Control Point (Shadow Ops 1) by Myke Cole

Army Officer. Fugitive. Sorcerer.

Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with magical talents. Untrained and panicked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set everything they touch ablaze.

Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieutenant attached to the military’s Supernatural Operations Corps, his mission is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly manifests a rare and prohibited magical power, transforming him overnight from government agent to public enemy number one.

The SOC knows how to handle this kind of situation: hunt him down–and take him out. Driven into an underground shadow world, Britton is about to learn that magic has changed all the rules he’s ever known, and that his life isn’t the only thing he’s fighting for. (Goodreads)

All over the world people are getting magical powers. Oscar Britton, military officer, and his unit are told to take part of an operation to take down two Selfers (who use magic unsupervised) at a local school. Britton is not happy when he discovers that they are hunting two teenagers and to his horror the girl is executed in front of his eyes. So when he manifested magical ability after the operation, he’s convinced that they will kill him on the spot and decides the best action is to run.

The book is very action packed from the start but it still moved little slow when Britton was on the run. It did pick up pace when he was in training and learned to control his powers.
At first I was bit overwhelmed with all the military terms and acronyms but I soon gave up trying to memorize them. It’s a very good thing there’s a glossary at the end of the book and I would have been totally lost without it. I just wish I had noticed it from the start because I was about half way through when I saw it.

I’m in two minds how I feel about Oscar Britton. At times I couldn’t follow he’s reasoning and he couldn’t make his mind if the SOC are bad guys or not going from one opinion to another. He seemed to make huge amount of collateral damage and seemed indifferent to it. But I did like seeing how he grew and changed when he tried to adapt to his new life and trying to learn to use the magic.

This was out of my comfort zone with all the army stuff but it’s still great debut from the author. My struggle with the terms and acronyms lessened my enjoyment little bit but I’m happy I got a chance to read this. It was definitely different from what I’ve ever read.

3/5
Published: Ace (2012)
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 389
Source: publisher