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A review by tome15
The Point by John Dixon
2.0
Dixon, John. The Point. Del Rey, 2018.
I picked this book up because I have been a sucker for military science fiction coming of age stories since I read Heinlein’s Space Cadet as a kid. I do not think that John Dixon’s contribution to the genre is destined to become a classic, or even, I think, the lynchpin of a new series. Set at a secret, literally underground, base at a near-future West Point, it tells the story of some kids with attitude problems and various paranormal abilities being trained on the downlow to fight “posthuman terrorism.” Our heroine, Scarlet, learns to absorb energy from everything from punches to explosions and then release it at a time and in a direction of her choosing. It has quite a bit of flash-bang violence and some PG-13 eroticism, but the story drags on like a Model-T climbing a steep hill. It could also do with a lot less emo sentimentality and a bit more humor. Bottom line: a dull story that takes itself way too seriously.
I picked this book up because I have been a sucker for military science fiction coming of age stories since I read Heinlein’s Space Cadet as a kid. I do not think that John Dixon’s contribution to the genre is destined to become a classic, or even, I think, the lynchpin of a new series. Set at a secret, literally underground, base at a near-future West Point, it tells the story of some kids with attitude problems and various paranormal abilities being trained on the downlow to fight “posthuman terrorism.” Our heroine, Scarlet, learns to absorb energy from everything from punches to explosions and then release it at a time and in a direction of her choosing. It has quite a bit of flash-bang violence and some PG-13 eroticism, but the story drags on like a Model-T climbing a steep hill. It could also do with a lot less emo sentimentality and a bit more humor. Bottom line: a dull story that takes itself way too seriously.