cover image Shadow Ops: Breach Zone

Shadow Ops: Breach Zone

Myke Cole. Ace, $7.99 mass market (384p) ISBN 978-0-425-25637-4

Cole wraps up the Shadow Ops trilogy with a magical battle royale. America's reaction to the rebirth of magic was not precisely nuanced or considered: overnight, thousands of Americans who had involuntarily developed magical talents became second-class citizens called Latents, and some were labeled public enemies, subject to summary execution. The legacy of that ham-fisted policy is an invading army of goblins and demons sweeping through New York City. Its leader, Scylla, who was stripped of her wealth and social status after her talents manifested, is determined to crush the unpowered as they tried to crush her and other magic users. As conventional weapons prove ineffectual against the supernatural horde, America's antimagic government is forced to turn to rebel Oscar Britton and his fellow Latents for salvation. This action-filled, adrenalin-powered adventure, which enthusiastically embraces the tropes of tales about meta-powered minorities and the distrusting majorities who oppress them, provides a fitting end for the trilogy. (Feb.)