MILA 2.0: Renegade
Fast-paced, violent sequel has android on the run, in love.
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that MILA 2.0: Renegade continues the intriguing saga of Mila, a teen girl who discovers she's actually an android -- a state-of-the-art war machine -- and that her creators want to find and dismantle her. A number of characters, good and evil, meet violent ends by gunfire, explosions, car crashes, hand-to-hand combat, and more. Mila herself kills some, not always in self-defense. Innocent bystanders and Good Samaritans suffer android attacks when Mila's paranoia runs wild. Along the way, she grapples with ethical dilemmas -- she's in love with her classmate Hunter but afraid to tell him the truth about what she is, even when they're on the run together. Offered the chance to remove the emotions that cause her so much pain, she wavers about what to do and struggles to understand what she really is. One of the factions trying to recruit or capture Mila is a hacker organization that steals technology and resells it to the public at a much lower cost than the owners charged.
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What's the Story?
After the traumatic discoveries and violent events of Book 1, android killing machine Mila, who up until a few days ago thought she was a normal teen from Philly, is on the run from her creators and other dark forces who want to dismantle her for her technology. With her is Hunter, the boy she's in love with -- and to whom she can't bring herself to tell the truth about who and what she is. In their quest to get Mila to safety -- and in Mila's search for the truth about herself and the right thing to do about it -- the two encounter friends masquerading as foes and sometimes vice versa. Amid the suspense and violence, they can't really trust each other either.
Is It Any Good?
The book's fast-moving plot takes readers through one hairpin turn and vertical drop after another. "Right now, the truth seemed nebulous at best. A never-ending journey where, just when I thought I'd finally struggled my way to the end, the pathway took a sharp turn, once again plunging me into darkness," Mila reflects at one point.
Mila's constant emotional turmoil and efforts to find herself will hit the sweet spot with some readers and probably annoy others, but they help define her as a struggling-to-be-human character. The constant thread of distrust and violence is necessary to the plot but may make for a story that's too dark for some.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why robots and androids are such popular subjects for stories. Do you find them more likable or more scary as they become more like humans?
What do you think of the hackers who believe all technology should be free? Do you agree or disagree? What do you see in today's world that makes you think this?
How would you feel if you discovered that something you'd believed all your life -- because people you trusted had told you it was true -- was a lie? How would your life change? Has this happened to anyone you know? How did they cope?
Book Details
- Author: Debra Driza
- Genre: Science Fiction
- Topics: Adventures, Friendship, Robots
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
- Publication date: May 13, 2014
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 12 - 17
- Number of pages: 448
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: August 15, 2021
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