Control by Lydia Kang: Review

Title: Control
Author: Lydia Kang
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Buy This Book: Amazon / Book Depository

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.


I was so excited to be able to read Control, I mean, seriously excited. I requested it on Edelweiss and waited for so long that I was sure I wouldn't get it. So you can imagine my excitement; there was squealing, when I was finally accepted for it. But, I can't even begin to describe my disappointment that this became a DNF at 25%.

I just really, really couldn't get into this one. It jumps straight into the action, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I just didn't care about or really know the character. When Zel's father dies I feel like I am expected to feel something, anything for her but I didn't.

Disconnected. That seems like the most appropriate word to describe how I felt about the book. I just felt so disconnected from everything. I didn't like Zel too much from the offset, I didn't feel like I knew anything about her or her family. As the book went on I didn't feel like it gave me much else to go on and my opinion didn't change at all.

Another problem was that all the summary's that I had read hadn't given too much away. It talks of 'special gifts' and I am not really sure what I was expecting, but people with two heads or four arms wasn't it. I was a little thrown by that.

I couldn't continue on with this one. I felt nothing for Zelia or Del, I didn't care whether they found each other. I didn't care about the romance that was blatantly going to eventually happen between Zel and Cy. I was so unbelievably excited for this and am really sad that it just didn't work for me.

DNF at 25%

*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.