The world of Shadow Ops comes alive once more in Myke Cole’s newest book Fortress Frontier. In a setting where magic can change a dedicated military war fighter into a superhuman mage, Fortress Frontier pushes the envelope of personal growth and magical prowess all at once.

Fortress Frontier starts with a new character very different from Oscar Britton. Alan Bookbinder is to most of the world, a glorified paper pusher. In military terms, he is someone worth respecting, having reached the rank of Colonel but he has neither fought wars, nor earned medals for combat bravery. His journey of self discovery though, will captivate readers to their very core.

In the first book, Control Point, Oscar Britton was essentially the main character. In an interview with Toonari Post, Myke Cole said that more characters are to come and readers will see whereas Britton is a hard charging fighter, Bookbinder is a desk-sitting paper pusher. Bookbinder’s character is relatable in his hesitation and fear but is steadfast fighting his own sense of cowardice. So in terms of character design, Britton may be the conflicted superhero searching for his path in life, while Bookbinder is the unwavering commander of this magical ship.

Though the story started with Oscar, it takes off with Alan and it may be a mistake that the first hero is nearly upstaged by the second. Bookbinder’s character speaks to that part of us who want to be more, to rise up and not be afraid. Whereas Oscar’s character has a more traditional military feel with his gung-ho attitude, Alan is more representative of an ordinary civilian thrust into a difficult, life changing situation.

Additionally, the two books transition too seamlessly, with literally no time passing between the ending of the first book and the second. In real time, it has been a year between the first and second books; readers who have not read the first book recently will need a refresher on some of the terminology – which makes the included glossary of terms a huge boon to the book.

Adding fuel to this already great universe, the Forward Operating Base (FOB) on the frontier may be a military base in this book, but readers will be drawn into the desperate reality that is inflicted upon these military service men and women. The story has a few standard conventions that are in keeping with the meshing of an invading force fighting an indigenous people, but these elements are executed well. Other characters feel real and plausible.

The addition of magic also makes for more storyline opportunity and it is here that Myke Cole has expanded upon the masterfully built universe. The system of magic has evolved into demonstrations of their practical use since the first book. If anything, the first book showed literal, neatly scripted use of magic that was straight forward and will make a lot of sense to anyone familiar with an efficient military. The second book, Fortress Frontier, completely turns the straight forward approach on its head by giving magic a personality.

Magic is a vibrant and uncharted territory in many aspects of the Shadow Ops universe. This gives Cole leeway to create, change and even accelerate some of the magic usage in his books. Many books in the fantasy genre follow similar conventions, using magic to turn some of the less than plausible facets of a storyline into an acceptable plotline, but Cole’s execution sets him apart from everyone else.

He calls upon his military experience to give the fantasy aspect of magic a much needed anchored grounding in Shadow Ops. Without this, the magic used by Oscar Britton or Alan Bookbinder may not have had that unique and original feel. What may be common place in other fantasy books gains a level of depth and worth that cannot be seen when standing alone. Thus, the military and magic aspects of the Shadow Ops world compliment each other exceptionally well.

The military is also the basis of the most glaring opponent in this book, in the form of government and politics. As the series has grown, Fortress Frontier has zeroed in on how the system uses, abuses and destroys magic users.

In part, this is what happened to Oscar Britton in the first book. He witnesses the unfairness evident at the Forward Operating Base and sets a course that changes not only his life, but those of his friends too. One person who’s caught in the ripple effect is Alan, resulting in his rise to leadership when things look their worst. Here, readers will see Alan’s rise through his knowledge of logistics; cheering his successes while lamenting his losses side by side with him.

Myke Cole’s characters are gaining increased popularity and will eventually go toe to toe with the major antagonists in successive books. The world of Shadow Ops seems to be picking up steam, building toward that great climax in a yet unseen story arc that fans can almost taste. Fantasy readers will not only be drawn into this novel but will come away at the ending, realizing the enormous potential this universe possesses.

Combining military and fantasy genres has allowed Cole to cultivate a universe that has the ability to maintain a healthy succession of books and ever-evolving characters. With potential that goes beyond a trilogy or two, this is truly one of the most anticipated books of 2013 for many fantasy readers. Fortress Frontier is the supersonic jet fighter sequel to Control Point’s attack helicopter that started it all, better in every way.

Rating 4.5/5 – For great fantasy that is inspiring and well balanced, creating a world full of vivid military magic users

The article A Sequel Worthy of Praise, Fortress Frontier by Myke Cole appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In a world that is much like our own, with governments that have agendas that no one knows about, there are soldiers that train for missions to hone skills of which the normal average Joe would be deathly afraid.

Author Myke Cole has varied expertise in both the military and law enforcement, and his writing reflects, not only the positive experiences, but also the negative ones of the real fighting world. This is an amazing, fun, and engaging novel and is in stores now. There is sure to be more from this new author.

The magic aspect of the book is a perfect foil for which Myke Cole creates the world of Oscar Britton. Conjuring images of movies such as ‘Avatar’, ‘X-Men’, ‘Black Hawk Down’, and ‘The Matrix’, ‘Shadow Ops: Control Point’ pulls fans in, keeping them guessing at times and at other times, cheering on Oscar’s successes. Lamenting Oscar’s failures are short-lived, as the book is always plugging along at a brisk pace, moving events forward through timelines and dimensions.

