‘It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s — A Swarm of Wasps?’

I’m wary about reading superhero comics, but for some reason that phobia doesn’t apply to prose novels about the same subject. This may very well have something to do with Austin Grossman’s fantastically entertaining superhero spoof, “Soon I Will Be Invincible”, which nearly made my “Best Books of 2007″ list. Not that I believe that every superhero book has to be really good simply because they don’t contain illustrations of people sporting Spandex; no, that wouldn’t make much sense at all. It was rather the many good reviews and the fact that GRRM was listed as the main suspect behind this mosaic novel that persuaded me to check “Inside Straight” out.

(This cover is actually a lot cooler when seen live. It’s so glossy and shiny that if you were a magpie you’d probably make it the centrepiece of your nest.)

The Wild Card is a virus that was by an accident exposed to the public in 1946, killing 90 % of everyone it infected (known as “drawing the Black Queen) and drastically disfigured 9 % of the infected into a state dubbed “Jokers”. The last percent became “Aces”; people who got their DNA rewritten in such a manner that they acquired some sort of superpower. Some of them could fly, some had the ability to teleport, some could turn into a swarm of wasps, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum…

“Inside Straight” features a whole new cast of superheroes (if it features any old ones, I wouldn’t know since I haven’t read the other books). This time around we’re introduced to them as they enter a new reality show called “American Heroes” where aces from across the nation compete to become “The Next American Superhero” and win a million dollars… But the heroes are about to discover that there are more worthwhile causes in the world that have need of their superpowers.

The title to this book review reads “by George R. R. Martin & Various”, and by the last part I mean Daniel Abraham, Michael Cassutt, S. L. Farrell, Stephen Leigh, John J. Miller, Kevin A. Murphy, Steve Perrin, Melinda Snodgrass, Caroline L. Spector, Ian Tregillis and Carrie Vaughn. Or in other words: A veritable shitload of talent. Every one of these authors have written a chapter or otherwise contributed to the completion of the latest ‘Wild Cards’ mosaic novel.

The ‘Wild Cards’ franchise first saw light back in 1986. Twelve books later the series switched from Bantam Books to Baen Books, which in turn published five more “Wild Cards” novels before Tor Books discovered that superheroes was all the rage again and decided to revive the franchise by bringing in fantasy heavyweighter and original member in the creation of the “Wild Cards” universe, George R. R. Martin, as the editor.

And revive it they have, ’cause “Inside Straight” is far from a poor effort, but it does suffer somewhat from several problems that are bound to crop up when you’re writing a mosaic novel done by several authors. There’s no chance in hell that you’ll end up liking the writing styles of every single one of them, much less the characters they’re portraying. I for one couldn’t stand the way Carrie Vaughn did her hero, “Earth Witch” (she could manipulate earth particles, yet she had no power over any other kinds of particles even though they’re molecularly the same), but couldn’t get enough of Daniel Abraham’s “Jonathan Hive” (turns into wasps). S.L Farrel’s “Drummer Boy” (internal drum set, six arms and super strong) was the most developed character and GRRM’s “Lohengrin” (becomes a nearly invincible Arthurian knight. He’s featured on the cover art) the coolest. The most interesting character was probably “Jon Fortune”, though I won’t divulge the reason why. You’ll have to read the book and find out yourself.

Okay, the characterization was maybe a bit variable but the story was surprisingly relevant and well paced. That was perhaps to be expected when GRRM is the editor; he did a bang-up job of keeping all these imaginations in line. Another suprising thing about “Inside Straight” is that it addresses important themes like terrorism, racism and religion in a very realistic way, which I think sets it apart from most of its related works in the genre. Add the fact that the set-up is kept exciting by the “American Hero” contest and the last part is pretty much all balls, all the time, and you’ve got yourself a very well done first book. The ending was somewhat predictable considering that it’s the first novel in a new series, but that was, as mentioned, expected.

All in all I found “Inside Straight” to be a good read that kept me interested from start to finish. It should have no trouble finding an audience in America and other countries considering the amount of fans it’s catering to. I am one of those, and I have trouble whatsoever with recommending it. It won’t blow your mind in any way, but so few things do.

I for one am thankful for that (in a literal way, of course. Metaphorically I’d prefer to have my head in perpetual orbit if I was ever given the choice.)

7, 5 /10 (strong)