The second highest praise I have for Shadow Ops: Control Point is that it doesn’t quite know what kind of book it wants to be. The story follows Oscar Britton, military man, as he copes with his newfound and illegal magical powers. It has been compared to Black Hawk Down and The X-Men, but I think that a more apt description is Tom Clancy’s Full Metal Jacket combined with Harry Potter (Ed. You know that Tom Clancy didn’t have a thing to do with Full Metal Jacket, right?). Of course, we all know that Tom Clancy didn’t have a thing to do with Full Metal Jacket. What I love about this book is how much it embraces the two contradictory attitudes it takes toward fiction. This book is at once a tight, realistic military thriller, and a field trip through a fantasy world where magic has returned.
The neat change here is that we never focus on how the new reality of magic helps a shopkeeper get along during his day or having a marriage suddenly challenged by a wife’s manifestation. In this world, if you manifest any magical powers, you are immediately drafted into the military. Immediately. If you choose to hide or run, then you are hunted down and captured or killed. This is worse if you manifest one of the schools of magic that are prohibited. Then, capture is not an option. So, when Oscar Britton suddenly discovers his new prohibited powers, he runs.
That’s not what I wanted to discuss with this book, though. (Ed. Really?)
I want to explain why I loved reading this book. This is not one of those books that is going to wind up on my bookshelf being reread every few years, but I will probably pick up the rest of the series as they come out. What this book does so well is simple. It’s fun. I had a great time reading it. The characters were interesting and the plot was solid. I liked the way that magic was incorporated into the world, the military spin that everything had, and the no-nonsense writing. But, the thing that I loved was how much fun it was to read.
Four-Star Wizards out of Five.
For more information regarding Shadow Ops: Control Point, please visit mykecole.com.
