URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: Wild Cards: Low Ball - Ed. George RR Martin and Melinda Snodgrass

Release Date: 13/11/14
Publisher:  Gollancz

SYNOPSIS:

More exciting adventures from the longest running shared-world superhero series created and edited by George R.R. Martin, bestselling author of GAME OF THRONES Decades after an alien virus changed the course of history, the surviving population of Manhattan still struggles to understand the new world left in its wake. Natural humans share the rough city with those given extraordinary - and sometimes terrifying - traits. While most manage to coexist in an uneasy peace, not everyone is willing to adapt. Down in the seedy underbelly of Jokertown, residents are going missing. The authorities are unwilling to investigate, except for a fresh lieutenant looking to prove himself and a collection of unlikely jokers forced to take matters into their own hands - or tentacles. The deeper into the kidnapping case these misfits and miscreants get, the higher the stakes are raised. Edited by No.1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author George R.R. Martin and acclaimed author Melinda M. Snodgrass, LOWBALL is the latest mosaic novel in the acclaimed Wild Cards universe, featuring original fiction by Carrie Vaughn, Ian Tregillis, David Anthony Durham, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Mary Anne Mohanraj, David D. Levine, Michael Cassutt and Walter Jon Williams. Perfect for old fans and new readers alike, LOWBALL delves deeper into the world of aces, jokers, and the hard-boiled men and women of the Fort Freak police precinct in a pulpy, page-turning novel of superheroics and mystery.


REVIEW:

If you want something light full of typical fantastical UF Superhero tropes, then this long running series edited by GRRM will more than hit the spot for readers out there. If you’re a fan you’ll find old friends, if you’re new, well a set of tales to take you on a journey that will more than hit your requirements as a whole host of top talent create a whole new set of short stories.

Back this up with some cracking offerings, some top notch prose and of course links to earlier titles all round give this series an edge that a fair number of others out there haven’t quite hit yet. Magic.