Redemption by Debra Driza

Series: Mila 2.0 (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Sci-fi/Thriller

Subjects: androids, robots, artificial intelligence, identity, love

Setting: Montana, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a boarding school

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Mila

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 405 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “Mila has been running for her life for so long. But there might be nowhere left for her to go. Especially now that she’s an incredible danger to herself and anyone who dares get close to her.

That’s why Mila has gone into hiding with friend and tech expert Lucas. She can’t take the risk of hurting people worse than the way she hurt Hunter: the boy she’ll always love, the boy who might never forgive her for what she’s done.

But then Mila discovers that General Holland—her ultimate enemy—has plans that are an even bigger threat to humanity than she is. His quest to reclaim Mila is only part of a larger mysterious endgame that will put people’s lives at stake. Mila must make a choice: either push aside her fears and fight him with everything she’s got…or turn her back on the world forever.

My Review:  Redemption is the 3^rd and final book of the Mila 2.0 trilogy. It was pretty awesome. If you have not read this series, then don’t read this review below the first paragraph. The series is about a teenage girl android named Mila who was created as a weapon. You may enjoy this series if you enjoy the Terminator movies, Chappie and Transcendence, and TV shows like AMC’s Humans, Fox’s Almost Human (cancelled after 1 season), Bionic Woman, other robot-android-cyborg TV or movies. Also book like the Insignia series by S.J. Kincaid, Robin Wasserman’s Cold Awakening series (about a girl who’s mind was downloaded into and android body), Unremember by Jessica Brody, False Memory by Dan Krokos, The Taking by Kimberly Derting, or Altered by Jennifer Rush.

At this beginning of the book, Mila is in a cabin in the mountains of Montana with Lucas (General Holland’s pacifistic and genius nephew) and his older brother Tim. Mila just discovered that there’s a bomb inside her body that can be trigger at anytime and has a 2-hour countdown. They stay in the cabin for a while, but decide to ditch it and get a car. They make there way to Philadelphia, in search of information on what happened to Sarah, the girl that Mila was design to look like, and who’s brain matter lives in Mila’s head.

Later they run into Daniel, Samuel, Abby, and Hunter. Hunter is especially angry seeing Mila again. Mila had killed his stepfather under Quinn’s influence. Quinn had taken away Mila’s emotion and controlled her. Hunter, who was madly into love (or interested) with Mila until he found out what she is (an android weapon) acts like she has the measles and don’t even want to look at her.

In the last book they had such an adorable romance. Hunter loves anime, and he’s funny, and he found out that his stepfather works for the Vita Obscuro. Some romance develops between Mila and Lukas. He knew what she was from the start, and knows that she’s got part of Sarah’s brain in her head, so she’s not completely mechanical. Mila and Lucas joke about her androidness. He completely accepts her

The group visits the school that Sarah attending on the suspicious Watson Grant and discover that something sinister and possibly General Holland-related it going on there. I’m a bit disappointed in the ending. Similar to the disappointment of Allegiant’s ending. I like happy ending better. What’s with the martyr, sacrificing trend?

Cover Art Review: I love the purple. I miss the cover being metallic though.

Mila 2.0: Renegade by Debra Driza

Series: Mila 2.0 (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Sci-fi/ Thriller

Subjects: androids, robots, artificial intelligence, identity, love

Setting: Virginia Beach, Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Chicago and Glen Ellyn, Illinois, then some compound of unknown location

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Mila

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 438 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “There is no one left for Mila to trust. Except for a boy she barely knows.

But Hunter has no idea who—and what—Mila really is. She can’t bear to reveal her secret, even though he’s unwittingly joined her search for Richard Grady, a man who may know more details of Mila’s complicated past.

Yet the road to the truth is more dangerous than ever. With General Holland and the Vita Obscura scouring the earth for her whereabouts, Mila must rely on her newfound android abilities to protect herself and Hunter from imminent harm. Still, embracing her identity as a machine leads her to question the state of her humanity—as well as Hunter’s real motives.

Perfect for fans of I Am Number Four and Divergent, this action-packed and heart-wrenching second installment of MILA 2.0 will leave readers breathlessly awaiting the series conclusion. “

My Review:  This was such an awesome sequel. It’s been about 2 years since I read the first Mila 2.0 book and the 3^rd and final one is coming out this month, so I though I better catch up. I thought maybe it’s a good thing I waited to read the sequel, but if I knew it would be this good, I wouldn’t have wanted to wait. Renegade is full of awesome.

Mila, in case you don’t know, is an android. She’s the narrator and act just like any other teenage girl would. She has feeling, which is not something you’d expect a robot to have. Mila was made to be the perfect weapon and she’s now coming to terms with the fact that she’s not human. She’s just starting to accept her android abilities and the robotic voice in her head that gives her information.

