Control Freakz
Author: Michael Evans
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Adventure
Release Date: July 30th 2018
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Memories will haunt you.
Natalie has lost everything but herself, and she’s just one of thousands. After Protocol 00 is enacted, Natalie’s family is taken by the government, along with the families of her two best friends, Hunter and Ethan. With nothing to lose and the threat of government hitmen kidnapping them at any moment, the three must battle to survive in a horrid, post-apocalyptic world run by President Ash and his invasive government.
Risking ruthless leaders, attempted mind control, and her very existence on the planet, Natalie, along with Hunter and Ethan, will stop at nothing in their quest to regain everything they’ve ever known. But there are unrivaled powers working against them, and with impending doom looming at any moment, there is no one to trust and nowhere to hide. In a life devoid of hope, happiness, and safety, Natalie must battle both the darkness lurking inside and out of her in order to regain one fleeting memory of her past that has all but fallen away for good, but it might already be too late.
MY REVIEW
I received a free copy for an honest review.
This book was a very good attempt, but ultimately it was very flawed. The story had a really good potential with the “evil government” idea, and the mixture of suspense, action, mystery, and even dystopia could’ve been executed much better. It also didn’t help with the very unlikable narrative.
I immediately realized that the narration was going to be a problem seven pages into the book. I always say that exclamation marks in dialogue are great, they demonstrate emotion and tone, but NEVER put them in narrations. If you do, do not exceed five times if you can in the entire book. I hate exclamation marks in narratives. It makes the narration sound extremely childish, ridiculously panicky, and just really annoying and weird. So when the book had five different exclamation marks in the narratives…
I also failed to truly connect with the characters. The annoying, panicky, and almost loud narration of our protagonist definitely didn’t make me like her, and the others were all…meh. The story-line was also a good attempt at mystery, and the author definitely did a decent job with the unraveling procedure’s pace.
The “deep” and meaningful (almost depressing) monologues from our protagonist’s head also really reminded me of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Although Mafi’s writing style is a bit more unique, it’s just that I find the “life-changing” thoughts both characters have in their minds and their extreme breakdowns really similar.
This may sound like a bad thing, but these inner monologues also overlap with one thing that I found myself still holding on to after closing the book. The inner monologues talk a lot about important themes such as coming to age, depression, hope, and one thing that really caught my attention – politics. Every artist’s work is another child from a piece from the artist themselves. Nothing can ever be truly original. These politics ideas (because the government is evil in this book, that’s why there are so many commentaries regarding this topic) reflects on the thoughts the author has himself, and for his age, those are some really, really wise thoughts that some really hit me hard. These monologues moment, when they’re done well, can really make you just think… “damn”.
My Rating:
3.5/5
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Michael Evans is an author of Young Adult novels and an advocate for a better future. He is currently attending high school in Mt. Pleasant, SC, and loves to enjoy the outdoors and write in his free time. To find more about him and his work you can visit http://mevansinked.com/