Wild Card (Etudes in C#, #1)

by Jamie Wyman

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Wild Card was such a fun surprise! I loved the mix of all kinds of mythology (Greek, Norse, Hawaiian, etc), combined with the fae, along with humans with special abilities! And it's set in Las Vegas! Our heroine is Catherine Sharpe, a technician for the casinos on the Strip. She's also bound to the goddess of discord, and it's not a pleasant fact. But Eris has bet Cat's soul in a high stakes poker game. Cat wants to be free from the goddess, but when the other players send minions to try to kill her, she isn't quite sure if her fate will be worse if Eris loses.

I immediately liked Wild Card. It's unique, fast paced, and fun. Cat is a great narrator, and I adored Marius! He's a centaur, who is also bound to Eris and he's cursed. He and Cat have a very tense relationship, and I loved watching them work together to track down the other players in the game for Cat's soul. He is a trickster, so sometimes it's hard to tell if he's being truthful, but ultimately I had faith in him! Plus, it didn't hurt that I wanted to smoosh their faces together!

The plot of Wild Card did start to confuse me near the end. Cat is trying to track down the other gods who are bidding on her soul and collect their poker chips. At first it seemed like getting all four chips would allow Cat to get her soul back, but that wasn't the case. The gods give up the chips much too freely, like they don't matter. They also keep mentioning that they're testing the merchandise, so what was the point of the chips? It felt like Cat was on a wild goose chase, since those chips really meant nothing for the state of her soul, and were probably just symbolic of the bet. I did love the whole poker game set up though. It was definitely different and interesting.

Cat is bisexual! Or at least not straight. She doesn't actually put a label on it, but I felt like I should mention it anyway, in case this is something you seek out in novels. Her sexuality also isn't made into a big deal, aside from a pervy joke from Marius, which I really liked. She just happens to be capable of falling in love with whoever, and have sex with whoever, and that's just how it is.

I really enjoyed Wild Card. I thought it was so unique and engaging, even when it did get confusing. I'm totally excited to learn more about Cat's abilities as a technomage, since that was only touched upon in this first installment (for reasons). I also need more of Marius! He's amazing! And Loki isn't too bad himself either.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.