Review or Rant: Origins: The Fire by Debra Driza

Origins: The Fire (Mila 2.0 #0.5)
By Debra Driza
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books 

Published: January 8, 2013
eBook, 15 pages

Heart-stopping and electric, MILA 2.0: Origins: The Fire contains a short prequel story and an excerpt to MILA 2.0, the first book in a riveting Bourne Identity–style trilogy by Debra Driza.

Mila can't remember anything before the fire that took her father's life. It's normal to have some memory loss after traumatic events, but Mila doesn't remember if she's ever learned to ride a bike, or if she's ever been in love. Nothing.

What she doesn't know is that she isn't supposed to remember—that she was built in a computer science lab and programmed to forget. Because if she remembers, she might discover her true identity.

The question is: If she relived the fire, what would she see? --Goodreads

2.5 Stars (My experience of reading it)

Review or Rant

Basically, if you were paying attention, this is a "review or rant." Basically, I am  "reviewing" this 15 page novella, but am also going to spend most of the time droning on and on about certain aspects of it. WARNING: Half of it is improbably irrelevant to the entire novella (it's only 15 pages, what did you expect!?!)

This is not to say that Origins: The Fire wasn't enjoyable. It was a quick, fast-paced excited adventure about a fire (no duh!!). Still, only 15 pages of excitement isn't enough for the reader to gain a full or partial understanding of the world of Mila 2.0, which is what most novellas strive to achieve. Apparently, when I finished the novella, another 84% of the "book" was still left to be finished, and what was it: an excerpt of Mila 2.0. Of course I loved the excerpt, but then that leads to what was the point of this?

Let's just say I have nothing against novellas. I love the idea of getting a sneak preview of the amazing new YA series coming out, but then most of them are at least 50-100 pages. So basically, the 15 pages of this novella are sort of out of place in the norms of the publishing world. Harper Collins (Katherine Tegen is an imprint, if you didn't know) is totally experienced with the world of publishing, especially YA book publishing, but really, what were you publicists thinking? At least the novella is free, right? WRONG! What is the frikkin' point of releasing a novella that could easily be the prologue of Mila 2.0, rather than a "prequel" novella. This seems more of a publicity stunt to draw crowds, than to genuinely draw the YA audience's attention to this series with a gorgeous cover, which probably did a better job of drawing the crowds anyway.

Overall, Origins: The Fire was an extremely disappointing novella. There was nothing wrong with anything, but its length. The length of it, in fact is the reason why it's near impossible to review. Nothing happens in the entire novella besides a fire burning down a building with people in it. Not much room for growth or characterization. Unless you are seriously dying for all of the juicy bits of Mila 2.0 before it comes out, this is a waste of time to read. Still, there's much to look forward to with Mila 2.0. With the book coming out this March 12th, and ABC planning to adapt it as a series with the producers of Grey's Anatomy, there's much to look forward to in the coming year or so. 

Purchase Origins: The Fire: Amazon (Kindle)/ B&N (Nook)