Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza | Audiobook Review

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MY THOUGHTS

“A girl android?! Gimme!”

I was really surprised that I enjoyed Mila 2.0. I mean, a girl android?! One who doesn’t know that she is one?! One who IS a government secret weapon?! Interesting, right? I thought so. In fact, I had a hard time rating the book (so I settled for a 3.5) because I felt there were a lot of holes and a few things that I thought needed more work.

Mila 2.0 is about a 16-year-old girl named Mila, who presumably has amnesia. She can’t recall the events of the fire that killed her father a little over a month ago, her mother is cold towards her, and she is basically transferred to a new school in the middle of nowhere. She thinks she is normal until an accident reveals that she is in fact, a top secret government weapon – a highly intelligent android that was stolen from the government by “mom,” one of the scientists involved in the project.

I honestly enjoyed the book partly because of the narrator, Tara Sands and because of it’s uniqueness. I haven’t read a YA book about androids before so this was refreshing. The blurb also captured my attention, as mentioned above and I thought there was going to be some fast paced action. There really wasn’t and I thought three-quarters of the book was slow, with nothing really happening. The pace only picked up around the last quarter of the book.

I am also tired of the stereotypical YA mom that did not care. Based on the reasoning behind why “mom” stole Mila, I would have thought that she would show some emotion towards Mila, and not indifference. And as typical YA style, this is narrated in first person and I got a little tired of Mila’s inner monologue.

I also thought that there should have been more character building. I felt that I really didn’t know the players in this story, and not much about Mila as well. I understand that it was probably done to add more mystery to the plot but I felt that I did not really know the characters. I am also tired of the YA stereotypical best friend who becomes an automatic rival for the main heroes affections. I mean, can’t we have two besties NOT fight over a guy?!

There was also a teeny bit of romance in the story. Which I view as a good thing and a bad thing. We are introduced to the hero Hunter when we see him in the Dairy Queen staring at Mila. He is also a new student in school and seems to be interested in Mila (we will find out why in the next book). Nothing really happens to Mila and Hunter in this book but they do go on a date at the fair together. I thought this was a good thing because I also want my books to focus more on the heroine and not about the hero and heroine’s love life or romance. So yes, the story did NOT revolve around a romance which I thought was refreshing. On the other hand, I thought that the romance between Mila and Hunter was added in the books JUST BECAUSE. I felt that there was no significance of their romance at all. We will find out more about Mila and Hunter in book 2 (Renegade) but I should think there would have been more characterization or development to set the stage for the second book because Hunter does play an important role in Renegade. As it was, I thought the romance didn’t contribute to the whole story.

I did enjoy the last part of the book which had all the thrills. We meet General Holland, the man behind the project who wants Mila back and want’s to eliminate her. We also find out that [spoiler]there is a Mila 3.0 and she is better and badder, and with no emotion at all! Mila 2.0 is pitted against Mila 3.0 in an obstacle course that will decide Mila 2.0’s fate.[/spoiler] This part was more thrilling than the first 3/4 of the story.

I recommend Mila 2.0 because of its freshness – a teenaged female android. And because the second book is way more enjoyable than this one!

THOUGHTS ON THE AUDIO

Narrator: Tara Sands

Tara Sands handled the narration superbly. Despite being annoyed by Mila’s inner monologue, I was actually able to go through with the whole audiobook because of the narrator.

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