Aces Abroad

Wild Cards IV

By: George R.R. Martin

Narrated by: Kathleen Turner, Clancy Brown, Adrian Paul, P.J. Ochlan, full cast

Length: 23 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

The action-packed alternate fantasy returns for a new generation, featuring fiction from number-one New York Times best-selling author George R. R. Martin, Michael Cassutt, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Lewis Shiner, and more - plus two completely new stories from Kevin Andrew Murphy and best-selling author Carrie Vaughn.

Forty years after the Wild Card Virus' release, the World Health Organization decides it's time to take a delegation of Aces, Jokers, politicians, and journalists on a fact-finding mission to learn how other countries are dealing with the virus that reshaped humanity. Leading the team is Gregg Hartmann, a senator with presidential aspirations and a dangerous ace up his sleeve. Joining him is a menagerie of some of the series' best and most popular Wild Cards, including Dr. Tachyon; aces Peregrine and Golden Boy; and jokers Chrysalis, Troll, and Father Squid.

From the jungles of Haiti and Peru to the tumultuous political climate of Egypt, from a monastery in Japan to the streets of the most glamorous cities of Europe, the Wild Cards are in for an eye-opening trip. While some are worshiped as actual gods, those possessing the most extreme mutations are treated with a contempt that's all too familiar to the delegates from Jokertown. New alliances will be formed, new enemies will be made, and some actions will fulfill centuries-old prophecies that make ripples throughout the future of the Wild Cards universe.

Various Roles Read by a Full Cast of Narrators:

• Peregrine read by Kathleen Turner ("Down by the Nile")
• Chrysalis read by Selma Blair
• Sen. Gregg Hartmann/Puppetman read by Clancy Brown
• Yeoman Brennan read by Adrian Paul
• Xavier Desmond read by Armin Shimerman ("From the Journal of Xavier Desmond")
• Dr. Tachyon read by Raphael Sbarge ("Mirrors of the Soul")
• Cordelia Chaisson read by Kasey Lansdale ("Down in the Dreamtime")
• Ti Malice read by Nicholas Guy Smith
• Jayewardene read by Sanjit de Silva ("The Teardrop of India")
• Troll read by Richard Moll ("Warts and All")
• Sara Morgenstern read by Emily Rankin
• Joann Jefferson read by Donnabella Mortel ("Always Spring in Prague")
• Xbalanque read by Noel Bearheart
• Wilfried Molniya read by Stefan Rudnicki ("Legends")
• Hunapu read by Ozzie Rodriguez
• Mackie Messer read by PJ Ochlan
• Misha/Kahina read by Yasmine Barghouty
• Fortunato read by Prentice Onayemi ("Zero Hour")

©2016 George R. R. Martin (P)2016 Random House Audio

too crowded, too many narrators.

There are too many Narrators and too many bad accents. If you are running through the book casually you could get lost if you are not 100% committed to immersion. The stories are okay, but it seems like sex scenes and grittiness is more shoehorned in rather than being and organic part of the story. I will take a good long break from Wildcards for a while.

I little disappointed!

The first three maintained a high level of suspense and energy. Unfortunately the writers decided to go political in many of the stories and which makes for a few really bad ones. Some of the new narrators are also a big step down but the bar was set very high.

Starts slow, but eventually picks up steam

Would you listen to Aces Abroad again? Why?

No, not unless I'm starting the series over again

What did you like best about this story?

The introduction of new characters

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The men's voices. Most of woman's voices lacked emotion and were very bland

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Every W.C. book makes me want to listen to it in one sitting

Any additional comments?

A few of the narrators really brought the book to life. Likewise, I few almost ruined the book. My favorite voice narrations were for Troll, Desmond, and the Puppetman.

Book Four

This series is quickly becoming one of my favorites, so when this book came out I had to get it. While the second book is still my favorite in the series this one was amazing. In many ways it gave more closure for certain characters than book three. It answered a lot of questions left about the four aces from the the first book. I won't give any spoilers, but I will say that there was a mention of Earl that was so emotional it left me crying. It also does not take place in New York which leaves a lot of my favorite characters out of the book. There is also a brief discussion about the writing process for the Wild Card books by GRRM at the end, which is definitely worth a listen.
On the down side for the narration the Hiram's accent is hit or miss with these narrators. They all seem to try to make him sound Scottish, but some of them can't quite manage. In one story Hiram sounded Irish.

Slow start

The first few chapters were hard to follow, felt like they were part of a completely different story. I’m still not sure what was happening there, but once it was over it became a familiar Wild Cards story, it took a few hours though. Brought together a lot of the players, which is why I’m glad I finished it but it was hard to get into because of the confusion of the first few chapters.

Not as good as the previous books.

Struggled to finish this one. On the boring side. I must have skipped this one when I read the series.

horrible narrator

Would you consider the audio edition of Aces Abroad to be better than the print version?

most of the narrators to are fine but Selma Blair is so monotone it completely ruins the chrysalis portions

Bad decisions

I was hoping they’d learned their lesson with Pam Grier. She almost ruined the entire third book. Here we are again with a similar situation and I’m left wondering if they got the job for another reason? Because I know they didn’t get the job based on quality that is quite evident.

A must listen but not as good as the previous book

I throughly enjoyed 80% of the stories but a few seemed self indulgent. I am hooked on this series. voice actors were great but choppy editing at times. Love Clancy Brown.

Terrible Narration.

I thought Book 3 was a chore, So was not ready for the awful of this one. It's the Narrators, why they made the choices they made for book 3 or this one and the others that follow, I'll never understand. Kathleen Turner as Peregrine? no, Just no. Look get Luke Daniels back and then these would be enjoyable to a point. The story isn't that great to begin with and the Narration made it worse.

Great Edition to the series.

I loved these books from the moment I read the first one. Had difficulty finding this one in the shops so was happy when I found it available through Audible. I had never listened to an audio book before (unless you count the He-Man and Transformers, books on tape I listened to in my childhood! Lol). I was concerned that listening to the stories as opposed to reading them would be monotonous and I would lose focus as the stories went on. I could not have been more wrong, between the superb writing and excellent voice talent, I was hooked from beginning to end. Can’t wait to download my next one.

Strange choices.

They made some strange choices with who reads what, meaning you get some wonderfully terrible accents and it becomes easy to lose which character you're following.

Great addition to the series

Well worth it if you have read the other books.
Can't wait to start the next one.