This story had some strong points: a good female lead, especially after she left the immature, teenage whining at the beginning of the book; unusual characters, also known "posthumans" with very strange powers; a secret spy organization located underground at West Point; and of course, villains, originally trained by the secret spy organization.

There were some cool, but less obvious, connections through out the story. One example is the senator and his long lost daughter: they could have played a much bigger role. Their appearance at the end of the book was surprising but it could have been a startling revelation.

Overall it was an enjoyable read, definitely in the young adult category.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

Yet another teenager with special powers. This wasn't for me and I abandoned it. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Pitched as X-men meets the Military, this isn't a book I would normally pick up. I liked that Scarlett is a screw-up and that she blows off her high school graduation even though she knows her parents will be there. The backstory of The Point was well though out but I felt like I needed more explanation as to how the villian's power worked. I understand how they affected others but not the other part. It seemed like that part was glossed over. Overall I liked this book a lot.

This.is an extraordinary novel. The characters are compelling, the plot is riveting, and the narrative excellent. Young adul children of vets are manifesting behavioral problems and extraordinary powers. Follow their journey at West Point as a a powerful charismatic tries to take over the United States for his own evil purposes. These posthumans are ready for a new series that I hope will follow in the footsteps of this truly excellent read.
Troubled teens + extraordinary powers=spellbinding thiller
Amazon

4.5 Stars
A fast-paced military Sci-fi novel that's part X-men and part coming-of-age story that includes some intriguing characters, some with superpowers. Effects of PTSD are incorporated into the storyline as well as an unusual explanation for superhuman powers. A good start to a potentially exciting series. For YA, Sci-fi, and military fans.

Net Galley Feedback

The publisher calls this book explosive. Is it ever! WOW! It sucks you in and keeps you reading. I love the characters and their flaws and strengths. In a way, it's a coming of age story about some very special kids with some awesome abilities and skills learning to fit in and become responsible adults. I wanted to find out what happened, but I didn't want it to end. Love that kind of story!

Ive read similar books. The characters in this one and the way it was written set it apart. Scarlett, Seamus, Lucy & the others made me feel like I was apart of what was going on. I definitely wish I had post human powers lol. Now that the foundation has been set I hope author John Dixon carries this iinto a series and really develops the story.

There was some promise in the blurb of this book, which is why I picked it up to read, but then I realized it was just a rehash and remix of a bunch of other stories. *The Point* tells the story of a young adult who is wasting her amazing potential until a dramatic event gives her a choice of either going through a grueling training she doesn’t want or getting a punishment. But as it turns out our reluctant protagonist turns out to be the great promising future for her people, especially since the vaguely hinted antagonist has the potential power to bring about an apocalypse. That makes our hero the one true future hope. Nevertheless, she must endure antagonism from her jealous classmates as well as incredibly cruel treatment from the teachers she’s supposed to trust. Sound familiar?

Yes, *The Point* is a mix of Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, the Divergent series with an antagonist who is a straight rip-off of Jessica Jones’ Killgrave. The only thing unique here is the setting which is not quite West Point, but a secret alt-version of the Point just for superhumans buried under the real West Point. But it was never adequately explained why this was placed there, why they were training these people to be officers, especially since most of them—apart from their powers—seemed profoundly not to be Army officer material.

Then there are the editorial problems. I can only hope that the review copy I read wasn’t the final version because it wasn’t just typos. At one point, several of the characters must have been different genders because, for paragraphs at a time, the wrong pronouns were used. At another point, the author forgot he told us that the character had a pretty good buzz, because then he tells us that she hasn’t yet got a buzz on. Speaking of which, our protagonist is 18 years old and yet she drinks with no problem in a bar outside of West Point, and yet the author had just had someone telling another character they couldn’t drink because of being underage. So why could our hero drink? No explanation. Those may seem like minor problems, but they are just a couple examples of the many structural and editing issues with this book.

But what most put me off of this book was the incredible casual cruelty. What is it with young adult literature these days that they must always combine world-shattering stakes with incredible cruelty to the protagonist and their companions, not by their enemies, but the people who are supposed to be their mentors. Why can’t we tell smaller stories? Not there shouldn’t be important stakes, but what about consequences that are important to just, say, the protagonist. Okay, put their life on the line. But why must every story be about an incredibly evil enemy who must be destroyed to save the universe? It gets boring after a while.

