Three Kings: A Wild Cards Mosaic Novel (Book Two of the British Arc)

Another great Wildcards novel. I’ve been following the series since the start and they never disappoint. Can’t wait for the next.

The story was good, but one repeated statement took me out of it.Alan Turing did *NOT* invent the Enigma machine!Nazi Germany developed the code and the machine. Turing was part of the team that *cracked* the code.Please, in the future, Google or Wikipedia when writing or editing.

A great addition to the Wild Cards Universe! Its nice to see the wider world outside of the U.S.

I've been with the Wild Cards series from the first, and I mean the very first Bantam Spectra mass-market paperback in black with the giant Ape and Golden Boy hefting the tank in miniature and all. This series has carried on and aged, as I have, and found periodic renewal. That in itself is impressive - the Wild Cards saga as a whole is amazing and a stunning achievement. Bravo to all who've peopled its many pages and ages! But...As with anything, there are ups and downs and highs and lows (and for the WCs, sometimes all in the same book). This book now, Three Kings, is singular for a couple of reasons:1. It's the shortest book in the WC saga, with just 231 pages of story (per this Tor hc edition), and this is unusually/significantly brief for these books.2. It's the first book to be editorially credited to Melinda Snodgrass, with Martin getting name-checked in the assistant's seat (although he still gets the bigger font on the cover; a little grubby there, Tor). Ms. Snodgrass gave us the very first solo-authored WC novel, back with the excellent "Double Solitaire", so seeing her finally in the big chair after decades of editorial assist should be cause for excitement. But...Pandemic interference. Although this Tor US edition carries a 2022 copyright, the book was first published in 2020. The irony is not lost that a lethal virus and its aftermath would impact the production of a book about a lethal virus and its aftermath. Setting aside Ms. Snodgrass and her contribution (Noel-Double Helix-Matthews, and Lord, she does love a dandy), there are just four authors on board for this "mosaic novel", one of the smallest contributor sets to a WC book, if not the smallest.The resulting shared-novel, while shorter, is a bit of a choppy read with a surprisingly slow and stodgy pace, and hampered by tonal shifts that don't knit together very smoothly. Its collective voice is that of a pedantic BBC newsreader with occasional gameshow bursts - the temptation to start skipping ahead is strong. It's also annoyingly repetitive, as though author 3 thought he needed to remind us of a fact in his section that author 2 had just stated in her section a page before. This aspect, among a few other inconsistencies (someones in one place and then in another, someone is fainting and then standing up, ready for action), shows that inter-author communication was lacking. There are also a few glaring typos and gaffs (Richard is identified as Henry mid-scene?!) that are hard to excuse, and just show a lack of full and proper editorial attention. But...Despite how it may sound, I am not casting aspersions at Ms. Snodgrass, as I'm encountering all of these same problems with just about every other book published inter- and post-pandemic. The real-world effects of author uncertainty, staff-shortage, and financial panic are coming through the pages, I get this. I make allowances. But...It's time that publishing houses get back to work, reinstate standards, and demand attention to detail and accountability among their editors. Book prices are only going up (28 bucks for 231 pages, really?) - don't pick our pockets with sub-standard products, guys; the desperate times are fading behind and you no longer have excuses. Start doing better.While the central plot of three contenders for the vacated British throne (and one a joker! Or... a knave? Are knaves and jokers the same thing in the WC's UK? Different sections/authors employ different terms - see my note about inconsistencies above, grrrr) is interesting and swings with potential, none of the implications or characters are developed very fully. Even the few super-fight scenes lack impact as ciphers are dropped in to beat or get beaten (who the bloody heck are Blue Jeans, Payback, or Peggy with the cricket bat when they're at home?) and the final hell's-a-poppin' conflict is both rushed and then blunted by constant POV shifts. But...Despite all the kvetching above, I do like this British Cycle. Maybe I like the idea of it a bit more than the execution, but there's a certain King and Country, Hurrah! excitement simmering through, like a charming and comfortable old tea kettle on, filled with promise. I just wish the tea doled out had a bit more brace and bite.

