This is a really engrossing book. The heroine is sent back to her home planet by a mysterious cybernetic entity. Her task is to find out more about what is going on there. Initially there appears to be exactly nothing going on there. The home planet is run as an Amish-like farming community with the population following strict rules of conduct. However, all is not as it seems, of course. As the plot developed I found myself fascinated by this world, and wanting to know more about the mysteries behind it and the characters that populated the story. The intensity grew as the book moved towards a satisfying conclusion.

A great read, ( )

I received an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was a bit lost first couple of pages, but the book moved along quickly and became a real page turner.
Details were good, took great imagination to come up with vivid description and strong character development. Very good reading. ( )

It's been more than 75 years, now, since Harry Bates' short story "Farewell to the Master" closed with the realization of who (or what) truly is 'the master' ... bringing that story to a satisfying (or unsettling, or both, take your pick) conclusion, and setting readers off on a new path for thoughtful speculation.

Speculation over our control of technology - or its control of us - has fueled many contributions to the genre of science fiction over the years, and Sara Stamey's "Wild Card Run" is a good addition to that tradition.

It also serves as a good piece of detective fiction, as Ruth Kurtis is dispatched to the planet of Poindros by a cyberserf. It is NOT a trip Kurtis wants to make, leaving the many satisfactions of her current position at Casino, to return to the physically and emotionally stifling homeworld she fled years before. But she is left with no choice by the serf who seems to have found a way around cybernetic benevolence directives.

Once in the field, Kurtis has plenty of experiences that reinforce her original reluctance to return. But at the same time, she begins to make observations that draw her interest, and may perhaps tie-in to the unspecified problem she has been sent to investigate.

There is Kurtis' self-interest as well ... even as she pursues the mission of the CI back on Casino, she also finds herself being drawn into the mission of a Poindros-based movement, which may hold even less appeal for her than the dispatch that sent her to Poindros to begin with.

Page by page, chapter by chapter, the reader's interest is raised as well, with more than enough speculation over whether characters and events are truly what they appear to be. It carried me easily to the end of Samey's story, and has me looking forward to future installments of the promised "Cybers Wild Card" series.
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NOTE: I received a copy of this work through LibraryThing in exchange for a review. ( )

I very much enjoyed this book when it was first published, and I enjoyed it again. Ruth's longing for the connections she abandoned when she ran away from her fundamentalist home planet and her struggle to retain her independence in a chaotic world of competing factions and hidden agendas remains interesting. Plus, I love the idea of swinging from a windmill.

Worth owning. ( )

“Wild Card Run” by Sara Stamey, is the first of a series of Sci Fi stories where artificial life forms (Cybers) monitor and control the worlds in the realm. A quick review of the publication history indicates that the is a re-working of a previously released piece - I have not read the earlier work. The story centres around Ruth Kurtis, a natural rebel and all-round wild card. She is directed by the Cybers to return to her repressive home planet to investigate "suspicious activities", as an alternative to a mind-erasing re-education program. She reluctantly attempts to get with the program. I personally found the book a little difficult to get in to. The main character, although showing promise, was not as strong as I would have liked her to be, and the extensive and sometimes confusing descriptive prose interfered with the flow of the novel for me. Over all, the story was entertaining, if not a little predictable. ( )