Control Point

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.

Okay this book had me in many minds about how to describe it. Mostly because a lot of the characters in the book lack nuance and verge towards being straight out stereotypes. I don't mind stories were everybody has good and bad in them, that's reality. I don't mind conflicted characters, again that's reality. It takes time to fully explain a character and maybe this book has too many characters who need explaining in my estimation. The plot - that is a relentless train coming right at you and that is enjoyable. The world building is enough to be recognizable and alien at the same time, sorry to tell more would be a spoiler. Solid world building and a driving plot get keep me interested in the world and Mr. Cole's writing. Hopefully his characters get a bit deeper and nuanced.

I really wanted to like this book. It has a great premise, very cool magic system and an interesting world. But the main character is extremely unlikeable, and makes idiotic decision after idiotic decision. The other characters seemed like shallow caricatures and the dialogue is a bit stiff. A shame, as the premise of the book is very promising. The author's other series - The Sacred Throne is much better, perhaps a reflection of Cole's growth as a writer.

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.

the number of misused military buzz words was unforgivable in the first chapter alone

Could even finish the first chapter. Would make a decent anime, but not even a mediocre sci-fi novel. Will not be reading more.

Imagine everyone woke up one day to discover that magic was very much real again. As with so much in our modern life, the first reaction of the government would be to regulate it, to determine what the best uses of that magic was for the welfare of the nation - and what magics would be considered safe, and what magics would be prohibited.

Welcome to the world of Shadow Ops: Control Point. Oscar Britton is your average enlisted grunt, bagging and tagging people that have manifested prohibited, or “Probe” talents, keeping America safe from one latent to probe at a time. What happens when this good guy suddenly finds himself marked a probe as his latent magic power manifests itself unexpectedly in a discipline that is forbidden (though outside his control)?

He runs.

As a concept, I think Cole has a good formula here. Magic meets military fantasy in a contemporary landscape? What's not to love in this comic book like milieu that is so reminiscent of Marvel and DC copyrights?

The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and its in the execution that we find the lumps. The world building is as solid as needed - why magic suddenly exists is as much of a mystery to the characters as to us, and that's fine. The fact that Cole chose to set this in our modern world relieves the burden of painting an extremely rich picture to convince us with. We already know the setting, which leaves us with only the unknowns to deal with - the characters and the magic. With the world so easily established, its really in the strength of the characters and the magic they wield that we rely on to entertain us.

For the magic, its rather simple and easy to grasp. You either come up with magic at some point in your life, or you don't. If you do, its in one of a few defined talents, most of which seem to be centered around control of the Greek elementals - water, fire, air, earth, and spirit (life, death, etc.). The prohibited magics are a little less well defined, but at least we don't have mixed talents (that we know of?). There doesn't seem to be any penalty to using the magic (weakness, inflammation, etc.), but it also isn't easily or quickly mastered. Simple and sweet and easy to follow once you understand the terminology that Cole bandies around.

But the characters, like with any summer eye candy, is where I got hung up with in this novel. Even in the context of the story, Oscar's waffling at whether he's a team player or being beaten down was annoyingly inconsistent. Either track would have been fine, but I needed something to rally behind, and I didn't get that from Oscar. I found many of the other characters in the book equally baffling, leaving me wanting. This is probably just hindsight, but it seemed that there were chapters during the span of which Oscar would change his mind on whether he was committed to the cause, to and fro, multiple times.

So, great concept, and perfect if you have an afternoon or two to kill and want a little magic versus assault chopper action. Myke's a really nice guy, so I have high hopes that the sequel will cast off the training wheels that were so evident in this first novel.

A “military fantasy” novel that looks at magic in a similar view as superpowers, and looks at how the US military would react to magic being loose in the world.

The answer to that question - “They'd weaponize it, and declare war on some Goblins” - seems like a cynical, one-note sort of response, but the book is a lot more than that; Cole served in the military himself, and he presents a nuanced, informed view of what it means to serve in the military. Add to that the character of Oscar Briton himself, and his inner conflict about being part of an organization while questioning its goals and practices, and you have a unique, interesting novel. I look forward to seeing where Cole goes with this story next.