Control (Control, #1) in FINDING AUDREY READ-ALONG

Jan 22, 2014 Jacob McCabe rated it it was ok

No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
I just didn't like it.
Overused plot devices. X-Men concept (without the interesting abilities). Annoying characters (pretty much all of them). Very VERY slow plot. Terrible world building that didn't even make sense logically and I could never fully construct in my head. Unnecessary description. What felt to me as slut-shaming disguised in a YA book. Everything I don't like was a factor in this book, and therefore, it did not sit well with me, and it was a struggle to finish.

I wi ...more

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Feb 01, 2014 I.S. Anderson rated it it was amazing

In a future world where genetically altered people are shunned by society to the point of exile, one girl must cope with the loss of one family and the stress of gaining a new one.
Control is another YA novel set in the future, where man has created his own minority. Scientists have been experimenting with human DNA resulting in people with “traits.” These traits are special abilities that include enhanced healing, breathable skin, and slow aging to name a few.

The protagonist is a seventeen-year- In a future world where genetically altered people are shunned by society to the point of exile, one girl must cope with the loss of one family and the stress of gaining a new one.
Control is another YA novel set in the future, where man has created his own minority. Scientists have been experimenting with human DNA resulting in people with “traits.” These traits are special abilities that include enhanced healing, breathable skin, and slow aging to name a few.

The protagonist is a seventeen-year-old girl named Zelia who moves around a lot with her father and sister. After her father is killed in a car accident, her sister is kidnapped from the hospital. Zelia finds a home with a group of genetically altered teenagers and tries to find a way to get her sister back.

The plot is very fast paced. It arrives in the second chapter and takes a firm grip on you until the very end. The main character Zelia is intelligent, determined, stubborn, and brave. The minor characters include a boy with four arms, another with two heads, and a girl with green skin.

There is also the underlying mystery of who Zelia’s father. How did he know the people that took Zelia’s sister and how does he know her new surrogate family, it is one of the things Zelia learns about in her character development.

While the story is captivating and there are plenty of interesting characters to keep your interest, “Control” does experience some of the typical YA pitfalls. A romance comes dangerously close to becoming a love triangle. Zelia’s love interest is a very typical broody, sarcastic, obnoxious boy that Zelia hates at first despite the fact that she finds him attractive. They fight and fight until her boy admits that he is in love with her and there is a new couple.

Some readers may be turned off a bit by the science that fills the pages. The characters spend a lot of time in labs doing experiments with DNA. It does not get as involved as it could have been. The author Lydia Kang is a physician, so she probably knows much more than she put in. The science is not overwhelming though unless you have a complete phobia of beakers and theoretical physics.

Overall, I would say that this one is worth the read. I look forward to seeing how this story progresses.
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Feb 22, 2014 Maria Stanica rated it really liked it

(3.5 stars)
I really loved the science behind this novel! It was really interesting to hear all of the explanations - though I do think that a little more explanation would have been nice.
In the beginning, the characters were really hard to relate to and care about. After I got more into the story, I really started liking some of the characters, but I had no emotonal connection or attachment to Dyl, which made it hard for me to understand Zel's drive to get her back. Cyr was a douchecanoe in the ...more

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