Bottom line is that *The Point* is not a book I can recommend.

John Dixon's The Point is a story that could easily be called X-Men at the US Military Academy. Instead of calling those with strange powers mutants, let's instead call them post-humans. The protagonist of the story is 18-year old Scarlett Winter a rebel by nature who chaffs against responsibility. Winter's father is a retired Master Sergeant in the Army, while her older brother is a Sergeant in the Marines.

After skipping out on her graduation party for a drunken reverie and some fun, Scarlet later tries to attend a party of her former best friend which doesn't go as planned. Scarlet stumbles onto the scene of 3 people planting a bomb and instead of running for her life, she jumps on the bomb which goes off. Wouldn't be a story if Scarlett died this quickly, would it? Nope. Scarlett actually takes all the kinetic energy inside of her and saves who knows how many lives.

None of them will ever know how close they came to dying. Why? Because Scarlett is soon visited by two men; Colonel Oscar Rhodes, and Captain Fuller who gives her an option. Either she can spends time in prison, or she can attend West Point for 4 years, with an additional 4 years of active duty. The catch is that this isn't the West Point Military Academy. This is The Point where those who are called Post Humans are trained, tested, and yes, experimented on to see what category they fall in.

For Scarlett, she is something else that hasn't been seen. She is considered Level III which means that she is able to absorb an ungodly amount of energy and release it in ways that could make her a weapon. Others fall into cat I or II which could mean anything from telekinesis, to super speed, super strength, and the ability to walk into a person's dreamscapes. When a dangerous threat invades the school and almost everyone falls prey to the villains magnetism, Scarlett stands alone against a variety of hard core villains, including those from the school.

I have to say that Scarlett isn't a character who I am going to ever take a backward step and say, well isn't that special. She's not a dumb person. She's smart, she's good at every sport she's ever tried, but she is easily bored and ends up quitting. Except when the chips are down, and someone is planning to use her as a weapon against the school she has come to respect and admire. I think that this is a good story for other teens struggling with responsibilities and finding their way in the world. Scarlett learns a great deal about consequences from the beginning of the story, to the end. She also finds something that she hasn't before. Home where she can be who she wants to be.

This book is apparently a standalone, however, I would love to see the author revisit as a sequel some day down the road. Dixon's other works include Phoenix Island, and Devil's Pocket.

This was OK. I had much higher expectations for this and didn't end up loving it. I think it is a great YA urban fantasy/sci-fi book. I just couldn't connect with the characters or the storyline. I felt like the characters were much to immature for my reading tastes and the pacing was too slow for my liking. I think young adult readers will really enjoy this story and really love Scarlett.

Scarlett Winter is a selfish, brat who doesn't care about anyone but herself and doesn't care if her actions hurt anyone. She doesn't apply herself at school, sports, or pretty much anything even though she is bright, athletic, and compeltely capable. She just doesn't care about anything enough to apply herself. After getting in trouble one to many times, her father is ready to ship her off to the Army. Scarlett wants to go backpacking through Europe instead. This causes yet another family fued, but this time her older brother is involved. Their dad abused Scarlett's brother Dan, who turned the abuse onto her as they got older. This time when Dan starts a fight with Scarlett, she hits him back with more force than should be possible. This isn't the first time Scarlett has done something out of the ordinary. Scarlett decides to lay low after the family fight and crash a friends graduation party when she happens upon and stops a terrorist bombing. Enter Colonel Rhodes from West Point, he is aware that Scarlett may have superhuman or posthuman powers and those powers can be honed at The Point, as secret school with West Point.

Scarlett isn't left with many options at this point, take the blame for the bombing or join the Army and learn to control her powers. She chooses door number 2 and becomes a Cadet. Army life does not suit stubborn, outspoken, rebel Scarlett, but she quickly finds her place at The Point with people who understand her. While Scarlett is learning how to harness her powers, there are a rouge group of posthumans that want to eradicate non-posthumans. This part feels kind of rushed at the end of the book, and is very chaotic. The bad guy, Jagger, incites chaos which is part of the action, but it was hard for me to keep track of what was going on. The book takes quite a while to introduce you to Jagger, then it is all over in a few chapters. The buildup was pretty significant for the small amount of action we get. I just wanted more action from a book like this, they spend a lot of time at school training.

