A review by ronpayne
Wild Cards II: Aces High by George R.R. Martin, Wild Cards Trust

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

The second book in a long running alternate history anthology series about people given superpowers by an alien virus. It felt like Martin had a tighter reign on this one, getting authors to drive overarching plotlines. Some thrived at this, like Walter Jon Williams, others seemed too constrained by it, like Roger Zelazny, and one, Pat Cadigan, failed at it, flubbing the climax of a major story arc. But overall this was a good time.