Action/Adventure Aficionados discussion

Control Point is our May group read. Feel free to join the discussion.

Oops, I thought it was for last month & I was late finishing it. I just did so this evening & I enjoyed it. I only gave it 3 stars, but I expect the next book by this author will be far better.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This book was exciting, but even as I was engrossed, I got so mad as well!

You know how in the news, politicians gets reamed for flipflopping? Normally I don't care; as new facts/knowledge/experience come to light, it makes sense to change your mind about a decision you made years ago. But then I see Oscar go from "AUGH, they're going to kill me!" to "I have no choice! I'm just a tool!" to "The SOC is great! I can help people!" to "I have no choice, I'm just a tool!" I just....got so tired of it... While intellectually, I completed understood and sympathized, my gut feelings got annoyed. It didn't help my emotions were constantly see-sawing with seeing various SOC jerks become humanized only to become dehumanized again depending on Oscar's changed POV/current events.

Finally, all the poor choices that Oscar made! Again, I perfectly understood them, and I probably would've made similar or stupider choices if I were in his place, but it's still hard to stomach all the casualties that resulted from his uninformed decisions. :| Oscar's no Captain America....While I enjoyed the exciting writing, I don't entirely feel comfortable rooting for him to become the leader of this band of super-powered misfits.

Very well put, Pygmy. You summed it up well.

I agree completely. I really did enjoy the story, but Oscar's wishy- washyiness (is that even a word) drove me nuts! I am hoping that the next book will introduce us to a more likeable hero.

I'm going to start this today.

Pygmy wrote: "This book was exciting, but even as I was engrossed, I got so mad as well!

You know how in the news, politicians gets reamed for flipflopping? Normally I don't care; as new facts/knowledge/experi..."

I think you nailed this book perfectly. The combination of the writing and Oscar's character is what has turned me off from trying any of the other books in the series. It left that bad a taste in my mouth (I probably shouldn't have been eating the pages as I read).

Thanks! I'm glad my tastes line up pretty well with other ppl's here. :D

I think there's hope for Oscar & I expect better from the next effort. The world is certainly an interesting one. A lot of imagination there.

Jim wrote: "I think there's hope for Oscar & I expect better from the next effort. The world is certainly an interesting one. A lot of imagination there."

I agree!

I didn't mind this author's prequel to this series, Gemini Cell. It's a different character who is...surprisingly sappy, but not bad, and the pacing and writing is quite exciting. And as Jim says, the world is quite interesting, and the military stuff feels very accurate to real day.

I finished this on Friday. I liked this book. It was tense and I got sucked into it. I think there were some good metaphors for the current state of the world and how soldiers are used to agendas that they often don't have control of or a say in what they do or don't do.

I liked the concept of magic in this book, and it did remind me favorably of X-Men.

Oscar seemed very young, and I didn't hold his emotional vacillations against him for that reason.

Scylla was freaking creepy. *shudders*

I will keep reading this series.