ARC Review: Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Series: Mila 2.0  #1
Pages:  480 Pages (Hardcover)
Genre: Sci- Fi
Release Date: March 12, 2013
Summary:
Mila was living with her mother in a small Minnesota town when she discovered she was also living a lie.

She was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was never supposed to remember the past—that she was built in a 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.

Evading her enemies won't help Mila escape the cruel reality of what she is and cope with everything she has had to leave behind. However, what she's becoming is beyond anyone's imagination, including her own, and that just might save her life.

A compulsively readable sci-fi thriller, Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza's bold debut and the first book in an action-filled, Bourne Identity–style trilogy.

Rating:


Review: 
I really wanted to like this one. Really. The concept is fun, it's well written, the action scenes are exciting and honestly just down my alley. But it left a lacking and discombobulated impression. As a movie it would be probably one of my favorites... if the romance would be cut out that it. Yep, I didn't particularly enjoy the romance in it. It wasn't bad per say.. I just don't know why it's there in the first place. It feels very cut off of the rest of the book and awkward. Looking at it on it own, it probably wouldn't be that bad, but it just doesn't fuse to the rest.

The Story line is fast and fun. Definitely a great read for action fans. It's not anything new but it's well told and thought through.

I found that the character building was lacking at best. Maybe that's why the romance part didn't work for me.
Mila in the end is the only character that is interesting. An android who by accident discovers that she isn't human. Her thought pattern and her change are really well written.But that's as far as I think the character development went.
Hunter is cute and mysterious and a big question mark for me. I am not sure why he was given such prominence, and he never is much more than Mila's wishful dreams. Other than his looks and minor details about him - there is no character building at all. While their interaction is actually really sweet, as I said before, I am not sure if its is just a unnecessary surplus to the book. And added bit of extra interest, at least that's what it feel like. Saying all this I should maybe mention that I am totally on team Hunter- he is totally the dude! HOT and mysterious, quiet and interesting. Just dont know how he fits into this particular story.
Mila's girlfriends are simply awful. Shallow and self-centred, so cliche they bordered on cartoon-like.
The entire book is written from Mila's POV, so I guess one can expect more emphases on Mila's character. But the lack of character building in the support characters meant that Mila's relationships to others feel strained and put together and most of the time just awkward.
I find it particularly annoying, because there are moments when Driza actually writes beautiful moments between two characters which means, this could have been avoided!

The writing style is fast straight forward. And I loved the way Driza tackled the whole android side to this. I absolutely enjoyed the action scenes!

All in all a good book- sadly lacking in character building- I can recommend it for someone who is looking for a fun, action packed light read.

In the Blurb this was compared to Borne Identity. Just like Borne Identity, this didn't work for me as a book so well but to be honest I would love this as a movie- I am quite sure it could be one of my favorite movies actually!

ARC was provided by Publishers through Netgalley. Thank you!

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