As far as the book goes, I wanted a little more character development. As I stated earlier, I didn’t connect with any of the characters. I didn’t like Scarlett at all, she was kind of selfish, jerk and while she is the heroine she never really redeems herself in my opinion. I feel like she will always be selfish and disrespectful. There are plenty of side characters, but I needed more from all of them. The plot was decent; I really liked the combination of the military academy with the idea of the posthuman. I think young adult readers will really enjoy this. It has some decent humor and puts a unique spin on super human powers that I haven't read before.

What is the book about?

We follow Scarlett Winter, a character with a name you only see in fiction, as she discovers that she possesses a supernatural power. But learning to control this power and avoiding a stay in prison for the first time she becomes aware of her powers requires a sacrifice: enrolling at West Point military academy. Something she very much did not want to do.

Scarlett is a misfit and a slacker, coasting through school doing the bare minimum, she immediately clashes with the regimented life of West Point. Can she survive her powers, the other cadets, the teachers, and the inevitable larger conflict centered around the source of her post-human abilities? Pick up the book to find out.

What Did I Like About the Book?

From Hogwarts to Starship Troopers (the movie), Fantasy and Science Fiction loves a good academy/boot camp. This one stands out for being centered in actual West Point, and while the plot allows for many liberties, it does feel to capture a realistic West Point experience, intense jargon and screaming drill sergeants and all. Overall Dixon blended his fantasy elements into the book deftly and in ways that felt genuine and realistic for working with the real world.

The characters in this book were diverse and well crafted, if relying on high-school character tropes perhaps a bit too much. Only a handful of characters really got to shine in the book, so mostly the tropish characterization of Scarlett’s classmates didn’t feel to distracting. The Characters we got to spend time with all fleshed out very nicely, with distinct backstories and motivations.

I did enjoy the variety and depth to the different power sets the students had. Everything from remote viewing to pyrokinesis gets mentioned but Scarlett’s power is a fun one, the redistribution of energy. Any energy. Kinetic, heat, whatever. But for as much as that could make her stupidly powerful, Scarlett never seems to go too crazy town with it.

Who was my Favorite Character?

Scarlett was a fine protagonist, well developed with clear motivations towards the end of the book if not before. But the character I was most wanting to know more about was Dalia Amer. Scarlett is introduced to Dalia about midway through the book, after surprise the protagonist in a powered humans story turns out to be really powerful, as the only other student at West Point equally powerful. Dalia can view and manipulate your dreams while you’re asleep or make you live them out when you’re alive. She’s the “mean girl” of the academy with a frightening power and no real qualms about using it to achieve whatever the hell she wants. You initially think she might be the chief antagonist in the book but she’s never really given an opportunity to really be that. Dixon shows us the damage that makes her how she is, but at the end of the book she feels like the character with the least resolution and that made me want to know more about her.

What Did I Not Like?

I’m gonna cover two minor gripes real fast and then talk about one scene that really pissed me off. Minor gripes, pacing really drug in the middle, everything felt loaded towards the front or end of the book and the big bad guy was like a bond villain with magic powers and the ending of the book didn’t really set up a sequel.

Here’s the big problem and I’m just gonna say spoiler warning here, skip to the verdict if you want to miss this. Also trigger warning, because the problem I have is something that I was definitely sexual assault. So about midway in the book Scarlett starts hooking up with a guy named Seamus, who at the point can use telekinesis, and is, in fact, the most powerful telekinetic they have. Their relationship until chapter 35, for what little we see of it is fine. It gets points for not being too graphic and gets points for not falling into male author describes female problems (i.e., there isn’t a paragraph devoted to Scarlett’s looks or her breasts). But all this gets soured for me in 35 when Seamus starts using his telekinetic powers to forcefully violate Scarlett in the middle of a class on Homer’s the Odyssey.  This whole chapter basically reads like assault. Scarlett is panicked when she doesn’t know who is using their powers to touch her, and she’s embarrassed and in no way consenting to this. This goes on for several paragraphs and only gets worse. Once she identifies Seamus as the person assaulting her she clearly makes non-verbal requests that he stop. Even as other students turn to watch her being violated and saying nothing, Seamus just sits in his chair, smug in the power he has over her. Smirking. And then this doesn’t get addressed. Or dealt with. At all. Because the chapter ends with news that her brother died and the rest of the book is spent on sorting out the Big Bad for the story.

