John J. Miller (2) (1954–2022)

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/death-draws-five-by-john-jos-miller/

A full-length novel in GRRM’s Wild Cards series, which I got in the same Humble Bundle as the Amber prequels. The setting is a roughly contemporary America decades after thousands were infected with a virus that gave them varying superhero powers. A former President and a dissident wing of the Vatican believe that the child of two such “Aces” is the Messiah reborn, or possibly the Antichrist. It’s tricky to handle this topic in pulp format, but Miller makes a good fist of it.

Unfortunately I’m going to complain again about the formatting of the electronic book. Most of the chapter headings have been displaced to the end of the book, as a weird appendix, and that means the text is not broken up helpfully for the reader. The publisher, iBooks, folded before the paper version of the book went on general release, but that’s no excuse. It’s not as bad as the Zelazny collection, but it’s not good. Hopefully the recent Tor re-release won’t have the same problem.… (meer)

This is a strange book. Rather than the previous format of two short story collections and a mosaic novel, this subseries has two collections and now two mosiac novels ([b:Ace in the Hole|1281216|Ace in the Hole (Wild Cards, #6)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328368345l/1281216._SY75_.jpg|1270234] being the other). What's strange is that it continues the same plotlines of the first two books and mostly takes place at the same time as Ace in the Hole. Rather than focusing primarily on Puppetman and the political plotline in Atlanta, [b:Dead Man's Hand|147912|Dead Man's Hand (Wild Cards, #7)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391680749l/147912._SY75_.jpg|142745] is set mostly in New York and deals with the death of Chrysalis, the investigation of Ti Malice.

As a stand alone or complete alternative to Ace in the Hole, I think it would have been a lot stronger. Once the stories merge and start replaying events we've already seen in Atlanta (albeit with a different point of view), it feels a lot more repetitive.

Characterwise, I actually found myself liking Jay "Popinjay" Ackroyd as a point of view. He's surprisingly fun and has an amusing power that doesn't make problems feel trivial for the most part. Yoeman on the other hand has never been my favorite. He's got a quest for vengeance... and that's about it? Even his relationship with Wraith feels more like a plot point then anything.

Oh, that Ti Malice plotline though. As the characters do finally acknowledge towards the end: if only everyone talked a bit more, life would go so much smoother. I will say, this book does the whole body horror thing relatively well. I'm glad to see that particularly plotline done (for now).

Overall, a decent book, if weakened by going over ground we've already covered.

Since this is the last audiobook currently out, I'll put the series on hold for a while. I'll probably read the paper copies eventually (albeit Kindleially). Some day.… (meer)

This Witchblade Combo contains two novels: John DeChancie’s Talons and John J. Miller’s A Terrible Beauty. I greatly enjoyed the Witchblade comics as fun, late-1990s/early-2000s fantasy stories featuring all the elements that distinguished comic books from publishers outside of the Big Two (Marvel and DC) during that particular era. The TNT television series starring Yancy Butler was equally excellent. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into these stories. Novels adapting comic book source material are a tricky thing. They must find a way to tell a story that closely resembles the comic book medium, but without the benefit of balancing images with text, though providing too much description to make up for this will slow the plot to a halt. The best examples tell stories that feel like they could easily have first appeared in comics themselves, while the worst are barely recognizable and resemble regular science fiction or action narratives with characters sharing the name of comic book figures. The novels in this combo are just kind of flat. They don’t have the excesses of the comic books, nor are they the gritty supernatural police procedural of the television series. Instead, they’re rather slow and just never seem to get started.… (meer)