When a visit to the Tower of London triggers an overwhelmingly real vision of a beheading that occurred centuries before, Cole Ryan fears she is losing her mind. A mysterious boy, Griffon Hall, comes to her aid, but the intensity of their immediate connection seems to open the floodgate of memories even wider.
As their feelings grow, Griffon reveals their common bond as members of the Akhet—an elite group of people who can remember past lives and use their collected wisdom for the good of the world. But not all Akhet are altruistic, and a rogue is after Cole to avenge their shared past. Now in extreme danger, Cole must piece together clues from many lifetimes. What she finds could ruin her chance at a future with Griffon, but risking his love may be the only way to save them both.
Full of danger, romance, and intrigue, Transcendence breathes new life into a perpetually fascinating question: What would you do with another life to live?
In case you haven’t established from the synopsis, Transcendence is completely different from Omololu’s earlier work Dirty Little Secrets. I was a big fan of Dirty Little Secrets, but more so I love authors who can easily and are excellent at switching genres. Omololu is one of those that hasn’t disappointed.
Transcendence follows Cole as she’s on a family vacation and literally runs into Griffon, who is also from the US. Cole’s begun having these weird flashes that she can’t explain, but tries to brush off as her imagination. When Cole and her family return to home, more and more comes out.
I’m not going to get into the characters much, Omololu did that on her guest post earlier this week, but Cole is the sort of character I wasn’t sure if I’d love or not. I ended up loving her! She’s awkward and down-to-earth. She’s a musical prodigy and has devoted most of her life to practicing and teaching others. Then Griffon…he’s just adorable!
The highlight of Transcendence is as we discover what Akhet are, we discover more and more of their history and the two past lives that are haunting Cole the most. I love the concept behind Akhet, when they are reincarnated they can be anyone. Things like race and gender can change. So the guy that they loved hundreds of years ago might be a woman in this life. Because they hold onto their past lives, they mostly do good, but some hold grudges. It’s such a fun and different concept that I can’t wait for the next book.
I urge you to check into Transcendence if you enjoy history, reincarnation, or fantasy. If you haven’t read Dirty Little Secrets too, be sure and check it out.
I received my copy of Transcendence in exchange for my honest opinion from the publisher.