Book Review: Mila 2.0

Title: Mila 2.0

Author: Debra Driza

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Book Blurb: 

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:

Wow....I completely devoured Mila 2.0--a 470 page book--within a day. In one sitting. On a school night. Needless to say, I stayed up quite late catching up on homework (actually, I just finished an essay ten minutes ago that I should've started working on last night but didn't due to my little book indulgence...but that's besides the point.) If there is one thing I can praise about Mila 2.0, it would be Mila, the main character, herself.

Where do I begin to describe Mila's awesomeness? I simply loved her voice and narration! And watching her grow and change throughout the novel was amazing. At the beginning, Mila's just a normal teenage girl trying to survive high school.  Then she discovers she's a cyborg of some sorts...and the knowledge that she's not human is something that plagues Mila for much of the novel.

Throughout the book, readers will question themselves,
"What does it mean to be human?" Is it your DNA that determines that? How you look? To have empathy? Mila struggles to come to terms that she has no heart, no brain or blood. Instead she has a hard drive and wires. But she still feels emotions...or are they simply "artificial" emotions created by her internal computer? These are questions and doubts that Mila battles, and I was cheering for her each time she conquered each fear. *Yeah! Go Mila!*

The plot was also totally unique! To be honest, I don't think there are many books out there featuring an android/cyborg main character (the only one I can think of is Cinder off the top of my head right now.) Although some parts of the plot probably could've been shortened or even cut out, I enjoyed the story solely because I really liked Mila's voice, which once again proves how important it is for readers to like/connect to the main character.

BUT...there was a *whispers* instant love scenario. *facepalms*

Within the first chapter of the book, Mr. Love Interest is introduced right away. And wait...guess what happens.  Yep! Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Both falls heads over heel for each other without really any good, concrete reason(s). I think I just died a little bit there (and not in a good way.) I think the novel would've been waayyy better off without Hunter (aka Mila's love interest) since he only appears in the first 15% of the book and then the last chapter.

Anyways...aside from that (in case you couldn't tell, insta love is one of my pet peeves) I absolutely loved Mila 2.0. The characters were amazing...oh no! Just realized I forgot to mention Mila 3.0 (she's another character) before! Okay, I'll do it now because she's definitely worth the time--Mila 3.0 is basically identical to Mila (who's really a second gen android, making her full name Mila 2.0, but we'll just call her Mila for simplicity's sake) except that she has less emotions. And although Mila 3.0 is pitted against Mila in a series of competitions, it's hard to hate Mila 3.0 because she is malicious or anything. She simply is. She states the facts oh so matter of factly and views everything as black and white. And personally, I think that's what makes Mila 3.0 stand out. Yes, you could view her as a villain (I mean, she did almost kill Mila), but on the other hand, she doesn't mean to harm Mila for any spiteful reasons. I think it's Mila 3.0's apathy that makes her so scary.

Alright...back to the review...I would highly recommend this book for anyone who likes sci-fi and/or nonhuman protagonists (I seem to have liking for nonhuman or not-quite human characters...Cinder, Reboot, The Drowned Cities, etc.) Go read this book now!

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