Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

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 isn't your average sixteen year old girl. In fact, far from it. After moving to the lazy town of Clearwater after her father's death, memories of the traumatic experience have been erased, another sign of her grief and loss, or so she's told. Mila starts high school, with the memory of previously being home schooled, and attempts to make friends. The vindictive, mean spirited girls she can do without, but with one easily excited and enthusiastic friend, life in Clearwater may not be all that bad after all... Until new kid Hunter arrives.

Tall and brooding, the handsome out of state boy takes an interest in Mila, even if he is off limits. When your only friend lays claim to the new kid, Mila has every intention of stepping aside... Until she turns into one of the vindictive girls. After what is seen to be a deliberate accident that could have killed Mila, she's strangely... Fine. Unhurt even. Apart from the deep gash to her arm, but when instead of blood, Mila sees a series of wires and metal.

Mila is an android. A weapon created by the government, an artificial life form, a machine. So how does she remember a deceased father, how can she see and hear far beyond average capabilities, how can she feel so much for hunter, when she isn't a living, breathing person? And who is the woman, who is the only mother she's ever known?

It isn't until she is deemed as stolen property, that she needs to run before her creator forces her back to the secret government facility. They will do anything to have her in their possession again, to keep Mila out of the hands of rivals, looking to sell government secrets on the black market. Evading capture, Hunter on her mind, the threat of termination and trying to keep her mother safe, it isn't until after she meets Lucas, when she starts to believe that she's more than the monster, she believes herself to be.

Mila 2.0 was slow to begin, telling the story of what seemed to be a regular teenage girl, coping with loss and grief, while finding her feet in a new town. Once the storyline starts unraveling the secret of who Mila really is, the reader is thrown into the heart pounding action.

It was brilliant. Mila's inner struggle between being an android and holding onto her humanity, is comparable to teens needing a sense of identity. I didn't understand the significance of Hunter, apart from being Mila's love interest, but I'm assuming that it will come to light in the next in the series. I was surprised that this was the debut novel from Debra Driza, not only was it well written, but it was unique, and nowadays that is a rare commodity in young adult novels.

Goodreads
Mila 2.0
(Mila 2.0: Book One)
Written By Debra Driza

Published 12 / 03 / 2013
480 Pages

1 comment

  1. Sounds like a really interesting book.. I like the concept!

    ReplyDelete

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