Shadow Ops: Control Point has a good concept. Magic breaks out in the modern world. The government takes control of as much as possible; if you can use magic, you're pretty much limited to being in the military or being a hunted outlaw. The main character finds out that he has magic; we follow him through getting captured, taken to the military's off-world training base, and screwing things up royally.
And we don't really care, because there's no reason to like the main character. The primary thing I hated about him was that he can't make up his fuzzy little mind. He is torn between "I'm a slave for the government, I hate this, I don't owe them anything and would risk anything to escape" and "They're training me, discipline is good, I'm learning a lot of stuff, I'm helping people." And he's generally not feeling both at the same time and trying to reconcile them intelligently; it's all one way, and then in the next chapter it's all the other way.
If he were a hero, he'd decide what he wanted and then push to achieve it despite all obstacles. This guy can't get the first step right; and when he does accomplish something, it's because he was pushed.
I see the second book in the series has a different main character, so if I see the sequel in the library, I might thumb through it, but that's about the most I can recommend.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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1 comment:
I've read the second book, it's a bit better but not much. It isn't so much that there's a new main character as a second viewpoint character is added. The Colonel starts as a whiny bitch but actually manages to man up an grow a pair before the end of the story.
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