A review by gurudyne
Busted Flush by George R.R. Martin

1.0

The mosaic approach worked for the first novel in the re-launched series, largely because I was unfamiliar with the world. It offered me a good look at the characters in their different circumstances and how each viewed their powers, and themselves in relation to the rest of the cast. Its flaws, mainly its disjointedness, came from its approach but the story covered well enough for that shortcoming.

Here, Martin continues with the mosaic motif, but for no good reason. He's trying to tell a larger story with characters who know one another and work together all working towards one of two closely related ends. There's no reason for the book to be a collection of short stories and it actively hurts the over-story when we're bogged down with the inconsequential (like Drummer Boy's over-indulgent angsting over his UN peacekeeping and his loss of Curveball which is an unwanted carry-over from the first book), the inconsistent (more plot threads are dropped than not, but the worst of these is the Kongoville debacle which is never clearly explained) and the downright odd (Noel, one of the coolest characters from the first story pulls a complete one eighty and not only turns on everything he believed in but becomes uncharacteristically incompetent, dragging several layers of complex plot with him as he spirals into a contrived 'Happily ever after.')

Or, to sum up: What a waste.