Book Review: Wild Cards - Sleeper Straddle

Croyd Crenson is the Wild Card’s greatest failure—and its greatest success. Dubbed “The Sleeper,” he randomly undergoes hibernations that can span days, weeks, or even months. After each hibernation, he awakens with a new appearance and set of powers—sometimes a joker, sometimes an ace, and sometimes a combination of both—until exhaustion claims him and his next inevitable sleep shuffles the cards anew. Ever since his initial infection in 1946, he’s awoken in a singular body—until now. His latest awakening has left him split into six different incarnations, each of them a self-contained piece of the original and each with a unique look and ability.

One of them, at least, recognizes this for the disaster that it is, and tasks the clever and elusive Tesla, a joker with ace powers, to locate and gather the remaining five versions of himself before sleep claims them again and leaves Croyd permanently fractured.

What follows is a journey through Croyd’s long and colorful life, through the lens of some who have encountered the world’s most unusual wild carder. And as Tesla delves deeper into the investigation, he’ll have to work fast, because not every Croyd is as amiable as the first—and they’ll do whatever it takes to survive.

Wild Cards: Sleeper Straddle (edited by George R.R. Martin and featuring the writing of Max Gladstone, Stephen Leigh, Mary Anne Mohranraj, Cherie Priest, Christopher Rowe, Carrie Vaughn, Walter Jon Williams, and William F. Wu) will be published February 6, 2024. Bantam/Random House provided an early galley for review.

I have been with the Wild Cards series since book one. And Croyd Crenson, with his unique power set, has been ever-present in the series for the last thirty-seven years. He is such an interesting character with so much potential for story ideas, so his getting the spotlight in the last collection is no surprise.

This is more than just Croyd's story though. We are also introduced to some new characters he encountered along the way - like the joker Miss Canvas, and the aforementioned Tesla - as well as some familiar faces like detective Leo Storgman and ace Jack Braun. The narrative bounces from present day to flashback tales, filling the reader in on episodes in Croyd's life as Tesla tracks down the various Croyds in present day. I found it sometimes helped the narrative flow while at other times impeded it. It is a tricky thing to pull off successfully.

In the end, it did what each volume in this series does: expand and enrich the tapestry that is the world of Wild Cards.