Book Review #14: Mila 2.0

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.

* The Break Down:

When I first heard about MILA 2.0, I was ridiculously excited to get my hands on it. The blurb sounded right up my alley and I expected a lot of government conspiracies,fight scenes, technology, action, and a hint of a romance. And this did happen... sort of BUT, and here's the kicker, it was one of those awkward romances - that never really started and definitely did not end. 

I felt like the characterization could have really used some work. The only character that I slightly cared about was Mila and that's pushing it. This is not because they were bad characters, it's just that I didn't feel a connection to them. There isn't a lot of time spent with any one character besides the evil General Holland (and obviously, he wasn't exactly huggable) and another scientist named Lucas. They all seemed very conveniently placed in the story to help Mila in some way, but in actuality, we know nothing about any of them. Mila's mom was a scientist, great. Hunter is a new boy at school. Lucas is a scientist that goes to MIT. General Holland is evil. Kaylee is a mean girl. That literally the most you get out of each character, I mean where was the depth?

In addition , The relationships were very flimsy to me. There was no real development between Mila and her mom. Or Mila and Hunter. Or even Mila and Kaylee. They were just sort of mashed together and the reader is supposed to accept things for the way they are. I felt almost as if I started the book in the middle when all the relationships and feeling of the character toward these character has already been explained.

Okay, so now for the romance as I said before, the romance was really awkward. I wouldn't have minded if the romance was evident, Not because I wanted romance in the story, but because of the way Hunter's character was portrayed and then was  later completely left out. In short this is how it went:

Boy meets girl. They hit it off.  boy and girl spend time with each other BUT DONT GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER. Girl leaves boy behind...End of romance BUT girl continues to think of boy. Thats basically the amount of detail we were given. The beginning is set up so that you believe there is going to be a heavy romantic storyline included between the new guy at school, Hunter, and Mila,  But once the plot sped up the romance went completely thrown out the window.

Don't get me wrong when I say that this book was flawed, but the reason I wanted to review it, was because I wanted to mention the originality of the plot. Debra Driza created an amazing story to tell in theory , but I was only able to catch glimpses of it.

All in all, even though I complained through most of this review about things that probably wouldn't bother most, I do think MILA 2.0 will become a popular novel. The storyline is intriguing and I do still plan on continuing the series because it feels like it has potential to develop into a great novel.