Control by Lydia Kang Review

Control by Lydia Kang

(Control #1)

Release Date: December 26, 2013

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers; 400 pages

An un-putdownable thriller for fans of Uglies

When a crash kills their father and leaves them orphaned, Zel knows she needs to protect her sister, Dyl. But before Zel has a plan, Dyl is taken by strangers using bizarre sensory weapons, and Zel finds herself in a safe house for teens who aren’t like any she’s ever seen before—teens who shouldn't even exist. Using broken-down technology, her new friends’ peculiar gifts, and her own grit, Zel must find a way to get her sister back from the kidnappers who think a powerful secret is encoded in Dyl’s DNA.

A spiraling, intense, romantic story set in 2150—in a world of automatic cars, nightclubs with auditory ecstasy drugs, and guys with four arms—this is about the human genetic “mistakes” that society wants to forget, and the way that outcasts can turn out to be heroes.

So I have a new book boyfriend.  Yes, I am starting my review off by saying that.  Cyrad is being added to my list of book characters that I swoon over.  But I will get to Cyrad a little later in this review.

I picked up Control at New York Comic Con back in October.  To be honest with you, I almost didn't pick it up.  Because for some reason the cover really threw me off.  I just didn't really find it appealing.  I remember going to Penguin's booth and picking it up.  Then putting it back down.  Then picking it up again and reading the back cover.  After reading the synopsis I decided, what the heck, why not.  Thank goodness I do not judge a book by it's cover because this book is fantasically amazing!  Yes I know fantasically is not a word, the main character says it twice in the book, so I have now adopted it as a word for my vocabulary.

Lydia Kang is a physician.  I knew this before I started reading, but by the end of the first chapter I knew immediately that she was the real deal.  I must admit that in the beginning I was a bit worried that the book would be filled with so many medical terms that I would be lost.  Science was my worst subject in school.  So I had to re read parts with scientific details because they go completely over my head.  But fortunately this book is not a textbook, it's fiction.  Very good fiction.

Growing up with an older brother has always made me pine for a sister.  An older sister to be specific.  I love my brother dearly, but sometimes I just need femininity.  I would love to have a sister like Zelia, the main character in Control.  She's clearly what anyone would want in an older sibling.  Zel fights to protect what she loves and cares about.  And if I could describe Zel in one word, it would be fierce.  After losing her father in a fatal car accident, Zelia and her younger sister Dylia are separated.  Zel is placed in a home with people with strange abilities.  Dyl is forcefully taken away from Zel, and placed into a home where it's inhabitants don't exactly have her best interest at heart.  Zylia fights, and when I say fight I mean fight, to get her sister back.

I wouldn't call myself a comic book fan, but I grew up watching the cartoons.  Two of my favorites were X Men and the Fantastic Four.  So I guess you could say, I have a thing for genetic mutations and accidents that give people super powers.  Carus, the home that Zel is place into is filled with special abilities.  But unlike the X Men, they aren't mutations.  I adore the residents of the Carus house.  They are all so unique and just easily likeable.  Hex has four arms, and seriously it must be amazing to be hugged by someone who has 4 arms.  I can just feel the warmth!  But as I mentioned before I really love Cyrad or Cy as he's called.  Cy is hot, but he can be kind of cruel.  I don't know what it is about being attracted to the tortured asshole.  His meanness to Zelia just makes me like him more, because it's obvious that he likes her.  He just has his demons.  And jealous Cy is even more attractive.

I was so hooked on this story!  From it's futuristic setting, and it's young love story of Zel and Cy.  The climbing scene made me swoon.  I actually went back and read it twice.  I love when an author can write a teenager as a teenager.  And what I mean by that is sometimes I read characters and I don't feel like they act their age.  Both Zel and Cy are incredibly intelligent, but they are adolescents.  And excuse me, but they are horny adolescents.

There were some moments though that outwardly made me gasp though.  But it brought a realism to the story.  The big bad of this story is truly cruel.  And I can't wait to see how this story unfolds in the next book Catalyst.  It is definitely going to be one of my most anticipated reads of 2014!