REVIEW: MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza

Summary:
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.

Title: MILA 2.0

Author: Debra Driza

Series: Mila 2.0 #1

Source: Purchased from BookOutlet and Kobo (I had high hopes)

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: March 12, 2013

Rating: 3/5 stars

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

I am okay with marketing a book in a way that will get people to read it -- so long as it is true. When you say that something has Bourne Identity-esque qualities to it, then there should be some of those qualities to it. I thought it was a stretch to name Mila 2.0 in the same vein. This still wasn't TOO bad, I got through it. But there was so much of it that relied on convenience and dramatic moments that I couldn't handle it.
The beginning was pretty standard by all accounts: Mila has faced a traumatic event and is trying to cope, new school, new friends, etc. etc. etc. Enter new boy who her BFF also wants so of course Mila will back off and that of course means that this boy will want Mila. I was surprised that the high school drama portion of this took up more than 15% of the novel because it was so questionable. And once Mila's arm was exposed, they should have just taken off in the night because PEOPLE TALK. There's this thing called the internet and just because Mila and her mom didn't use it doesn't mean other people didn't.

So blah blah we get passed this part of the book and we come up to the exciting part where the action is! Or not. Because it was effectively just one long car chase. Mila's mom conveniently turned on her full Android powers when she was tinkering with her arm, so now Mila can immobilize people with basically a flick of her wrist. Which, okay fine, she is an Android. I can support this. But then Mila is all "no I am human so I don't want to hurt people" which ... okay I can also get behind this. MAYBE she is a pacifist. But she is using this claim that she doesn't want to hurt people as her claim to being human. And like IDK MAN. If someone was coming after me and I KNEW I could punch them and get away, you're damn right I would do so.

Mila and her mom get away, which okay of course we were only at like 40% of the book, but then they cross into Canada and think "hey I should take a plane from Pearson" which is like mistake number one. If you HAVE to fly out of Toronto, always go Porter. But really, fly out of Hamilton. SO MUCH MORE CONVENIENT. #CanadianRant And it's obviously because they traveled from Pearson that they were caught.

I think the part I had the hardest time swallowing was the Testing sequence. Sorry but if they REALLY thought that she had been tampered with, they would have shut her down immediately. Or else why make a third version of the same AI? You don't need the other prototypes to be functioning if you have the "new and improved" version. That's the whole reason to do it. At this point, was sick of Mila saying "but I feel human and my emotions and the fact that I don't want to kill someone makesme human" because again, not connected. In case we have forgotten, PEOPLE KILL. I am also not a fan of the whole "let's test this person/machine/etc" trope. That was one of hte worst parts of Throne of Glass for me too. Sure, test it but make it more subtle. Don't say "here is exactly what we are going to do and looking for and you have to do this or we shut you down" because then obviously the person is going to do it.......

Then throw in another boy for Mila to fall for who helps her escape and wham, bam, thank you ma'am you have the story. Because idk what the summary is taking about but there is no cliffhanger ending.