Mila invites Hunter to meet her at Virginia Beach to help her on a search for some guy her mother knew. They travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, hoping they have the right guy. Since Hunter doesn’t know the truth about Mila, she tells him that she’s searching for her real father. She keeps avoiding the truth because she’s afraid that it will hurt him. She fear his rejection. Then she starts becoming suspicious of Hunter because she never really looked into his past. Could he possibly be part of Vita Obscura?

I really like Hunter and I don’t care is Mila is an android, I ship them. I hope they work out and maybe there’s someway they can stay together. I just hope it doesn’t turn out like Chappie and Hunter becomes and android or cyborg. Hunter loves manga, and I used to be into manga and anime too. He’s sweet and adorable and funny and nerdy. Lucas, who’s not really in this book much, was also nerdy and awkwardly adorable. Mila is a really interesting character herself. I’ve only read one other series in which the main character is an android, but she had her mind downloaded into and android body after she died. Mila has very human flaws and emotions. I really enjoy all the cool abilities she has too.

I want to mention the settings in the book. There was part of the book set in my state, Illinois. Mila takes a bus to Chicago, she sees Three there and they fight. Then she rides a bike to Glen Ellyn in 2 hours (a Chicago suburb 23 miles directly west of the downtown Chicago) which I’m pretty sure in not possibly unless you’re and android, because it took my brother 2 hours to get to Bellwood. Glen Ellyn is where I went to community college (College of Dupage) for 4 years. It’s like 15 minutes away. Fun fact about it: Ghost Adventure’s Zach Bagens went to school there.

This book was so full of twists and non-stop action. I was never bored reading it. It’s completely entertaining. I hate when book feel slow and this is not a slow book at all. I wish all the books I read were this exciting. I also wish there was more contemporary sci-fi out there. Most sci-fi is dystopian, and others are more paranormal than sci-fi. There needs to be more sci-fi thrillers set in the present, without impending apocalypses.

I recommend this to fans of the Terminator movies, Chappie and Transcendence, and TV shows like AMC’s Humans, Fox’s Almost Human (cancelled after 1 season), Bionic Woman, other robot-android-cyborg TV or movies. Also book like the Insignia series by S.J. Kincaid, Robin Wasserman’s Cold Awakening series (about a girl who’s mind was downloaded into and android body), Unremember by Jessica Brody, False Memory by Dan Krokos, The Taking by Kimberly Derting, or Altered by Jennifer Rush.

Cover Art Review: Similar to first book’s cover. Lovely effect with the square coming off the model.

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Series: Mila 2.0 (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Sci-fi/ Thriller

Subjects: androids, robots, artificial intelligence, identity, love,

Setting: Clear Water, Minnesota and then across the country, then Washington DC

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Mila

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 470 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “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.

Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza’s bold debut and the first book in a Bourne Identity-style trilogy that combines heart-pounding action with a riveting exploration of what it really means to be human. Fans of I Am Number Four will love Mila for who she is and what she longs to be—and a cliffhanger ending will leave them breathlessly awaiting the sequel.”

My Review:  I finally got to read this book after a year of it sitting on my shelf. With rumors of Fox adapting it into a TV show, I was really exciting about Mila 2.0. Mila 2.0 reads like a TV show, mostly. Or even a movie. Mila finds out she’s an android after an accident that exposed her mechanical [arts. Mila and her mother who’ve been living in Minnesota for a month have to go on the run before that people who helped create Mila take her away.

Mila seems like you stereotypical teenage girl. Her emotions seem normal. She thinks she’s normal. Finding out she was not a real person really threw her off. She’s smart and tough and even has a big crush on a guy at school. How could she be an android? It was really interesting to think about. I reminded me of the show on Fox called Almost Human, with Dorian having a synthetic soul (Almost Human is the reason why Mila 2.0 was not picked up on Fox. Too similar). Also it was like the Bionic Woman show too. She has all the feeling a person has.

The book was cool and full of action. It was thrilling and had a lot of fight scenes. The only issues I had with this book is that it started off kind of slow. Once it got going it was non-stop action. Mila using her android abilities was really cool. She acted more like she was a cyborg rather that a completely mechanical android. There was also less romance than I hoped for. We really only see Hunter in the first part of the book. Mila meets a guy named Lucas in part 3 and she likes him, but there’s not really a romance between then. I’m sure in the second book there will be romantic developments.

I recommend this to fans of Almost Human, Bionic Woman, Terminator, False Memory by Dan Krokos, Unremembered by Jessica Brody, Maximum Ride, Altered by Jennifer Rush and any teen sci-fi. This book is not dystopian.

Cover Art Review: I love the cover. It’s metallic and the girl’s face it breaking apart, like pixels. Makes me think of Pixel Perfect (old Disney channel movie).