Title: Mila 2.0Author: Debra DrizaEdition: hardcoverSeries: Mila 2.1 #1Released Date: March 12th, 2013Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Goodreads / Amazon 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.
Mila's father died in a fire that she was in. Since the fire, she does remember anything. Well that's what MIla thinks. What she doesn't know is that she was just born, completed with robotic parts and all. The memories she thought she had were all fake - implanted to make her more human. With her false past, Mila escapes the land of Clearwater with the person she thought she was her mother, only to find herself in more danger.
I knew a lot of people enjoyed Mila 2.0, but that was just it. I hadn't seen very many 5 star reviews for this one. I had a feeling I was going to like it, but I didn't know how much. Mila 2.0 is very intense, but sometimes predictable. I liked the idea of Mila 2.0, and I haven't heard anything quite like it.
I really liked the book and the whole idea of Mila being robotic. My only issue was with the characters. There's Mila, who's a robot that is supposed to look human, but still have some robotic characteristics. Her mother, or her creator, took her because they were planning on using her as a military weapon. Mila always knew there was something different about her though, since she could hear things from far away and had master reflexes. There were a couple things that bothered me about Mila. First of all, she was a robot that was trained to act like a human. Regardless what exercise, when you train there are still going to be some slip ups. Never do I recall did Mila act a little bit robotic. She acted too human, even for a human. Does that make sense? She was very emotional and got moody really fast. It was like she was trying to hard to be human. Otherwise, I liked Mila's strength and her dedication. She was very selfless, and she always put others before her.
Then there were the minor characters. In the first few chapters, a new boy comes to Mila's school. His name is Hunter who's from San Diego, I think? Anyways, Mila starts to like him, and he starts to like her back. Basic teen romance. But it was weird. He didn't ask a lot of questions and honestly seemed more robotic than Hunter. We really didn't learn much about Hunter either. He didn't say anything about his past, which makes me really curious. I have a feeling there's something deeper to him than we suspect. Or maybe he was just badly developed. I guess I can't find out until I read the second novel.
The other minor characters were just bad. There was Mila's mom, or creator - whatever you want to call her! She was always by her side, and honestly I started to like her, but then we didn't see much of her anymore and I kind of lost interest. I didn't feel much of a longer for Mila to even save her... Then Lucas, the boy that ran the testings and guided her through her training. I was totally confused by their relationship with each other. One second I thought Lucas was trying to help her, and then the next second I thought he was trying to get her killed. I'm not sure what to think. Then there was Mila 3.0, who looks exactly like Mila and is a recreation that is supposed to have more control than Mila 2.0. You could sense some suspicion about her, and I hope we learn more about her in the later novels! Lastly, Holland. He's supposed to be the bad guy that was trying to capture Mila. I feel like he didn't have any substance. We were told he was the bad guy, but we didn't have much of a reason to believe he was bad. I hope his character is developed more in the second novel.
As you can tell, I had an issue with the characters. I did really like the setting and other parts of the writing. Especially in Clearwater when Mila was first finding out about who she was and learning about her abilities. Later on, when she learned the develop her skills, the scenes got really intense. Whenever she was fighting someone, I could feel my heart pounding pretty hard.
I really enjoyed the idea of this book, but the characters definitely needed improvement. I have a feeling that a lot of them will be developed more in the second book. There were also a lot of loose ends that needed to be tied up, such as why her mom called her Sarah, and who this Richard person was. Anyways, if you're looking for a book where you can get attached to characters, I wouldn't recommend it. But, if you're looking for a book with potential, an interesting plot, and intense, action - I would definitely recommend Mila 2.0!
