Knaves Over Queens (A Wild Cards novel book 27) edited by George R.R. Martin (book review).
The 27th volume of ‘Wild Cards,’ ‘Knaves Over Queens,’ is the start of a new sequence, following how the Wild Card virus affected the UK from 1946–2017 through different examples. I’m concentrating on some of the plots from the ten authors here, as there is no mosaic.
From the beginning, we track the Brits closest to New York on the Queen Mary liner as they contract the infection, with the majority turning into jokers or even the black queen of death. After the death of the command crew, Brigadier Kenneth Foxworthy discovers that his body is transforming into flint, earning him the nickname Captain Flint. He also redirects the ship back to London, fearing waiting on the outskirts of Southampton won’t get the passengers the treatment they need as he freezes as a statue.
He revives in the grave four years later and finds himself or Enigma, aka Alan Turing, as a possible leader of The Order of the Silver Helix, based on who can capture Spring-Heeled Jack, who is systematically stealing silver items around the country and one step ahead of the police.
Now, here’s a problem. I understand that Princess Elizabeth succumbs to the Wild Card virus, paving the way for her sister, Margaret, to succeed her as queen. However, the American writers here continue to lack understanding of how Great Britain operates. The Windsors are a figurehead and don’t have any political power, and although Churchill is still active, no doubt the Wild Card virus still has Britain on wartime standing; he would be giving the orders, not her.
For a UK version of the lives of Aces, Jokers, and even a new one, a Knave Ace whose power revealed itself late or being a novice with their powers, there is little to parallel the American Wild Cards. The stories themselves don’t have any significant flaws, yet they don’t seamlessly blend into the mosaic pattern across multiple decades. Objectively, I would have thought the British spirit would have been better. After all, during and after WW2, we British were less color-prejudiced, and I’m sure that would have carried on to the various Jokers, who were hardly stealing jobs.
The story ‘Probationary’ by Marko Kloos touches on various British events, such as the troubles in Northern Ireland, but the Falklands Crisis holds greater significance. The only contribution from The Silver Helix to the war is the super-strong Lion and a newcomer to the group, Rory Campbell, aka Archimedes, who possesses the ability to unleash an EMF burst capable of destroying everything within its reach. He’s known as the “knave ace,” a term that, despite my research, I still don’t fully understand. From the look of things, a ‘knave’ is essentially someone who has had their card turned, but that could apply to any of them temporarily. I also began to calculate my sums, and found that each story had, at most, a couple of wild cards.
That is until we reached ‘Twisted Logic’ by Peter Newman, when the numbers went up that we get a real connection to the rest of the Wild Cards reality when Churchill gets a newly turned joker and now former ex-prime minister scriptwriter to infiltrate the Twisted Fists. Their motto is to kill five nats, or normal humans, for every joker that is killed. They identify these ‘victims’ as individuals involved in these murders. Because he resembles a tree, Roger Barnes, also known as the Green Man, loses his undercover identity upon Churchill’s death. This neatly fits with reality.
Melinda Snodgrass’s new Ace, Double Helix, presents an intriguing twist in ‘The Ceremony Of Innocence’. Double Helix, a 16-year-old possessing a multitude of abilities, must undoubtedly rival the American Aces in strength. However, the codename she revealed at the end of her story would have been a clear indicator of his abilities.
You won’t be able to put ‘The Visitor’ by Mark Lawrence down until the very end. It takes place in a care home and follows a paraplegic who is still physically unable to move.
It took some time to identify the common theme in this book, primarily due to its spread over nearly 80 years, but it does evoke a sense of origin. You would have thought the writers might have focused more on the Silver Helix, considering many have extended lives.
GF Willmetts
December 2024
(pub: TOR, 2018. 550 page hardback. Price: $29.99 (US), $39.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-1-250-16808-1)
check out website: www.tor.com
