Howard Tayler is raving about Shadow Ops: Control Point – apparently “It’s like if Tom Clancy decided to write urban fantasy,” which is admittedly an argument in its favor. Then again, so is being liked by Howard Tayler. Nonetheless, the degree that it is awesome will determine whether I Kindle it*. Anybody read it yet?
Moe Lane
*I will be happy to describe the procedure determining what ends up on my Kindle, what gets bought new hardcopy, and what gets bought used hardcopy, just as soon as I figure out what it is.
No, but i understand the concept. Does that help?
1. I must read this. (kindle) stuff I get told about
2. I must OWN this. (buy hardcopy) Anything by Jim Butcher, or Terry Pratchett – and a couple of others.
3. I must eventually own this. (used hardcopy) stuff that looks good on the shelf, or I find out about long after its been in print.
I’ve read it.
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It feels like Taylor must’ve have had it on Schlock around the time it was put out, a year ago by Amazon’s numbers.
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It was okay. I would read further books.
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Not a Correia, a Kratman, or a Spoor.
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Decent magic system. Decent writing. I guess the world building is okay. I’m not sure why my memories are not more enthused. As Taylor says, the people are people, well done, and you will have an emotional response to them, and what they do and have done.
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If Kratman hasn’t spoiled Clancy for you, that won’t be a problem. If you can handle slight hints of pink or similar type WSoD issues in Military/America worldbuilding, that won’t be a problem. If you don’t have the emotional issues that have been interfering with some of my ability to enjoy books recently, ditto.
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One thing, a very important thing, that Taylor mentions in the first review but does not quote again in the latest bit. The main guy screws up, and high costs are paid for the screw ups. He still goes on, and does his best. I will leave it to you to judge where the chips fall in the end.
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If you hate the Military or America, do not read this book. If you can’t stand fantasy or magic, this is not your book. If you seek ideological perfection, and do not tolerate human weakness, look elsewhere. If it isn’t your genre, I wish you good luck.
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Otherwise I can’t think of any reason, beyond time constraints, not to read this book.
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Thanks for tipping me off about the new book. It is going on the list of things to do something about shortly.
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Not this Tuesday (today depending on timezone) but next Tuesday. Would it be poor manners to post something in this thread when I have it read, assuming I do it inside of two weeks?
I generally run comments here with a lighter hand, particularly when it comes to non-political stuff.
My natural tendency is walls of text that may be finished weeks after everybody else has moved on. So, especially when I am new, I like to find out where the lines are, what the best practice is for the community is.
No worries, but I close threads after two weeks, so you may want to speed that up. 🙂
Kindled it. Read it. Not bad, actually, although it’s more of “Apocalypse Now” meets “Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever”. Give it 3 and 1/2 out of five (4 of five for concept, minus a half point because existential angst makes me itch). I’ll read the sequel when it comes out for the Kindle.
Wouldn’t buy it in hardcover, though. Then again, about the only books I buy in physical paper form these days are the occasional steampunk novel (it just seems right, somehow) and stuff that I read on airplanes in the moments when my tablet would magically crash the airplane if the backlight were on.