Latent, probe, selfer. These are some of the first terms with which readers of ‘Shadow Ops: Control Point’ will become intimately familiar throughout the book. ‘Latent’ is the term for people with the ability and control to do their manifested school of magic. Likewise, a ‘selfer’ is a rogue, or out-of-control, magic user that focuses on any of the 11 schools of magic.

Appropriately sandwiched between these two concepts is a subsection of the ‘selfer’ label which is ‘probe’, a magic user that wields one of the four prohibited schools of magic within the eleven total schools.

The Supernatural Operations Corps, (SOC), is a place where training takes place in all 11 schools of magic, despite the legal standing of certain magic schools within the U.S. population. The permissible schools chiefly deal with Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and the physical body, the latter of which deals with healing, called a physiomancer.

The two restricted practiced schools are Animal Whispering and Offensive Physiomancy, that is, not healing, but instead destroying a body. The four prohibited schools are classified as such because they are generally considered dark or rare powers to possess that are even more valuable and disturbing than the first seven schools of magic.

Black magic, death magic, gate magic, and semi-sentient elemental conjuration are the four prohibited schools of magic. Oscar becomes a master of gate magic, called portamancy, to which its combat ability can be referred to hilariously as ‘gate-fu’, the front line fighting potential limited only by the user’s control of the magic itself. As he trains, he joins Umbra Coven, the elite magic group the is behind all of the other magic users.

Status as a selfer usually results in death as the SOC hunts you down, probes even more so, though the SOC does also capture magic users alive and gives them a chance to be indoctrinated into the SOC and serve their country combating selfers and probes. This is an ironic and somewhat venomous twist that combines magical servitude and prison-sentencing as a person manifests magic.

Chock-full of concepts that will thrill any science fiction and fantasy fan, as well as some military jargon, ‘Shadow Ops’ details the life of Oscar Britton as he goes on his journey to first discovering, and then later mastering, control of his latent probe powers. An army man himself, Oscar is the type of character that is very relatable.

He is angry at injustice when he sees it, he is prideful of great accomplishments when he earns them, and he is regretful for more than his fair share of near-death experiences. Rave reviews from readers are justified in their praise of Myke Cole’s first work as this page-turning thriller takes readers on a journey into the mind of a man ridden, not only with guilt and anger, but with a fierce moral code.

Readers will go right along with him on his ethical journey as Oscar comes to grips with the changes in his life, even as he struggles to stay the same person. Find out Oscar’s fear at his first manifestation of magic and struggle just as Oscar does, as he dances all over the fine line between strict military training and smart-alecky heroism.

Oscar knew what life had in store for him after being captured using a prohibited school of magic, chaining him down to be another tool of a government that he has come to despise. He still rebels against that injustice and sticks to his code of ethics. While not beyond reproach, the events that take place in ‘Shadow Ops’ can easily take place in our world, showing us how different, and yet similar, Oscar Britton’s reality is from our own.

One arguable fault in an otherwise excellent book is that while there are a few lessons to take away from Oscar’s journey, chiefly that you should be true to yourself and your own moral code, there is not a life lesson that can be felt throughout the book that is the focal point of the entire story.

Oscar wants his freedom, to live the life that he chooses, but his tale has hopefully not ended yet, with revolution on the rise as a result of his actions. That can be said to be the focal point of the story, but does not feel quite as cohesive as it could have been.

Another arguable fault is that the secondary characters, while vibrant, seem forced. The duty a military officer has to his government is strong, but the bond he has to his squad is even stronger. This concept is diluted in ‘Shadow Ops’, leading to unexpected betrayals that make sense, but do not really create a great deal of emotion. Another secondary character changes so quickly overnight that the level of fear and hate turning into adoration and fanaticism seems improbable.

Still, readers will become fans of Myke Cole’s writing. There is an ease of reading that many will welcome and an approachable style that many will love. There is nothing boring about a book where military meets magic, and while the concept is not new, Myke Cole’s take on it is refreshing and much needed in a genre that is beginning to overlap itself with similar concepts.

There is much work that needs to be done for the next book in the ‘Shadow Ops’ series, entitled ‘Fortress Frontier’. Often times, the books that are published within a given era are a reflection of the real world during that time period.

In a world that is increasingly rebellious against governments that abuse policy and remove rights, ‘Shadow Ops: Control Point’ hits the nail on the head and gives readers a dose of what they want from their fiction. Escape into the world of Oscar Britton for a few days, and watch as his path unfolds before your very eyes.

For all its limited number of faults, the story of Oscar Britton is one that fans eagerly follow, with many readers waiting for the next book to arrive. Hopefully, ‘Fortress Frontier’ will continue to showcase Myke Cole’s evolving talent as a writer of fiction since the few faults that ‘Control Point’ has can be easily fixed in the second book. An excellent debut from a novice writer, this is a series on the rise, so watch out sci-fi/fantasy fans, this one will grab your attention.

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The article Review of ‘Shadow Ops: Control Point’ By New Author Myke Cole appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.