A review by neurotypically
Wild Cards: Das Spiel der Spiele, by George R.R. Martin
4.0
Soooooooooooo.
THIS BOOK IS SO AMERICAN.
Let me explain. People with supernatural abilities. Reality TV show, in which a few of those compete. Political conflict in Egypt. Americans who go to Egypt to save the day.
You see what I mean? It's almost an allegory for the real world and since the book is mostly written by American authors, I am suprised they realised how cliché all of this is. (How, you may ask? Spoilers.)
That aside, I liked the book very much. The story was narrated by multiple persons and it was intersting to see their different perspectives on live, the show, politics and stuff.
The characters were very interesting as well, they were different and, what I really liked, divers and flawed. And there were moments when you just hated them, just like the other characters, even when the scene was from their perspective. I'm looking at you, Jonathan Hive.
Seriously, it's amazing that I identified with characters I had not read anything of just by their expressions.
The mood of the story was interesting as well. Since it was written in "normal" prose as well as fictional texts and blog posts, it never got boring.
What I also liked was, that multiple authors wrote the book and apart from one chapter, the different writings were fluently and I almost didn't notice a change of author. Otherwise it would have irritated me, I think.
All in all, I liked the story, the characters and the writing. I just disliked how American it was and that it totally represents the American sentiment which, I have to admit, I mostly dislike.
And I don't get how exactly this book has sequels or whatever, because it seems pretty finished in itself.
THIS BOOK IS SO AMERICAN.
Let me explain. People with supernatural abilities. Reality TV show, in which a few of those compete. Political conflict in Egypt. Americans who go to Egypt to save the day.
You see what I mean? It's almost an allegory for the real world and since the book is mostly written by American authors, I am suprised they realised how cliché all of this is. (How, you may ask? Spoilers.)
That aside, I liked the book very much. The story was narrated by multiple persons and it was intersting to see their different perspectives on live, the show, politics and stuff.
The characters were very interesting as well, they were different and, what I really liked, divers and flawed. And there were moments when you just hated them, just like the other characters, even when the scene was from their perspective. I'm looking at you, Jonathan Hive.
Seriously, it's amazing that I identified with characters I had not read anything of just by their expressions.
The mood of the story was interesting as well. Since it was written in "normal" prose as well as fictional texts and blog posts, it never got boring.
What I also liked was, that multiple authors wrote the book and apart from one chapter, the different writings were fluently and I almost didn't notice a change of author. Otherwise it would have irritated me, I think.
All in all, I liked the story, the characters and the writing. I just disliked how American it was and that it totally represents the American sentiment which, I have to admit, I mostly dislike.
And I don't get how exactly this book has sequels or whatever, because it seems pretty finished in itself.