Level 2- Lenore Appelhans Review

Level 2 (The Memory Chronicles) Review

Author: Lenore Appelhans
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Language: English


Summary:

Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthdaym Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow prisoners, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she's lost-family, friends, and the boy she loved, Neil.
Then a girl in a neighboring chamber disappears, and nobody but Felicia seems to recall she existed in the first place. something is obviously wrong. When Julian-a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life- comes to offer Felicia a way out, she learns the truth: A rebellion is brewing to over throw the Mortai, the guardians of Level 2.
Felicia is reluctant to trust Julian, but then he promises what she wants the most-to be with Neil again- if only she'll join the rebels. Suspended between heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself in the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Mortai hunt her down Felicia will discover it's not just her own redemption at stake.... but the salvation of mankind.

Review:
I had high expectations for Level 2, and while those hopes weren't completely crushed, Level 2 is an okay book. The main character, supporting characters, lack of character development almost made me stop reading, but the idea and weirdness surrounding Felicia and Level 2 kept pushing on. While this isn't one of my favorite books of the year, I am interested to see what the next book would be like.

I think Felicia is a O.K. character. She doesn't have much of a personality, yet guys supposedly be all over her. I don't get it. I mean she may be pretty (Though the model on the cover is kinda creepy looking with that make-up and all), but yes, it's completely believable that two guys love her *eye roll*.

The concept of the Net and everything to do with Level 2 is pretty intriguing, but everything else sort of sucks. I mean I had no idea what was going on. The whole ending made no sense whatsoever. I mean I get it, I know what happened, but a hint or two would have been nice, but most of the time, I ended have to go and re-read a certain sentence or paragraph just to make sure what I read.
Also, the world-building was kind of fell apart for me. I still have no real idea what Level 2 looks like or what it feels like to be there. I have no idea how people "plug in," though I assume it has something to do with their hands in those cuffs they use in their...pods shells...chamber-things.



What I liked:
* The idea of a Level 2, an afterlife/purgatory between Level 1 (Human world/Earth) and the next, after Level 2. And what these souls do to pass time is that they revisit/relive their own memories or rent other people's memories when they were on earth.

* It was good to know that this book isn't one of those love triangles.
I had thought this book would have been a love triangle for Felicia between Neil and Julian. But it's totally not. In fact, it seem to me that Felicia only loved Neil. Julian, I think he's a player. He probably is, because while there were some good moments between him and Felicia, I didn't think that he was good enough for her. Those moments when he said that he "loved" her, I was like "Pssh! Stop lying! Because she loves Neil!"

* When we finally learned how Felicia died, and who was revealed of who caused it (I'm sure it  would have been a bit obvious) I couldn't help but shrieking out of shock. I should've known, but I'm bad at mysteries, so when I figure out things like this, I go into a happy shock.

*The memories of Felicia's life when she was on Earth.
While I do like the concept of Level 2, I was starting to like the idea of a stand alone novel of Felicia's life when she was  alive (just without the supernatural/paranormal element added within the story if it was possible)



What I didn't like:
* This is a little complaint: the pacing. When I first read this book, I found myself distracted and couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to. The pacing for me was a bit slow at first, but then it kicked up in the middle, fell flat a tiny bit, then kicked back up again. I did find myself like some parts, but then I find myself skimming quickly through the pages till something good happened.

*The ending. It was just... it didn't really make me go "OMG! I WANT MORE!" It was more like "That's it? Really?" But this book will defintely have a sequel, since it did have a sequel-cliffhanger hanging like that.

* the concept and world-building of Level 2. There's no real description of what it looks like. So, I came to concluded it was a sort of purgatory level. People relieve their lives over and over, or other people's lives but nobody moves on (maybe?). I just didn't get this world of a empty whitewashed room after room with nobody understanding what was really going on because I surely didn't. What the purpose was of having the people trapped in this level on how it got back at God?  Was Felicia the only one with the power to overthrow what the Morati was doing? What made her so special, because she could remember and function longer before she had to plug in?
So many questions...so many questions...questions hopefully soon to be answered in the next book.


Conclusion:
This book was OK for me. I was going a bit crazy for this book, but when I read it, I felt a tiny bit disappointed, and then that disappointment went away when something good happened, but it fell flat for me again.
There's not much action in this book, more of like an adventure, romance sci-fi-like kind of novel. But, there are some pretty good action scenes.
I just think I may need to re-read this book so I can get into it like I would do with the other books that I have read.
Level 2 is a good book, and I would defintely try the sequel if there was one (which I am sure there will be)

I would give this book a 4.0/5