Just not as enthralling as the first book in the series. Perhaps due to the completely different prose/POV from the first book. It gains momentum in the last 50 pages, but before that it is truly difficult to care about Control (John Rodriguez). There were elements I found intriguing, but they were more vaguely mentioned rather than explored and instead the focus was on the bureaucracy of the Southern Reach. I'm glad I read it, and I'm eager to read the final book, but was disappointed after loving Annihilation so much.