Review: Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Series: MILA 2.0, #1
Release Date: March 12th 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 470
Genre: Young Adult – Science Fiction
Source: My Collection
Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
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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.

This book made its way to my favorite books of 2013. I have said this many times, but I don’t read the synopsis of a book if I can avoid it. So I was pretty surprised by this book. It held my interest the entire time and I was so glad that I decided to read it.

Starting out with my own summary of the book. We are introduced to Mila, a sixteen year old who has no memory of the fire that took her father or much of the time before then. She remembers some parts of her childhood. Like the loving times with her mother and father. Her mother doesn’t like to answer questions about her life before the move. They rarely have the moments that Mila remembers. Mila’s mom was hired on as a full time horse caretaker for a family that had to leave the country. They live in the guest house on a 25 acre property. The only thing Mila’s likes about the situation are the horses.

She only has one friend in the new town, Kaylee, but she is doesn’t really act like her friend. The rest of her group thinks she is only hanging out with her because she is the new kid. In this town new is exciting because not much happens. When a boy comes into the picture you quickly see what kind of friend she is. Then something really bad happens that changes Mila’s life. She will never be the same person. Soon Mila and her mother must run from the life they were just starting to get used to.

The story telling is very fast paced. I was a little intimidated by this book because it was almost 500 pages and I tend to go toward shorter quicker books. I am so glad I decided to brave this book because I absolutely flew through it. I am not the fastest reader but this book could easily be read in a few hours, especially for someone that reads faster than me. There were no boring parts for me and I continually wanted to know what was going to happen next. The action scenes were really good.

I really liked Mila’s character. She was very strong and pretty kick ass when she needed to be. Kaylee, Mila’s “friend” is a bitch. She is a typical mean girl, especially when the new boy comes into the picture. Parker, one of Kaylee’s friends, is an even bigger bitch. She makes this known from the first chapter though.

Speaking of the new boy, Hunter, he was a pretty nice character but I wasn’t overly impressed with him. Mila seemed to fall for him pretty quickly. I wouldn’t call it insta-love but it was pretty close. Hunter seemed to become immediately attached to her as well.  She talked about him a lot and they only hung out a couple of times. She also started to do this with another character in the book, Lucas. I have to say that it was pretty annoying. I couldn’t see why she was becoming so easily attached to those characters. I have to say that I am rooting for Lucas if anything is going to become of that.

If you read the synopsis then you would know that I left out talking about a rather large part of the story. I did this because if someone like me, who doesn’t read the synopsis, wants to read this review then they can still be surprised by what happens. I really had no idea what the book was about going into it and I’m really happy about that.

I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book and I definitely recommend this if you are into fast paced books with lots of action and sci-fi.  Oh and just for a side note.. the cover for this book and the next one, are beautiful!

My Rating:

Bonus Review!

Origins: The Fire by Debra Driza

Series: MILA 2.0, #0.5
Release Date: January 8th 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Format: ebook
Pages: 15
Genre: Young Adult – Science Fiction
Source: My Collection - Kindle
Buy it: Amazon 
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Heart-stopping and electric, MILA 2.0: Origins: The Fire contains a short prequel story and an excerpt to MILA 2.0, the first book in a riveting Bourne Identity–style trilogy by Debra Driza.

Mila can't remember anything before the fire that took her father's life. It's normal to have some memory loss after traumatic events, but Mila doesn't remember if she's ever learned to ride a bike, or if she's ever been in love. Nothing.

What she doesn't know is that she isn't supposed to remember—that she was built in a computer science lab and programmed to forget. Because if she remembers, she might discover her true identity.

The question is: If she relived the fire, what would she see?

This is a very very short story about the fire that is constantly being referred to in the first book. I would recommend reading this after you read the first one but I tend to do that with all prequels. It was pretty good, even though the first thing you are taught as a child was not to go back into a burning building, that was pretty dumb on Mila’s part, but it was still enjoyable.

My Rating: