I hope that nobody is getting too tired of my love affair with anthologies. This one, however, is an anthology with a difference. More than just stories along a common theme, Wild Cards is a single story but, from many mouths. Martina and Dozois bring together the talents of many authors to tell us a tale of many tales. We get to see the genesis of a class of humanity. We even get to meet the creator of this class and get a peek into it's intent.
Tracking character development is a rather tricky since, while it is a unified story, it's told in a patch work of tales and a variety of characters. There are a few, such as Dr. Tachyon, who are fixtures throughout, but, some only have the span of a chapter or two. With all of that, you can get a sense of the characters and their struggles. Most do what they are meant to do, act as set pieces to chart the societal changes that this new class of people have instigated.
I said before that it is a patchwork of stories and though that is true, there is one central narrative that bonds all the short stories and makes it less obvious that there is more than one story teller. If you see the subtle differences in the descriptions of scenes and circumstances as a way to highlight the differences in the point of view it's written from rather than differences in the writers, the story becomes even richer.
To me, this book brings to mind a mix of the old style comic books and the old pulp fiction novels. There is a kind of back to basics 'earthiness' to the writing and stories themselves. This makes them an easy yet entertaining read.
Whether taken strictly as a well formed story or as allegory for modern treatment of people with the differences, these stories are engaging and thought provoking. If you enjoy old-style science-fiction with a few modern twists, this book will be a good addition to your collection. This one is definitely for the more mature of audiences and lands deeply in the PG13 range because of violence and adult content.
I never tire of anthologies especially one where GRRM is involved, this certainly looks like it's worth a read! Great review!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Heather. This is one of those books I go to when nothing else makes sense for me to read at the time. It' a world that's an odd mix of the strange and the familiar.
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