Love Books, Love Romance: REVIEW - Transcendence by Shay Savage

Transcendence - Shay Savage
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Synopsis
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.

With only each other for company, they must rely on one another to fight the dangers of the wild and prepare for the winter months. As they struggle to coexist, theirs becomes a love story that transcends language and time.

My Review

First off, I want to just mention how blown away I was at this book. It was unlike anything I’d ever read and probably will read. If you buy any book this year, I implore you to make it this one. Shay writes a book that makes you not only love Ehd, but you follow his journey, understand his behaviour and emotions, you want to get to know him more. The simplicity of this book and the lack of dialogue was very intriguing. Throughout the book there are only a handful of words ever spoken. All the information and situations are told and delivered through Ehd’s thoughts.

“I will provide for her. I will protect her. I will give her anything she wants.”

Ehd is a caveman who has been on his own for quite some time. Although we don’t really get to know his full background story, we know that something bad happened to take his tribe from him. He’s all alone, plodding along and really just doing things to survive. Life is hard in these times and, by yourself are more difficult and everything is on you. If you don’t go out to look for food, you won’t eat and will starve. He’s struggling with the day to day boredom and lack of human interaction and it is finally getting to him. Just when he is so close to giving up, in stumbles Beh into his life.

“She may be strange; she may not know how to make baskets, and she may be very noisy, but she is my mate, and I'm thrilled she is here.”

Elizabeth or ‘Beh’ as she is known throughout the book has come from the modern day world into Ehds world. How? We don’t know and don’t really find out. We just know that she’s there and Ehd has a new companion. He is over the moon at this female. Finally he has some company and someone to protect and give babies to. Their meeting to me was bittersweet. Finally Ehd has someone, and how they perceive each other is completely different. Ehd sees Beh as the solution to all his problems. He finds her fascinating and now he has a mate! He cannot understand, nor does he realise she is from the future. He is just fascinated by her hair and clothes, that they are different.

“There is nothing – nothing in my entire existence – that compared to waking up with my mate curled tightly against my chest. Though I has not realised it at the time, the loneliness had weighed heavily on me during my time of isolation, and now I’m beginning to wonder if I would have survived much longer on my own. I could hunt and protect myself, but the lack of companionship had been slowly destroying my will to live.”

Beh on the other hand is frightened to death. She is thrust into a strange world and carted off by a caveman. She doesn’t want him touching her, she’s terrified of him, of what he will do to her. We grasp all her emotions and her behaviour through Ehd. None of the book is in Beh’s perspective at all. He just takes her crying and reluctance to go with him as her believing his cave and items to be lacking, not for what it really is. Why can’t she see the meat he has, proof he is a good provider. Or the cave he lives in, will provide shelter, but is it too small? Will she let him put a baby in her?

“I want her; I know I do. It is far beyond not wanting to be alone anymore. I want her - only her. I will do anything to make Beh mine.”

A major part in the book is the lack of speech between the two. Ehd lacks a key part in his brain that allows him to comprehend or learn speech, much to Beh’s dismay. He communicates through actions and sounds, and doesn’t like the strange mumbling noises that come from Beh. They annoy him profusely. The words he learns (kind of) are limited to Ehd, Beh, Khizz, Luhffs, Lah and my personal favourite, Hoh! I loved how their relationship progressed and even without the usual communication skills, their love was pure and beautiful. They will forever be one of my favourite couples.

“Strange – like everything about her. My mate. My Beh.”

Throughout the book there are a lot of plot twists and thins that get you really thinking about things. Some of the situations are heart-breaking and have you on the edge of your seat. What also shocked me was how emotional I became from the book. I have only cried at two books ever in my life, I’m a tough one to crack, but this book broke me completely. I was sobbing like mad at the end. It engaged me and stayed with me that much. The ending completely wrecked me and was not what I was expecting at all. The ending scenes reminded me of the Lovers of Valdaro (don’t look this up until you’ve read it) and even though it wasn’t based on this, was a beautiful touch, however sad. This is probably my longest ever review but a book as beautiful and incredible as this needs more than a few words. I cannot comprehend how much you need to buy this book and love it as much as I did. Really hoping for a book for Beh’s point of view to get both sides. It is perfect.