Control Point by Myke Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What if people suddenly manifested magical powers and those powers were either deemed illegal or only could be used under the jurisdiction of the government and military? What if you're in the military and all of a sudden, you manifest powers that are considered forbidden? That's Oscar Britton's journey.

Oscar is a very conflicted character. Everything he thought he knew has been challenged, and his deeply held sense of right and wrong is continually tested as he goes from being on one side of the equation to the other, and back. He's a loyal Army soldier, until he realizes that his handlers might be the bad guys in some aspects.

It's interesting that I read this around the time I saw the movie Captain America: Civil War, because they both deal with similar issues. Does being right mean that you're always on the 'right' side? And how your vantage point can definitely affect how you view the morality of a situation.

The magic was really interesting, and I liked seeing Oscar develop and learn to use his powers. He matures emotionally as this book unfolds, and that isn't always comfortable reading. Some of the scenes were really hard to read, and some characters were downright creepy as heck in their powerful abilities. Also the examination of bigotry and racism (not necessarily skin color, but identity and being other than the norm). It looks hard at the military and how that all works being a grunt and having to follow orders, even if they aren't morally right, according to you.

This is the first book in this series, and I'm curious to see where the story goes next. I think that science fiction and fantasy have the ability to look hard at issues and get a reader thinking about things. This book definitely did that for me. The action was well done and had me on the edge of my seat, and I liked Oscar. I felt sympathy for him, because he was in a very rough situation and he was continually forced to make some difficult choices in this book.

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