Book Review: Transcendence - Shay Savage

Pub. Date- Feb 13th 2014 Publisher- Independently Published

Pages- 312 Genre- Historical Romance/New Adult Stars- 4.5

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It’s said that women and men are from two different planets when it comes to communication, but how can they overcome the obstacles of prehistoric times when one of them simply doesn’t have the ability to comprehend language?
Ehd’s a caveman living on his own in a harsh wilderness. He’s strong and intelligent, but completely alone. When he finds a beautiful young woman in his pit trap, it’s obvious to him that she is meant to be his mate. He doesn’t know where she came from; she’s wearing some pretty odd clothing, and she makes a lot of noises with her mouth that give him a headache. Still, he’s determined to fulfill his purpose in life – provide for her, protect her, and put a baby in her.
Elizabeth doesn’t know where she is or exactly how she got there. She’s confused and distressed by her predicament, and there’s a caveman hauling her back to his cavehome. She’s not at all interested in Ehd’s primitive advances, and she just can’t seem to get him to listen. No matter what she tries, getting her point across to this primitive, but beautiful, man is a constant – and often hilarious – struggle.

Transcendence is like nothing that has ever come before it, told in a completely new manner that works so well on many different levels it’s no wonder this book has been a hit since it was published earlier this year. What would it be like to be forced by circumstances to live and fall in love with someone who is never going to fully understand or be able to communicate with you? Shay Savage’s writing is truly beautiful with this story told solely from the point of view of Ehd a caveman. This heartwarming tale could have very easily been “me get food, me make fire” but it was so much more that. Ehd still had a definite caveman vibe; he’s all about protecting Elizabeth or Beh as Ehd calls her and of course starting a new tribe with making babies but he’s so caring and completely accepts all the things about Beh that he doesn’t understand and has no ability to comprehend.

I wasn’t sure when purchasing this how I’d feel about it, historical fiction is something I really love but a book involving cavemen is not something I’ve ever experienced before and holy heck I’m glad I did by it. Usually a books dialogue is what really hits the nail on the head and makes all the emotional connections but with its total of maybe 10 single line moments of dialogue all up Transcendence didn’t need it or left a feeling lacking due to the minimal amount. I think this is the best example of how great Savage’s writing is it very easy to miss something you are use to but that’s not the case in this at all.

With very few side characters for eighty-five percent of the book it was very interesting to see Edh’s full attention on Beh and get to know her and how she thinks through his limited point of view, that’s not to say that Ehd isn’t intelligent he just knows what he knows and not much else. I found it really interesting to see that even though Beh could not talk to Edh she continued to make noises as he calls speech through out the whole book.  Their communication is limited to showing each other things and a few words that Edh links to actions but doesn’t really understand.

This is a very difficult book to explain and do justice to. It would have been a five star read if not for the heavy focus on sex, which made me uncomfortable at times. Edh didn’t understand the concept of no at first, even though it did fit his characteristics of following the baser instincts to make children and what not, it just really wasn’t my thing. This was a great read and I will definitely be picking up Savage’s other novels as I’ve fallen in love with her writing.

Have you read this or is it on your TBR? Do you like the caveman idea?