Review: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza

Title: MILA 2.0

Author: Debra Driza

Publisher:  Katherine Tegen Books 

Release Date: March 12, 2013
Pages: 470, Hardcover
Goodreads Rating: 3.7 stars
My Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

MY TAKE

I had high hopes for MILA 2.0, but I ended up feeling generally underwhelmed.  I think, for me, the lack of real relationships in Mila's life made it hard for me to be invested in her story.  The first part of the story tells of Mila's life after moving to a small town.  There is a boy who Mila is drawn to (Hunter), but we really only see a few interactions with him before Mila is forced to run.  A best friend who turns nasty as soon as Hunter shows more interest in Mila than in her.  A mom who is distant and can't really show Mila any affection.  With these types of characters, it's hard to feel any sort of connection to them - how are we supposed to believe that these are the people who have grounded Mila in humanity and made her truly start to feel?

Then, we have the big reveal.  Mila gets hurt and discovers that she is not made of flesh and bone - she is an android.  She's understandably upset.  She turns to the only person she has in her life that she feels she can talk to - Hunter.  But instead of telling him her immense new secret, she claims that she has a prosthetic arm that she just kind of forgot about in the moment (huh?) and Hunter doesn't bat an eye.  In fact, he never bats an eye during any of this, even when wires and tubes are sticking out of Mila's arm.  I'm not sure if Driza meant for us to feel that Hunter was just a solid rock that Mila could count on or if we were supposed to be suspicious of him (I kind of fell in the latter category).  At any rate, none of it really matters because Mila also discovers that there are government and non-government groups after her and  she is forced to run.  

While on the run, she learns more about herself and her mother suddenly decides not to be distant any more because it was all "worth it" - Mila is truly becoming human.  I was never clear on what made Mila's mother's attitude suddenly change toward her daughter.  From what I could tell, this was just necessary because otherwise Mila wouldn't have been so devoted to her mother and later plot points wouldn't have made a lot of sense.  While on the run, Mila constantly wishes that she could see Hunter again.  But, again, I just didn't feel like they had established enough of a relationship for me to care much about him and her obsession with him just started to feel a little weird.  Yeah, he was her first crush and all, but when you're running for your life, you'd think you'd have more important things to think about.  I wish that Hunter had somehow ended up on the run with them and been part of the action parts of the story so that they would have had more time to form a bond.

At any rate, I won't spoil what happens later in the book, but it does  get much more exciting.  The second half of the book had more plot development and was full of action.  Plus, Mila's character became much more interesting in the second half of the book as she struggled to determine whether she could truly be "human" or not.  All of these things made the second half a much better read than the first.  

Overall, I felt that the book didn't have enough character development, but definitely had a good idea behind it and followed through with that idea well in the second half.  I didn't dislike the book, but I didn't love it either.  I'll still probably check out the sequel to find out what happens to Mila and company.  I'd give this book 3/5 Stars.