Mila 2.0 Book Review

Hello everyone! I am sorry that I haven’t posted an actual blog post in almost a MONTH AND A HALF! asdfghjkl;

I don’t know how to apologize. If you want an apology from me, check out my announcement post I posted earlier! If you want “Dear Sprinkles” with submissions to happen, then make sure we get to 500 page views - no refreshing the page does not count! I’m talking actual 500 page views.

Now, today I’m going to be doing a review of one of the books I just read. I haven’t done any in depth deep reviews on this blog, so I decided to do one.

I’m going to be reviewing the book, Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza. This is going to be a super through review, so you might wanna grab a snack and some tea before going on!

Without further ado, let’s just get on with this book review!

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi series! I’ve only read the first book, but it’s super well-written, and the plot kept me on my toes the whole time!

I have to say, I wasn’t that obsessed when I first started the book. So what, girl moves to a small town, doesn’t have many reliable friends, dad just died....(P.S. that’s not a spoiler because it happened before the book takes place).

I actually confess, I wasn’t into it AT ALL at the beginning. I thought she had mental problems, and was one of those weak, yet “I CAN DO IT BY MYSELF” types of girls.

I was kinda right.

As I was saying, I wasn’t that happy with the book until things got interesting. AND I MEAN REALLY INTERESTING!

It was ho-hum and then BAM something major happened and I got stuck with the book. Like, don’t-look-up-until-you’ve-finished-the-book stuck. Yes, that kind of stuck!

The basic gist of the book is about a girl named Mila who discovers she’s an android. Everything about her past, or at least the past she knew, is not true. Her life is a web of lies, taunting her that she’s not human. Things get difficult with her friends and oh, maybe *special friends* hehe. She was never meant to know that she was built in an underground spy base and has superhuman skills. She was never supposed to know what happened to the first version, the Mila 1.0. She was supposed to live a normal life, that’s what her parents thought was best for her. But now, friendships turn into betrayal, love is questioned, and when hooded men show up on her doorstep, what’s the solution? To run. But running isn’t going to save her from what’s coming.

I personally like my summary, especially the ending, haha!  

Now, onto the things I like and don’t like in this book!

The story was well-crafted and intriguing and surprisingly super simple. Normally, when reading sci-fi, one is confused by all the challenging vocabulary and all the difficult machinery. Debra Drizo kept the out-of-this-world stuff to a minimal, and kept the scientific vocab to a few characters.

Love interests. I was kinda disappointed by the lack of romance in this book. Mila did have a little school “thing” for a mysterious new guy at her school. They were kinda together, but I don’t know, I didn’t ship it at all. It was weird. At the beginning, the whole romance is set up between Mila and the guy (Hunter) so you’d think this would be the ship of the book. But it wasn’t. She ends up fighting over him with a girl she thought was her friend, but ends up to be total mean girl. At the beginning, all she thought about was him, but after the beginning, Hunter was rarely mentioned again. Then there was another “enemy” guy, Lucas. I was really shipping it at the beginning, yes I thought they’d get together. Mila didn’t really like him though, and the guy didn't either. But, but it should've been shipped. It should've been.

But, I don’t know why the author didn’t pair them together. I’m not even sure where he is in the end of the book cause MILA ABANDONS HIM OMG WHY? I’m kinda hoping that the next book has A TON more love interests or romance, ‘cause this didn’t push the button for me. 

However, I do think some people would like this because the romance didn’t dominate the whole book, as some people aren’t just the fans of a romance based plot, I get you guys. I think the author needed to express MIla’s feelings, or maybe she did it on purpose cause Mila’s a cyborg, I don’t even know...

I also don't trust Hunter at all. His "relationship" with Mila was merely a high school fling and super cheesy. It was one of those "I just met you and now I love you" things. I know right, bad example for youngsters, haha!

The characterization could really use some work. I was expecting Mila to be developed as a human and a cyborg/robot. But that’s not what I got. It really depends of how you look at it. Those who weren’t expecting that much characterization got more than they wanted. Those who did expect it, got barely any.

And the other characters, they were merely pawns on a chessboard. Just flimsy little people that the author threw in without adding additional development. I have to admit though, the author did conveniently place all of the characters at different points in the plot. It was just that their relationships with Mila, weren’t strong at all. There was no depth to their relationships.

The voice was amazing. Mila’s inner thoughts were hilarious, heart-wrenching, just like you’d imagine a teenager girl’s thoughts to be like. The author’s use of voice, made you want to become Mila’s best friend.

The tests they put Mila through were especially horrifying yet intriguing. They were probably the most exciting parts of the book. I especially like Mila going all badass against some bad guys, the detailed analysis of all the fighting scenes was great!

The plot was written very well. The author used syntax, vivid imagery, rich language, accurate thoughts of a teenager girl.  I just think that with a little editing, Mila 2.0 would be a great book.

OVERALL MY THOUGHTS:

Overall, this wasn't your average book! It was a killer novel, I have to admit, but the beginning was pretty slow-going and just didn't hook me in until around the 4th chapter. But, the well-written plot kept me reading. The summary got me so excited, “girl cyborg”, “running away from creeps” and “forbidden love”. The characterization was super lacking, yet Mila’s voice was intriguing. I think Mila 2.0 was ended well, not with a cliffhanger, rather a closed ending, but giving me enough unanswered questions to pine for the next book!

My rating:

6/10

For a super well-written plot, yet boring, uninteresting characters. I wouldn’t recommend this to a friend, however, I really want to know what will happen to Mila and the other characters.