The Best Version of a Girl

Expected Publication: March 12th, 2013

Mila 2.0 (Mila 2.0 # 1)

By: Debra Driza

Katherine Tegen Books

ISBN-13:  9780062090362

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.

Review

     Mila is just trying to fit into her new school, while trying to grieve for her Dad, who died recently in a fire. All she wants is to fly under the radar, for things to go back to normal.  The only problem is Mila doesn't even remember what normal is - almost everything before the fire is a blank.  When strange things start happening to Mila, her life is thrown out of balance even further than she ever dreamed.  It turns out that Mila is an android, created by a secret government agency and stolen by "Mom" so she could have a normal life, as a teenage girl and not a weapon.  But now the government is catching up with them and as they try to escape, Mila and her Mom are caught.  Now Mila will have to try and fool the scientists who created her into believing that she's not a failed experiment.  Otherwise termination might be a real possibility.  Can Mila and her Mom manage to stay alive long enough to break free?  I really liked the idea that this book tries to carry through.  But I feel like none of the characters were all that developed.  I thought the book was going to be set at Mila's high school, with more romance and that it would definitely take Mila longer to figure out that she was an android.  I feel like that revelation was rushed into.  I would have liked a little bit more set up and world-building.  I felt like this book tried to hard to jump into the action right away.  I did like the scene where Mila's arm is gashed open and they realize that she doesn't bleed.  That was a good way to have her discover the truth.  I also felt like "Mom" didn't have a good enough reason to have stolen Mila - or at least the author didn't develop her enough to make me feel like she did.  I felt like Mila did about her Mom, that she only saw her as an object of interest.  Supposedly she took Mila to give her a normal life, but she treats her like a machine the same way everyone else does.  I liked the cliffhanger at the end and I probably will read the next book, but I really hope it had a lot more character insights and build-up.  Otherwise what's the point?

VERDICT:  3.5/5 Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It will be available for purchase on March 12th, 2013.*