The was the first Advance Reviewer Copy ever sent to me! 
 (apart from my own work) 
 So, I really enjoyed this. On pretty much the first page I was confused by/angry with the main character, Oscar. It could well be my fault. I didn't understand that the young people in the opening scene who were busy killing folk were not actually in control of the magic doing the killing. So I didn't connect with Oscar's sympathy for them. 
 Oscar continued to annoy me (possibly with more valid reason) throughout the book. That sounds bad, but it isn't. Yes, he didn't choose a line and stick to it. That sounds like most people to me. A degree of inconsistency, especially under extreme pressure, is realism, it's the norm. Cole gives us a real man in extraordinary circumstances - and that's good writing. 
 When modern fantasy gives us grey and points of view that make both sides look valid ... why can't someone change their mind from time to time? 
 The mainstay of this book, and it's a very good mainstay, is the exciting magic. It's good old fashioned in your face fun/powerful magic. Stuff gets taken apart. Not for nothing did Peter V Brett call it Xmen meets Black Hawkdown. I suspect it's impossible to blow up so much shit between two covers, in such style, and not have a hit. I would watch it in 3D. 
 The rapid appearance of powerful magics among the populace leads to some interesting social dynamics, with the military having taken control of proceedings (and why not - these skills are powerful weapons). There are snippets of news/doctrine ahead of chapters that give a nice taste of the impact of these developments on society. 
 Action moves quite swiftly to a secondary world where it spends most of the book. For the most part the pace is fast and the action exciting. Cole uses his own military experience to provide an authentic feel to the whole thing and show the military/civilian tensions in a sub-populace that has been forcibly inducted into the armed services. 
 Anyway ... great read. Give it a shot. Cole puts the fun back into fantasy. Not the silly kind of fun, the kind that explodes. 
 I should also note that this trilogy gets better as it goes. Book one touches 5* with outstretched fingertips for me, book 3 stands on the 5* inviting more. 
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