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Transcendence

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Transcendence

By: Shay Savage
Narrated by: Chris Chambers
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About this listen

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 cave home. 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.

Contains mature themes.

©2014 Shay Savage (P)2018 Tantor
Fiction Historical Fiction Romance Science Fiction Time Travel

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All stars
Most relevant
So the caveat to this very high rating is that you definitely need to suspend all reality, and be in the mood for this type of book. It’s more along the lines of one of those sexy romance alien abduction type books. However, whereas those types of books usually annoy me loads and I eye roll all the time, this one slowly charmed me as it went on and my early prediction of 3 stars got pushed higher and higher. It seemed a little slow at times but in hindsight I feel like it meant I got to know the characters more and I got absorbed into their world a bit more each time.

I was properly immersed in their world, it made me feel, and I thought the ending was great and it left me on such a pleasant high that I thought it deserved 5 stars. My ratings are influenced greatly by level of enjoyment and emotional engagement, and not just literary talent as I think books should give you an experience and not just tell a story. I would almost say this book is a guilty pleasure, but actually I don’t feel guilty as this book deserves more than that. Within its genre it’s so much better than the competition. However, if this type of book isn’t your bag, you’ll hate it. Personally, I like a bit of light escapism occasionally.

It grew on me and left me with a fond feeling

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***Contains spoilers!!****
A somewhat simplistic fantasy tale of a modern day woman who finds herself accidentally tripping over her dad's time machine and catapulted into the Stone Age. Obviously time machines don't need to be programmed with exact coordinates or anything then. Here she meets a lone caveman with improbably scanty body hair, blond hair and green eyes. As you do.
The story benefits from little research about the culture of early man. The sex obsessed caveman Ehd, although intelligent and as emotionally sensitive as a woman (you can tell it's a fantasy written by a woman from his clitoral diligence alone) is soooo gentle and caring, looking after Beh with doglike devotion, but appears to have literally no functional language whatsoever. Despite his fluent, detailed thoughts and American accent via the narrator. Surely cavemen had at least a gesture or sign language???? He isn't Neanderthal, as he's described as being like Cro-Magnon man in appearance. So he has the physical and mental apparatus necessary for speech. He isn't apparently brain damaged; the human brain has a whole centre devoted to language, so why is he completely devoid of any form of communication? The only way he can communicate is by touch, grunts and facial expression. No wonder his tribe all died. Beh, the girl, is just as frustrated by this as me, tries over and over to teach him to talk, and resents his dislike of listening to her continual "mouth noises". This story would have really been improved by a bit of mutual language tuition. They could have taught each other their language if only he had some concept of language. He seems to have no idea her sounds are even a form of communication and is mystified by her repeated "I love you"s, although he eventually learns to parrot the word-sound "luff" and she trains him Pavlov-style to say "kiss" in return for kisses and affection. Poor Beh! Even when a life threatening accident leaves Beh unconscious for days, Ehd still doesn't think of learning her language. Even when she has a baby, even when the baby learns to talk, he still doesn't pick up on a single other sound. Although he eventually grasps the meaning of the word "kiss" and the words for their names, so you would think he'd grasp other words???? No?

Apart from that, after a long virginal courtship, the story seems to be one long sex scene! Endless second by second recitations of the most intimate details of every sensation, repeated over and over again as Ehd single mindedly repeats the act endlessly, in his dogged attempts to "put a baby in her". He knows all the correct anatomical terms such as "semen" "penis", "urinate" and "placenta" - unlikely and unrealistic in the stone age. And he gives her babies and even makes a great midwife.

Something ridiculously improbable happens when the first baby falls ill. Dad pops over from the 21st century in his time machine (if he knew where she was, why not come sooner??? And how could he possibly know, if she tripped the controls by accident??? ) takes the baby to hospital and then returns her, healthy, a year later, but still the same age (perhaps a time machine glitch?) This is when I started seriously rolling my eyes. And dear old dad didn't think to bring her back something useful, like matches or panty pads. Just a single cloth nappy and a blanket on the baby. Instead she gets what seems to be a picture book (or perhaps a laptop? Obviously she couldn't charge it though....) .

The story encompasses their entire life together, right up until their deaths, which is quite a nice touch, as is the final scene and the epilogue - probably the best bit of the whole book. Even though they apparently only live to the age of 40 something. I really like the way it ends at the beginning (you'll see).

The narrator is okay, but has a very limited vocal range, with every sentence sounding the same, the same rhythm, very little emotion regardless of the situation. No difference in tone. The only slight variation comes when Ehd becomes a weak old man. A shame, as it doesn't improve the story.
Despite all this, it's a fairly enjoyable flight of pure fantasy, suitable for lustful adolescents perhaps! I would have loved it when I was 14 and untroubled by notions of reality...

Dull narration, rather simplistic story!

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Both story and narration were just great. I loved the lector and he really sounded like character's voice that I imagined.
Anyway, I finished book about week ago and still thinking about it, so I came back to write review. Great story, you wouldn't be disappointed :) It was so unique that I can't stop thinking about it!

I recommend

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I love it, fate is real, they love eachother even split by time. Loved Ed and him working a lot to make Bea love him back.

Love

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Edh is such a sweetheart. Easy listening, nice mix of genres. A little too much "I want to put a baby in her" but I guess that's part of the story. That's all they wanted to do back then. Survive and procreate. I laughed, I cried and loved it. The only downsides was the lack of dialogue. Reads like a script in places. Also the narrator was monotone in places and I found myself zoning out a fair bit. Again though, maybe that was an intentional thing by the author because it's Edhs inner monologue.

Such an odd idea but great and one I will reccomend

Sweet story

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