Maybe you can read this as romantic, but, if you can, I’m going to wonder if you’re a sociopath. This scene strips agency from the protagonist in several ways. She’s humiliated and basically subjugated in front of a classroom of her peers. She isn’t allowed to fight back which narratively doesn’t make any sense because both before and after she is able to absorb telekinetic energy and turn it back at the caster while feeling nothing. But worst of all, it’s never addressed. She never brings it up to her commanding officers or friends. She never confronts Seamus about it. She immediately goes from being furious at Seamus for the assault, to finding out her brother died, to having to fight the Big Bad. Not resolving this is made worse because Seamus remains her love interest in the book. And, in fact, he at minimum uses his powers to grope her again at the end of the book during a graduation ceremony.

Outside of this scene, Dixon talks about another sexual assault when he recounts one of the things that makes Dalia bitter, mean and dangerous. In one chapter we find Dalia exacting revenge on a boy who had sex with her, filmed it without consent, then uploaded it to the internet. Dalia’s revenge leads the boy to commit suicide and regardless of how you feel about torturing someone until they take their own life, this instance of assault was at least acknowledged as a violation and addressed as one.

What was extra shocking about this scene was that, like I mentioned before, this book has a diverse cast, Scarlett doesn’t feel like some fantasy or fetishized version of a female, and Dixon avoids a lot of male author describes women problems. This felt like it came out of nowhere, it felt detached from the mood of the rest of the book, and I’m shocked it made it past Dixon’s editors. I got my ARC about a week before the book came out so I doubt it was cut. It feels like this was intended to be a scene out of National Lampoon’s Animal House if those deviants had magic powers. But I keep going back to the words used. “Desperate,” “Panicked,” “Embarrassment,” “Cruel,” “Mocking Eyes,” “Stop,” and “no, no, no, no.” No consent and that means I can’t read this as anything but assault. Other than this scene I wouldn’t have a serious complaint about this book. Some minor stuff, but Dixon’s writing is grammatically accurate if sometimes stilted and a little awkward, but it has won awards in the past.

The Verdict!

3.0 out of 5 cups of tea for The Point by John Dixon. How much should you dock a book for one bad chapter? How much does a poorly handled, probably intended as some kind of romantic, turned assault scene effect a book? Turns out for me, a lot. I struggled really hard on how and where to rate this book. Ignoring that one chapter this was a fun fantasy adventure, that felt at home in real-world settings, with a diverse cast of characters and magical ability. The action is well paced and inventive and the powers the students have were used in fun and creative ways. Scarlett’s journey from troubled, listless teen to young adult with purpose and direction was solidly written. But that one chapter was so bad. It attacked one of the chief characteristics of our protagonist, her desire for freedom, and attacked it in the worst way. That one chapter colored the rest of the book in a way that ruined the love interest in the book.


Final Verdict: 3.0 out of 5 cups of tea for The Point by John Dixon. This was a solid book marred and scarred by one really terrible chapter that might’ve worked in the 70’s but in the MeToo era of fiction I’m astonished the editors at Del Rey let it out the door.

Pros
+ I liked the setting, it made use of the fantasy/scifi love of academies and boot camps in a fun way.
+ A diverse cast of characters that had compelling back stories and characterizations.
+ A fun blend of magical powers and abilities used in fun ways that never seemed too ridiculous, except when ridiculous drove the plot.

Cons
- The Sexual Assault scene was BAD. Like full stop bad. It detracted, for me, from the close of the book and felt handled poorly and completely unnecessary.
- Pacing struggled in the middle. The beginning and end of the book were loaded with action, the middle drug.
- The Big Bad was thin, the book resolved in a way that didn’t clearly set up sequels, and one of the main characters had a real bad end.

Take a rebellious teenage Army brat, give her super power that allows her to store/projects whatever force she encounters. Then have her recruited for a special training groups hosted at West Point. Throw in super villains and a new boyfriend among the cadets...and that's just part of this fantastic book's appeal. There are enough twists and turns, along with emotional moments, to keep you cheering.

I really enjoyed John Dixon’s last two novels, Phoenix Island and Devil’s Pocket. They were fast-paced, action-packed reads that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading them. Since I enjoyed those so much, I was eager to get my hands on a copy of The Point as soon as I heard about it, especially once I read the synopsis and saw that it was set at West Point Military Academy.

