Control Point

Book 1 of Shadow Ops Myke Cole's Fantasy Military series, wherein the question is.........What happens if magic is real and only the government can use them????

The action never lets up, from the start, until the end, its full throttle go go go.....even during boot camp for the Latents(term use for those who manifests abilities, fire control, water working and etcetera.......naturally these abilities are further divided into the good magics(aforementioned fire control or pyromancy, water working or hydromancy) and the bad magics (negramancy or decay dealers, portamancy or gate makers) training is a b*itch.....

In comes the series protagonist Oscar until he manifested was one of the elite soldiers who accompany these Latents, against Selfers/probes (individuals who don't work for the government) to capture them.....

The story relates Oscar while he was a human and when he manifested.....and the topsy turvy life of latent agent ............

Executive Summary: Pretty enjoyable, though problematic at times. 3.5 stars rounded up since it's his first novel.

Audiobook: Korey Jackson seems like a good fit for the protagonist's voice, but adds little else. He's a fine narrator, but nothing special. He speaks clearly and at a good volum. This is one of those books that's fine in audio, but not a must listen. I'll likely continue the series in audio simply because it's the type of book that works well for me in that format.

Full Review
Myke Cole has been a guest on Sword & Laser a few times now. He seems like a cool guy, and I've really wanted to check his books out. I've had this ebook for awhile, but haven't gotten around to it. Since it was a cheap upgrade to get the audio, I decided to go that route.

I haven't read much military fantasy. This is certainly the only modern military fantasy I've read. I think the main reason I enjoyed this book is because at it's core, it's a magic school trope. Magic boot camp really, but close enough. I can't get enough of it.

My main issue was I found the protagonist (and the majority of the characters really) unlikeable. I'm not sure if that was Mr. Cole's intention or not. He definitely seemed to be going for a grey portrayal where who's right and who's wrong isn't always clear. The only characters I found likeable throughout were Marty and Terez.

I have no experience with military culture outside of fiction. Myke Cole does. I'm going to assume he does a good job with that. The lingo and some of the personalities seemed to line up with my expectations. It reinforces my long held thought that I have no business in the military, and makes me appreciate those who serve all the more. I certainly couldn't cut it.

The book was a bit darker than I'd hoped for. I guess that's probably bad expectations on my part. It probably relates back to my general dislike of the protagonist. I understand his struggles with what the right thing to do is, but his selfishness and often times lack of remorse were extremely off putting.

This book brings up a lot of political issues relevant to debates in the US over the actions of the government on personal freedoms, discrimination, use of force, military contractors and in general how to act in an increasingly grey area that is the war on terror. Who are the bad guys here? Do the ends justify the means? I feel like Mr. Cole does a good job in presenting both sides of many of these issues that often left me unsure who/what I was rooting for.

Overall, the concept of military squads of magicians is a cool one, and the magic bootcamp plotline kept me really interested even when I struggled with some of the characters. The book felt fairly self-contained to me, despite being the first book of a trilogy. I think I could stop here and be content. Not that I plan to. I'm looking forward to checking out the next book in this series sometime soon.

This would have been an easy 5 star if it wasn't for the protagonist. He is annoying and vacillates between two options throughout the whole book. He doesn't want to be a weapon used by the military. His dilemma would be believable if he wasn't already a soldier in the military for several years. Other than that the world building is enjoyable and I can't wait to revisit it in next book.