The Point by John Dixon (ARC) - Review

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I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Scarlett Winter has always been an outsider as a daredevil and troublemaker, but she's hiding special powers she doesn't understand. She has no choice after graduation - either go to West Point or jail. She expects that she'll just be joining the army like her father before her, but she's actually joining a special unit of others with powers like her. Scarlett and her fellow students are learning to more accurately use their abilities, from telekinetic combat to running recon missions through strangers' dreamscapes, for eventual government service. Scarlett may have the strongest ability in her year with her power to control energy and use it as a weapon, she's a bomb waiting to explode, and she's not sure she can control herself for much longer. When a dangerous threat arises from the school's dark past, Scarlett will need to decide if she can truly step up and be a hero.

The Point by John Dixon is an addicting sci-fi thriller with a great central premise. Honestly, as soon as I heard military training, X-Men, and a secret West Point unit I was absolutely sold. Some of my favorite moments of the story are the training sequences and seeing the cadets powers in action. As for Scarlett, Dixon has created a pretty fantastic character arc for our leading lady. She really comes into her own as a part of a the Long Gray Line and through her training. That being said she never loses herself in the process, though she does seem to change her ways a little too quickly for my tastes. By the way, when it comes to Scarlett's power did anyone else think of Sebastian Shaw from X-Men? Anyway, one of my few issues is that I wish the world-building had been handled a little more thoroughly for the posthumans. I enjoyed what we got about they came to be, but it wasn't quite enough for me - bit of a missed opportunity there.

Overall, The Point by John Dixon is a great standalone sci-fi for fans of X-Men. This story isn't terribly unique, but it's still a fun read that you can quickly devour. It is an older YA read, but I think that it could make a great adult crossover story as well. This novel was my first read by this author, but I think now I'm going to have to read more of his work - I think a great starting place would be Phoenix Island which inspired the tv show Intelligence with Josh Holloway.

I read this ARC from July 20 - 25, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.  The Point by John Dixon will be released on August 7th, 2018.