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. (From Goodreads)
I'm beginning to open my mind to androids and this book was a great step in convincing me to pick up more science fiction. I was expecting to feel distant from Mila, but surprisingly she's incredibly relatable and almost more human than the humans in this book. Mila is a unique heroine why faces a myriad of enemies that range from a scorned high school girl to the head of a secret government operation. In each challenging situation she handles herself with dignity and grace, despite the immense pressure to shed her humanity and her instincts to coldly fight her enemies.
Some government stories seem to overwhelm themselves with details about the operations or their purpose and the characters get a little lost. This book perfectly balances the character and the government. It's an exciting, fast paced novel, but it never goes too fast and I never felt too lost. It helped, too, that some of the government agents had back stories that surfaced throughout their time together that made them more complex than faceless enemies.
I'm impressed with the reach of this novel - it starts out in small town Midwest and stretches to an urban setting, the characters cover high school it girls, MIT students, and machines that look like humans. Mila adapts to all of these people and situations so well - I mean, I know she's engineered to be super-human, but it's still pretty incredible. I was pretty stoked that the story opens in Clearwater, Minnesota. I grew up two hours from there. So awesome. I love it when that happens. Even when I wanted to punch them, I kind of adored the "friends" she has there. I mean, technically they are horrible, but I can't help but feel a MN kinship with them. When you read it, give them a little bit of a break - because really - exciting things (read: new boys) rarely happen and when they do, it does suck when it doesn't happen to you.
That said, Hunter is some kind of super-boy. Not in the way Mila is, but he's über sweet and supportive and...well, he might actually be too perfect. I can't think of a flaw in him. But I think we'll get to know more about him soon. This book was very Mila focused.
I can see how this can be translated into a TV show. It's written like it's meant to be seen. The book is very action driven and it's so easy to play out that action in your head. It's also not as internal as some YA novels, even though it's in first person. I'm kind of (weirdly) picturing the adaptation as a cross between Kyle XY and The Secret World of Alex Mack (don't ask me why, I have no explanation). Mila 2.0 was an entertaining read an I look forward to the story continuing.
