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Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier (2013)

by Myke Cole(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Ace

series

Shadow Ops

review 1: I'm going to preface this with something that I'm sure everyone who's ever tried to write fiction has a hard time with: good names are hard to find. So you can understand how unreservedly excited I was when I encountered the name "Bookbinder." Cole doesn't let up with his fast pace and magically enhanced action - everything you liked about the first book reappears. However, and this is why my review is a bit shorter than usual, not much happens on a grand scale. Yes, we see what happens with the FOB, and Oscar as well once he's successfully flown the coop. Bookbinder's expedition is supremely fun and informative in regards to the Source as well. But this book really pumps the brakes on the big issues that Cole brings up in his first book. I had originally wanted to see an... more incorporation of the grand themes and questions into the smaller scale, but we don't get that here. Cole's second Shadow Ops novel is the line that must connect the two dots that are Control Point and Breach Zone. Frontier Fortress is every bit as fun as Control Point, but all of the issues that were introduced as "big idea" questions for readers to wrestle with fade into the background. I had anticipated a balance between micro and macro issues, but here it's all about the battlefront. But that definitely isn't a bad thing - this book is wicked hard to put down.Read it, you won't regret it!
review 2: spoiler possible: I would give this book a 3.5 stars if I could. I think the first book was slightly better, and this book had a lot of potential for character development, but missed the mark. I assumed this book was going to further develop characters that were introduced in the first book, but it really took a different route. Instead, it introduced a new character "Bookbinder", and really focused on his story. There was a little bit of plot concerning earlier characters, but nothing earth chattering.In many ways Bookbinder is the antithesis of Oscar Britton. I do not mean that in a protagonist/antagonist sense, but a plot sense. Oscar took the path of a selfer, and a rebel. Bookbinder took the opposite path; he took all the proper channels, and did everything by the book. This is another contrast; Oscar is a born leader/warrior, while bookbinder is a born desk jockey. Oscar Britton's evolution thus far has been all internal, and Bookbinder's has largely been external. I think it is this external struggle that makes Bookbinder a more interesting character thus far. He is developing external traits that the reader really gets to witness; traits like leadership, confidence, honor, responsibility, and courage. All of these things are becoming a part of Bookbinder, but he really doesn't lose who he was before. He is still lacking in confidence, but he pushes on anyways, because his morality demands it. He is still a largely family man, but recognizes that the troops are also becoming his family. This story I think is a lot more interesting than Britton's morality conflicts over the SOC in the first book. Oscar has so far been a static character; it feels like external forces are driving his actions rather than him making choices, and growing as a character. I think the pacing during this book was good. It had great action scenes, and developed the magical world more in depth. It also had a great sub plot about political corruption, which I think was very interesting. I was not a fan of the "sculptor". He felt like an undeveloped character that was over used plot wise, with zero character development. If anything he feels the exact same as every other sorcerer in the SOC. They have this boring template that feels identical the Harlequin, except we know very little about the individual. I think the only excuse for that type of writing is later development. In the next book, if the sculptor doesn't get some major time, then I would be highly disappointed. Perhaps a showdown between render/Therese vs sculptor, or all the physiomancers vs Scylla.Anyway I enjoyed it, and now I am going to go read the next book. less

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