MILA 2.0 Review

MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
Narrator: Tara Sands
Series: Mila 2.0 #1
Published by HarperCollins on 2013-03-12
Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
Genres: Action & Adventure, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 496
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads

Mila was living with her mother in a small Minnesota town when she discovered she was also living a lie. She was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was never supposed to remember the past—that she was built in a 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. Evading her enemies won't help Mila escape the cruel reality of what she is and cope with everything she has had to leave behind. However, what she's becoming is beyond anyone's imagination, including her own, and that just might save her life.

A compulsively readable sci-fi thriller, Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza's bold debut and the first book in an action-filled, Bourne Identity–style trilogy.

 Julie’s Review:

Mila 2.0 is really about what it means to be human. Mila is a teenage girl living with her Mom in a small town and is enjoying talking to this great guy that she’s really into, and things seem normal. Well, until she has an accident and finds out that she doesn’t bleed, but instead her arm is made up of strange tech. Oops. So that is how she finds out that her “Mom” is the scientist that programmed her, and that she, Mila, is not a teenage girl after all. (This is not a spoiler, if you read the blurb that’s the set up.) As it turns out, Mila was programmed with a flaw – her human emotions. So her “Mom” stole her and ran away to keep her safe. Well, now her secret is out and the people who have been searching for her are getting closer. So they go on the run.

It was kind of a normal YA fantasy/sci-fi type of story beginning where the MC is in high school and is going through what normal high school girls go through with boys and best friends who betray you and all that boring high school stuff. Then when she finds out she’s not exactly who she thought she was, she gets all obnoxious and sad and scared and blah blah blah. Been there, read that a thousand times, so I was a bit bored with this book at first. But, that part didn’t last very long, so the action made up for the generic beginning. What I did like in the beginning was Mila’s interaction with the love-interest, Hunter. He seemed genuinely interested in Mila, and of course she’s smitten, so this is a start of a very interesting human-android relationship. I wonder if she’ll tell him in the next book, or wait until the final book (assuming this is a trilogy).

When Mila and “Mom” go on the run, the book’s pace picks up and is really non-stop from there. There’s crazy car chases, airport security evasion, being captured by mad scientists and more! Seriously, this would make a really good movie or TV show. It really lends itself for great visual effects. While some of the plot was a bit predictable (being that she’s Mila 2.0, I mean we can assume there was a 1.0 and there is at least a 3.0, right?!) it was still enjoyable and fun. Mila really shows how human she really is with many of the decisions she makes throughout the story. She even manages to charm Lucas, one of the secret government lab employees. It is really cool to watch him react to Mila’s reactions. Mila tries so hard to rein it in and seem more robotic to try to survive in order to save herself and her “Mom” but when the tears come out, Lucas is really affected and has to make some difficult decisions of his own. What I really like is how Mila uses her emotions and humanity to fight back. Something very tragic happens at the end but I’m not going to go into that for spoilery reasons. But the book ends with a set up for the next book and Mila’s continued search for help in her situation, and maybe a way to get revenge on the mad scientists that put her through this? I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment.

I did the audio for this book and I enjoyed it rather well, though the voice of the narrator wasn’t my favorite. I liked the other voices she did for the side characters much better than her main narration voice. But it wasn’t bad, and she kept the book fast-paced and interesting. So I’ll probably be looking for the audio of the next book when it becomes available.

 

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