I've followed the series since it started and its had its ups and downs. This book in a way represents a return to form, with some rousing good old Wild Cards action, a villain with powers, an intrigue and mostly engaging characters.On the other hand it has absolutely terrible fact checking, basic knowledge and keeping its own alternate history somewhat plausible from our viewpoint. Wild Cards started out with a deeply impressive set of quality authors, but this book is best read as a kind of pulp action story an author knocked off in one sitting with no breaks or thought.It is sort of a fairytale story, set in an imaginary nation, called England. In our world, whose history Wild Cards follow until 1946, this nation ceased to exist in 1706. In a pub one may refer to the UK as "England" as long as said pub is not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, but for elected officials or royalty to do so would be peculiar indeed.The book could also have been named Two Pairs because two pairs of brothers is central to the plot. One pair is of the lowest in the land, jokers, and the other the highest. One of main villains is Harry, crown prince and later King. For some reason he has taken up the cause of the Anglo-Saxons. As King he is of course a leading member of the nominally Norman level of society, which put an end to the last Anglo-Saxon king and subjugated the Anglo-saxon people in 1066.The book tries very hard to make him a sort of British Trump, which comes off weird as the monarch in the UK has few and subtle powers. In this book the King appoints and fires the heads of secret service branches, interferes in court cases and demonstrates all sorts of laughable powers that are more in line with American fantasies about how modern monarchies work.When the UK monarch goes to Westminster to open parliament, she is left to wait in an empty room containing only the execution order for Charles II on the wall. The authors seem to believe the UK monarch do not only have executive powers, but that Parliament has no means of reining in a monarch that gets above himself.Harrys brother Richard is a bit of an enigma, and I was looking for some more character work on him. Why does he want to be King, a job so awful that it tends to have prospects nopeing away, even when they've been raised to it?And speaking of Richards actions, is Google illegal for a writer? Apparently a daughter of Harry got married to a Norwegian prince, which is double peculiar first of all since King Harold of Norway is the worlds biggest champion of people getting to chose their own spouse, and spent a decade refusing to marry unless he was allowed to marry his the commoner women he loved. And second, since his grandmother was a British Princess and people know about inbreeding nowadays. Someone forgot to do his 10 minutes due diligence on Google.The lack of response of the Norwegian secret services to the kidnapping of the heir to the throne also seems like the author just forgot to think his story through.The second pair of brothers is hard to write about without giving away too much plot, but suffice to say there is a touching, fairy-tale trust in that the crown would pass to the person who could show the right genetic inheritance, with no regard to the political implications. Sort of like the Lady of the Lake would smooth out all the political issues.I've been a fan of the series since the 80s and the book itself is a rousing good read with actual Wild Cards powers involved. But it is a book about the mechanisms of political power in a wild cards nation and it not only gets the system of said nation exceptionally wrong, it also consistently gets the name of the country wrong. I can't give it more than two stars. Seriously people, get it proofread.

I really enjoyed this book as all the others in this series. Cannot wait for the next one.

I've been reading Wild Card books for 30 years, and this is the absolute nadir of the series. I thought the previous book, "Texas Hold 'Em" was poor, but that's a masterpiece next to this. Different characters are written by different authors in this pastiche novel, but the variation in quality is great, especially the part of Alan Turing, who is supposed to be a 100 year old Ace, but reads more like a lovesick 15 year old homosexual. His parts read like an especially bad Mills & Boom novel. I skipped over most of his parts - in fact in the end I just skipped the rest of the book. The writing is also very PC.The story revolves around the death of the queen (Margaret in this altered history) and the coming to the throne of her successor, the bigoted Henry. But there is vying to get him replaced by his homosexual brother Richard, or the secret joker son of the late Princess Elizabeth. Quite frankly, who cares?Few of the authors are British, if any, and the whole book reads like a stereotype of perceived British attitudes to royalty.This may be my last wild card book. If they do end up making a TV series I hope they use the characters from the original books - The Great and Powerful Turtle; Jumpin' Jack Flash; Fortunato; Croyd 'The Sleeper' Crenson. Those were the days

When read the first book in this arc I was hugely disappointed. It read like a pastiche of what other people think Britain is with no exploration of the counties and countries that make up the UK, centring almost entirely on London. It had some extremely cringeworthy Americanisms thrown in too. And for a book that was supposed to take us from the original Wildcard Day through to modern times this was sorely disappointing I was expecting to be given a window into the UK as a whole exploring the various regions and periods of time. And the reliance on celebrity figures making appearances wasn’t great either.But onto this one! Much improved.Whilst this story focuses entirely on London, it doesn’t tout itself as an account of the British wildcard experience it is a focussed story cantering around the well known character of Noel Mathews, alongside severalCharacters introduced in the first book. And they are all originals no one; barring Queen Margaret, is a realPerson. Which makes the whole thing far more readable. Through this story I have grown ridiculously fond of Noel; that utter bastard. And I am now excited to find out what happens next!There are very few Americanisms in here, thank you and well done. The date as given in each chapter title however is back to front. We say 14th of March not March 14th. And no one calls women Ma’am here. You may get the odd Madam in the service industry but only the Queen is Ma’am. There was one other but given that I can’t currently bring it to mind it can’t have been that grating. Overall the story was good, it flowed properly, the story was engaging and gripping and much more what I come to expect and want from a Wildcards book. I am very much looking forward to the next instalment and hope that we might get some more set here in the future.Hint; if you really want to know where the jokers would end up being corralled to over here it isn’t London, trust me the government would dump them all in the post industrialnorth!

Some of the Wild Cards mosaic novels have been meandering, difficult to read, unimaginative and down right disappointing.Three Kings is engaging and vividly described. Seems the writers may have pulled their fingers out of their lazy arses and injected new life into the Wild Cards.

The UK under Wild Card rules, interesting to read slightly after the change of monarch in this reality. Well put together, and a good read

Enjoyed reading the wild cards stories.Pure fantasy, but good entertainment.