Unable to control his new power, and with nowhere safe to hide, things go terribly wrong for Britton, and he is eventually tracked down and caught by the very military unit he used to be a part of. Because his ability to raise portals is exceptionally rare and highly sought after he is given the opportunity to sign his life away to an existence of indentured servitude as a government/military contractor - an offer he can’t really refuse because of the micro-bomb planted next to his heart - but once he accepts, he finds himself in a top-secret unit of magically enhanced soldiers living in a parallel world and conducting a war against the indigenous creatures for control of the source of the magic. Unhappy with what he sees, Britton decides to save the indigenous peoples from the ceaseless assaults, bring down the military machine and escape to freedom without getting himself killed in the process.
It’s fair to say that the military in some way, shape or form appears in fantasy novels all the time, but usually it’s the standard quasi-medieval setting, a lot of guys with swords and the occasional mage thrown in for good measure. What Cole has done - uniquely as far as I can tell - is introduce a lot of common magical/fantasy elements into the modern military machine, and I have to say it works really well. What helps enormously is that Cole has solid experience in the US military, including three tours of Iraq, and it’s because of this that every aspect of the story feels punctuated with realism, from the layers of bureaucracy to the mundanity of paperwork, the training, the discipline and the professionalism, albeit with a little gung-ho attitude to stir the pot.
Necessarily with any book of this kind their are a lot of characters, but on the whole they are pretty distinct with the major players getting enough page time to build realistically as the story grows even if it’s all a bit black hat/white hat. Almost to a man the Army guys are the bad guys, they’re pretty unlikeable and they treat everybody badly, especially the indigenous who they refer to as ‘goblins’. The conscripts are largely painted as peace-loving beatniks, caught up in a war they have no interest in fighting but unwilling to die because of it. Britton is likeable enough and I’m happy to buy his discontent at the situation, but I do feel as basically a military man he needs a bit more justification for his actions because he flip-flops back and forth too much for my liking. The world-building is okay, the indigenous species that we are introduced to in the parallel world are well-drawn and sufficiently different to feel alien to us, but there are several aspects to it that are not as strong as they might be. The entire story takes place in the world of the military so we never really get to see the ordinary man in the street and his reaction the situation. Likewise there are countries who don’t practice this draconian imprisonment on people who manifest and it would be good to know more about how things are for those people. Also the workings of magical system are kind of glossed over, there never really feels like there’s a penalty for using magic and there really should be. That said though, this is the first of a series and Cole is getting the story going so he may well address those things in subsequent books.
But it’s in the action sequences that Cole really excels. The various ways that military training incorporates the magical abilities are really well done, and the small unit of specialists that grows out of that training, and the way they are deployed, shows quality writing and in-depth knowledge from someone who has clearly spent time thinking through how the real world and the fantasy world can combine. The fight scenes are fast, tense, well-choreographed, imaginative and often brutal but without doubt they are what raises Control Point to that ‘can’t put it down’ level and pulls you back for more.
All in all it’s a worthy first effort. Control Point is a fun, fast and action-packed read with some great set-pieces and a surprise twist ending that is pulled off pretty well. I get the feeling that as a series it can only improve with each instalment and I’m looking forward to reading Fortress Frontier, the next one in the series, as soon as possible.
Control Point is published by Headline and is available with free delivery from The Book Depository and on the high street from Blackwell and all good book stores.