for more in [b:Aces Abroad|984792|Aces Abroad (Wild Cards, #4)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375859628l/984792._SY75_.jpg|970287].