tacanderson's review
4.0
This is a short story set in the world of [b:Wild Cards|147908|Wild Cards (Wild Cards, #1)|George R.R. Martin|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1375859477s/147908.jpg|1807663] by [a:George R.R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg]. I haven't read Wild Cards but am a fan of Cherie Priest so I decided to check it out. There's not a lot of backstory in the short story about how the Jokers came to be, but the story works without it and I assume that if you've read the book, it makes even more sense. If you're a fan of either the Wild Cards world or Cherie Priest (or both) you'll probably enjoy this story.
a_h_haga's review
3.0
(A little arg because my Kindle marked it as finished before I got around to writing a review. I turned that thing off all the time, but it never stay off. ARG!)
But yeah, back to the novella.
I haven't read any of the other Wild Card stories before - I don't even know what it is for sure - but I picked up this in my quest to read all of Cherie Priest's works.
This novella follows a hit man in old style Chicago, after he has drawn a Joker - which I figure was a deck people could draw from, and those drawing Jokers get changed.
I don't know what I can really say about this without spoiling anything, but it was an OK and fast enough read to distract me while getting a new tattoo. So recommended for that.
Like many other short stories, however, I felt it fell a little short, as there is just so much you can develop in 30 pages, and also because I guess this world has been growing with other authors contributions as well over the years.
But yeah, back to the novella.
I haven't read any of the other Wild Card stories before - I don't even know what it is for sure - but I picked up this in my quest to read all of Cherie Priest's works.
This novella follows a hit man in old style Chicago, after he has drawn a Joker - which I figure was a deck people could draw from, and those drawing Jokers get changed.
I don't know what I can really say about this without spoiling anything, but it was an OK and fast enough read to distract me while getting a new tattoo. So recommended for that.
Like many other short stories, however, I felt it fell a little short, as there is just so much you can develop in 30 pages, and also because I guess this world has been growing with other authors contributions as well over the years.
keu482's review
3.0
Another Tor.com short story.
This book takes too long to get to the point of the story, but I think that was kind of on purpose? Anyway I guess it's part of a larger story arc because a lot of terminology and world building stuff isn't really explained. I feel like I would have liked it better if I'd read something else set in this place first.
This book takes too long to get to the point of the story, but I think that was kind of on purpose? Anyway I guess it's part of a larger story arc because a lot of terminology and world building stuff isn't really explained. I feel like I would have liked it better if I'd read something else set in this place first.
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