The Point follows the story of Scarlett Winter, a rebellious, thrill seeking teenager who has no interest in conforming to whatever life plans her parents have dreamed up for her. She just wants to do her own thing and be left alone.

That is, until one night when she finds herself on the wrong side of the law. Scarlett tries to sneak into a party one of her former friends is having. She knows she’s not invited but thinks it will be a good time to sneak in and shock everyone. Instead, she stumbles upon some other folks who are lurking on the property planting a bomb. She throws herself on the bomb and when it explodes, she walks away, basically unharmed. Witnesses see her at the scene of the crime and before she knows it, two military recruiters come knocking at her door. They know that she has some kind of superhuman power and they present her with an ultimatum – she can either attend West Point and serve in the military for a few years, or she can go to prison.

Scarlett chooses West Point, of course, but has no idea what’s in store for her once she gets there. Can she tame her rebellious nature enough to keep from getting kicked out of West Point? And what happens when a threat from the school’s dark past emerges placing Scarlett and all of her fellow classmates in danger? Scarlett may be the only one with powers great enough to neutralize the threat, but will she rise to the occasion for the greater good?

LIKES:

Scarlett. I’ll confess right now that I was not a big fan of Scarlett’s at first. While I admired her sense of independence and her adventurous spirit, I was a little put off by the way she completely blew off her high school graduation ceremony –without telling her family – so that she could go off and get high with her boyfriend. Scarlett just lets her parents go to the school and sit in that audience, only to end up shocked and embarrassed when her name was called and she’s not there. All I could think at that moment was “What kind of person even does that?”

That said, Scarlett also quickly began to grow on me the more I got to know her and could see firsthand the dysfunctional family dynamic that she was surrounded by. Her father is abusive towards her older brother Dan, who then proceeds to hand down his own brand of abusive behavior to Scarlett, while their mother just sits by and lets it all happen. It became so much easier to understand why Scarlett had such a rebellious streak.

I actually flat out fell in love with Scarlett once she arrives at West Point. I am always one to cheer on an underdog and it’s clear from Scarlett’s first moments on campus that that’s exactly what she is. Everyone around her is out to make her life hell and I became extremely invested in cheering on her successes and seeing her really grow and mature as she comes to embrace a life where she is part of something bigger: the Long Gray Line.

West Point (and The Point). I have a thing for books that are set in schools so I was thrilled to learn that the bulk of this book is set at West Point military academy. Dixon has clearly done his research and beautifully captures the atmosphere of what it’s like for a plebe to walk onto this prestigious campus for the first time. I also thought the whole concept of The Point, a secret training unit for superhumans located beneath the main campus was brilliant.

Superhuman Powers. The superpowers were, by far, my favorite part of The Point. And when I say superpowers, I’m talking X-Men, Marvel, whatever — pick your favorite superhero and imagine someone with their powers being trained to serve as a special strike force in the U.S. military. There are students who can engage in combat using telekinesis, students who can walk through and manipulate the dreams of others, and then there’s Scarlett, who may truly end up being the most important weapon of all: Scarlett has the ability to absorb and temporarily store any raw energy that is directed at her, and then redirect and release it toward whatever target she chooses. I thought it was fascinating to watch Scarlett and her classmates practice and hone their incredible powers.

Excellent Pacing and Lots of Action. If you like a fast-paced novel with plenty of vivid action scenes, you won’t be disappointed. This book grabbed my attention from the first page and I devoured it in a day!

DISLIKES/ISSUES:

The only issue I had with The Point is that I would have liked the explanation for how those with the superhuman powers actually acquired them to have come earlier in the novel. I was glad to finally get the explanation towards the end of the novel and I thought the explanation itself was very well done, but I would have preferred it earlier so that I didn’t spend so much time wondering about it while reading.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

John Dixon’s The Point is an action packed thriller that I’d highly recommend to anyone who enjoys military and/or superhero novels. It also has a powerful coming of age story woven in with Scarlett and her journey, so I’d also recommend it to anyone who likes stories that feature strong heroines.

