Shadow Ops: Breach Zone

(x-posted from Goodreads)This book is not released at the time of this review, I read an ARC that I got from the Worldbuilder's charity auction.Breach Zone is the third book in Myke Cole's Shadow Ops trilogy, and the author's development in his craft is highly evident. In each book, the author shows a willingness to try new things in service to the narration, expanding the number of POV characters, widening the scope of the narrative, and now changing the narrative structure to include two separate interweaving stories. The prose is crisp, and moves the story along. Chapter endings are varied with a mix of natural story breaks and "cliff hangers" and worked well to keep my attention glued to the story, and getting me to turn the page. Characterization is well done, with motivations for main characters explored, but there are no massive info dumps or anything to get in the way of the story.In Fortress Frontier, the previous book in the series, Myke Cole explored his universe's version of the Epic Journey. This book is about The Siege in the tradition of Thermopylae or the Alamo. And that thematic choice is used well to underscore themes that have been running throughout the series. This entire series deeply explores the dichotomy of "Right" vs. "the Law". In the previous book, Harlequin, the main POV character in this one, had to make a choice between the lives of 8 US Marines and an entire division of people. The ramifications of that decision are shown here in Breach Zone.It is obvious that the author has served in the military, and that his experiences there have formed a large part of the philosophies espoused in this book. It is the rare service member that hasn't wrestled between following orders and doing what they perceive as right, though the stakes are generally not as high here. I believe that anyone can pick up this story and enjoy the action, adventure, and narrative, but those who have served will notice plenty of little easter eggs.Breach Zone is a worthy successor to the first two novels, and provides a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys epic fantasy or comic books, and would also recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the military. Heck, I'd recommend it to just about anyone, and have gifted copies of the first book to friends, family members, and libraries.

I don't think I can rave enough about this book and how perfectly it closes out the Shadow Ops trilogy. Cole set a high bar with Control Point, exceeded it with Fortress Frontier, and blows it out of the water (literally, at one point) with Breach Zone. His characterization is frighteningly true to life, the plots are solid, the events all moving toward the same end. He reads easily, showing a great balance between every element from dialogue to pacing, setting, characterization, everything. He doesn't give too much information, nothing that's unneeded, and he doesn't hold anything or anyone back. Moments will make you cheer or weep. I did both at one point or another.In reference to the trilogy as a whole, I absolutely love and admire how Cole has placed different characters at the forefront of each of the three novels. Oscar Britton is clearly the center of Control Point, Alan Bookbinder of Fortress Frontier, and Harlequin of Breach Zone. The others are not off the map once "their story" is finished. I was greatly attached to Britton in reading Control Point, and at first I was wondering why I wasn't getting enough of him in Fortress Frontier. But then I realized it wasn't "his story" anymore, but that didn't mean he no longer existed. The passing of the protagonistic torch to Bookbinder was a brilliant move on Cole's part, and when I came to this conclusion of the trilogy, I was ready to address my relationship with Harlequin and bring the story to a close. Myke Cole can write, and he does it amazingly well.

So here we have the third and final book in the series. In my review of the first book I talk about why I find the setting so unrealistic that I can't manage the willing suspension of disbelief. I talk about it again in my review of the second book.Same setting. Still impossible to believe in. Perhaps a bit worse.This time the main character is one of the established supers who has been working for the US military and the US government all along. He's ok as a protagonist. That's the best I can say about him.This time, we have a Villain. She's come back to Earth so she can take it over in the name of Evil. Once she's killed all the people she doesn't like, or who get in her way, or who have maybe the wrong shade of makeup, or whatever, she plans to betray her evil allies and set up an enlightened kingdom for those with powers, which she will rule over in a benevolent and wise manner.One of the things that brought this book down was how powerful the Villain becomes without needing to expend any effort on it. You can almost see the author standing behind her pumping her up because she's the villain of the piece and it doesn't matter if it makes -sense- for her to be able to do what she does. He needs a Big Evil Villain. It doesn't matter if one of the major plot elements of the books has been that only one power set allows travel between the magic world and Earth. When the plot calls for it, her power can do it too, not that this makes any sense.Not quite as good as the second book. Better than the first. Worth reading if you get it for free and have nothing better to do. Not worth paying for.

Final part of the trilogy, and it keeps building up the interest all the way through. A good take on urban fantasy, focusing on a more military slant.

Well I was a little disappointed in this Shadow ops series of books by Myke Cole. The story potential was great, however, I found the actual story telling to be some what boring and left me feeling a bit left out on bits and pieces. The third book Javelin Rain, was a lot better then the previous two, although the ending of the book had me feeling like i had just seen the new Jason Bourne movie and I had a WTF moment.They were a decent read, just not something I would recommend to a lot of other people.

If you haven't read Myke's Shadow Ops series yet, I highly recommend you immediately order Control Point and Fortress Frontier as well as this wonderful third book to the series, Breach Zone.Breach Zone arrived at my place on Saturday afternoon and I finished reading it not even 24 hours later. Once you start, you won't stop. Food? Unimportant. TV? Unimportant. It's an action loaded adventure and at the same time soooooooo much more. The backstories of the characters are beautifully told, you feel with them, you think with them and you kick ass with them!I've already enjoyed the first two books, but with Breach Zone, I am in love.Ladies and Gentlemen, Myke Cole is a genius. I could say more, much more, but I don't wanna spoil too much. It's fantasy at its best while bringing a new spirit to the genre!Für alle deutschen Fans: Die ersten beiden Bände sind bereits auf deutsch erschienen: Kontrollpunkt und Grenzfeste!

If you liked the first two books, this will be a satisfying sequel / finish. Interesting theams and paralels to modern us society

Good book, good price, good delivery time.