That's just Wild

Finished the latest book in the WildCard series. Volume 17 Death Draws Five for those of you scoring at home. WildCards is a Shared Universe series of books that are all edited by George RR Martin. This book was written by John J Miller, who has collaborated on many of the other books.

The basic premise of the WildCard's Universe is that at the end of World War II an alien virus was released that instilled super powers on the effected. The catch is that you probably would not survive. The Basic rule of thumb goes like this

• 90% of people infected die
• 90% of the survivors are Jokers (Freaks and Mutations {See thru skin, Four Eyes})
• 90% of the non-Jokers are Deuces (have worthless powers {can change an objects color to pink})
• The rest are Aces (the Super Powered Folk {teleportation, increase an objects mass)

The books roughly take place in the year they were written, so since the first book was written in the early '80s, it takes place then. This setting in "real time" makes it interesting since characters that were in their 30s in the first books are now in their 50s and have kids old enough to be causing havoc.

This led to an interesting feeling for me. I am so used to the sliding time frame that is applied to many of the comics published today, that when I read that the driving force of this book is the fate of the son of two of the characters in the first trilogy of books, I felt their son is too young to for the story they were selling.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I am constantly surprised how they are able to make stories that I enjoy while using characters I don't like. This time the plot was heavily religious centered. I prefer to keep religion away from my fiction and the dinner table. No such luck here.