I'm torn about The Point. It's a fun and fast paced read, so if you are looking for an action film with superheroes/X-men in book form, this is the book for you. The first half can get kind of hard to get through because it is filled with build up and getting to learn the characters, which are all kind of unlikeable. Scarlett is the main character and she has a lot of flaws, is lazy and entitled and I can't really get behind her for most of the book. Her turning point comes pretty late, like at the 70% point. The prose is not the best, a lot of telling not showing, but there are some great reveals and action scenes. So I think it was a worthwhile read, especially if you are on vacation and don't want to think too much.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
1.5 stars

DNF @ 13%
warning: abuse

I quit this one a lot sooner than I usually do now-a-days. This is another one of those books where I lost respect for the character and then just couldn't get back into the book. Look, you don't not go to your graduation and not tell anyone -- unless you are TRYING to piss people off.
She doesn't care? She's leaving anyhow? well, no because she forgot to bring in her documents to get a passport OTL. Like, I just couldn't. If you are THAT excited about your future and determined to prove to your parents you are an adult, then you just don't do that.
Unfortunately, I know there are probably people who do this... so, I'm sure this part won't bother people.

Besides the characters, it still felt like we were getting background on the character and story, like we were waiting for the story to start. I won't lie, her power seems really interesting and I wanted to see what was going to happen there. The bad guy with a god-complex is still interesting enough to make me want to see what his master plan would be.

Anyhow, I wasn't interested in watching this girl hit rock bottom in order to climb her way back up, but it is an interesting story arc. I probably would hesitantly recommend this to people who don't have the same hangups as me and don't need to like the main character.

Hello. This story didn't really transport me, so I am going to pass on reviewing it. Hope it's not a big inconvenience. I am sort of a reluctant reviewer and am committed to not writing negative reviews.

Thanks very much for the review copy.
Mike

Scarlett Winter is a young woman who lives life on the edge. When she is forced to attend West Point she doesn't know how she will survive but her alternative is prison, so she vows to do her best. A few weeks in though she hits her breaking point and is quickly whisked away to The Point, a secret underground school on the grounds of West Point that trains Posthumans who have special gifts.

Here she is to learn how to not only control her gift but to push it further making her stronger and more useful to the powers that be. Of course Scarlett struggles with this until her dreams start to talk to her. Helping her, teaching her.

While Scarlett attends school the outside world is being tormented by a Posthuman named Jagger. Jagger has the ability to charm anyone into doing his bidding. He also seems to be learning how to take on other peoples gifts.

The Point is charged with stopping Jagger but Jagger has skills that render most people useless. Can Scarlett learn enough to conquer Jagger but still remain intact?

This was a pretty good story. While some of it was predictable some of it was also surprising. I could see this being turned into a series or even a movie. It definitely has potential.

"X-Men" at West Point rather than the X-Mansion

This is a sci-fi thriller about Posthumans that have been appearing over the last couple of decades. Genetic mutations have brought forth young people with many different powers - telekinesis, healing, super strength, and many more more.

Scarlett Winter just barely graduated from high school. She's been a slacker, a daredevil, and has a power she barely understands - she can absorb energy and re-release it when and where she wants.

U.S. Army Colonel Rhoads approaches her after a disastrous night, giving her two choices - join his group or go to jail.

So Scarlett becomes part of Operation Signal Boost, a secret cadre of cadets being trained to use their powers in an underground installation below the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

This was a fun book. I enjoyed the author's first two books PHOENIX ISLAND and DEVIL'S POCKET. This was different from those two books but it's another great book. I enjoy books about West Point and even though the emphasis is on the young people and their special powers there is still quite a bit about the Academy.

I received this book from Del Rey Books through Edelweiss and Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased 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.

GoodReads review: now available
Blog post scheduled for release: August 1
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The Point
by John Dixon
Publication August 7th, 2018
Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine

Scarlett's teen years as misfit, trouble-maker, and dare devil come to an abrupt halt when, on her graduation day, the inexplicable power she has discovered within herself gets her "recruited" to The Point, a shadowy mirror world to West Point.

This is a compelling "new adult" or young adult book that is hugely entertaining. The fresh take on beyond-natural powers that develop in the main characters provides an engrossing tale of action and suspense.

Because the book straddles the line between YA and new adult, readers will want to be aware of issues of strong language and a couple of needless, graphic sexual references (otherwise the romance is well-handled and typical for older teens).

This is an entertaining read for both YA and adults. The Point is well worth the time to read and enjoy.