Title: Mila 2.0
Author: Debra Driza
Series: MILA 2.0 #1
Previous Books: Origins: The Fire (#0.5)
Next Book: Renegade (expected 3/27/2014)
Source: Library
Description from Goodreads:
Mila 2.0 is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi thriller series about a teenage girl who discovers that she is an experiment in artificial intelligence.
Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past—that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.
Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology. However, what Mila’s becoming is beyond anyone’s imagination, including her own, and it just might save her life.
Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza’s bold debut and the first book in a Bourne Identity-style trilogy that combines heart-pounding action with a riveting exploration of what it really means to be human. Fans of I Am Number Four will love Mila for who she is and what she longs to be—and a cliffhanger ending will leave them breathlessly awaiting the sequel.
Review
In case you can’t tell, I have been on a major HarperTeen kick lately. I’ve requested several of their books from the library, thanks in large part to Epic Reads’ Tea Time, and they seem to all have come in at the same time! Mila 2.0 was another one of these books. I’m not usually into sci-fi (or so I thought a few months ago), but Mila 2.0 was getting great reviews, and just sounded really interesting.
Mila 2.0 starts off as any regular YA may. We meet Mila and are introduced to her friends, school, and troubles. There’s also a cute boy thrown in who actually adds to Mila’s troubles, as he seems interested in her, while her only friend, Kaylee, is interested in him. Needless to say, Kaylee is not exactly thrilled about this development, and unfortunately for Mila, Kaylee’s true colors come out.
However, it is exactly this sequence of events that leads Mila to some interesting discoveries about herself. First, she realizes she has amazing hearing, able to hear things that she should not be able to hear from certain distances. She also finds herself moving faster than normal and unaware of her own strength. It isn’t until after an accident that Mila finds out the truth about herself: She is an android, created with human-like emotions, and that her “mother” is actually one of her creators.
This is the point where Mila 2.0 really started to pick up. Mila has a very hard time believing and accepting the truth about herself, but as she finds herself on the run, she realizes more and more of her abilities and starts to face the truth. My favorite parts were when she would actually accept and use her abilities, especially when it led to some moments of kicking butt!
There were a few scenes in the second half of Mila 2.0 that I just felt were a little too descriptive and possibly not necessary, but I’m wondering if they may become important as the trilogy progresses. I just tend to be the type of person that once the action picks up, I like a lot of it. Some of the descriptive moments just felt like they slowed the pace down for me a bit. They weren’t horrible, and things always picked up, but they definitely weren’t my favorites.
I thought the characters were pretty great. Mila is definitely the most interesting, because though she’s technically a machine, the fact that she was programmed with human emotions makes her a very relatable character. I definitely felt bad for her when Kaylee turned on her. However, that brings us to Hunter. He was awesome. There was just something about him that I loved. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t like everyone else and was the only one who was truly nice to Mila. I can’t wait to find out more about him. I really missed him while Mila was on the run. General Holland was a terrific villain. He was just so creepy.
I really liked the ending of Mila 2.0. There was one scene that literally had my heart in my throat, but it was just perfect. I enjoyed seeing Mila come into her own a bit, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next book. Why is so 2014 so far away?
Goodreads
I’m not really sure what to say about Origins: The Fire. It is a prequel short story to Mila 2.0, and short it was. It was only 15 pages long, and I didn’t really feel like it told us anything. It basically started with Mila waking up and realizing the house was on fire. She then tries to escape, realizes her parents are home, and tries to find them. That’s about the gist of the whole story. It wasn’t a terrible read, but even after reading Mila 2.0, I just don’t feel like it added anything. Maybe I’ll realize the significance as the series continues?
Tags: 2 stars, 5 stars, mini reviews, review, sci-fi, YA
