Publication: 18th September 2012
Publisher: Compass Press
Genre: Historical Romance
All seventeen-year-old composer Ien Montgomery desires is an escape from his family's rigid expectations for his life; someone to inspire his music. When he meets a beautiful violin-prodigy, Kiera McDougal, his life music takes on new life. With her, he imagines a future outside of his parents’ control. That is, until a horrible accident tears them apart.
Sent to die in a sanatorium, Ien’s obsession for Kiera grows unbearable. Tortured by thoughts he can’t escape and the truth of his monstrous disfigurement, he flees, desperate to exact revenge on the people that ruined his life – his parents. But, vengeance is empty. Betrayed by those closest to him, Ien discovers that the price for his happiness may be his sanity.
Set amidst the landscape of New York's Gilded Age, and inspired by Phantom of the Opera, TRANSCEND exposes the fine line between love and madness.
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My thoughts:
Christine Fonseca is a gifted writer. It doesn’t matter what kind of story she’s telling, she always manages to hook me and get me completely immersed in it. Transcend was not the exception to this. Transcend is a well written, well thought out story which I enjoyed, even if it left me emotionally drained by the time I finished the book.
Ien is a very troubled young man and I had no idea just how deep it went until I started going deeper into the story. I had mentioned in a review for Lacrimosa, a few months ago, how one character was driving me a little crazy and I have to say, it will never compare to this.
In Transcend, there comes a point in the story when I literally felt I was inside Ien’s mind and was feeling a bit insane myself. A friend had warned me, “Dongsaeng, (Korean term for younger sibling, or in this case younger friend) Are you feeling insane yet?” But I had not understood why she asked me that until it hit me. I had to stop reading and leave her a message:
“I understand the going crazy while reading "Transcend" now. I think Ien's lunacy has seeped from the screen into my brain.”
When the story was nearing its end there was a point when I couldn't tell what was going. And I left another message for my friend:
“Unnie! (Korean term females call their older sisters, or in this case older female friends) James! Kiera! What's going on?!?!”
That’s how well the book was written. I was still seeing the events from Ien’s point of view and my brain was not processing the new twists. It just didn’t want to believe anything else that was happening. The ending of the book was along the lines of what I thought it would end like. But even though by the end I was a crying mess, I have to say the book did not disappoint me in the slightest.
Thanks to Christine for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this trip through Ien's fractured mind.
I'm glad you enjoyed his insanity as much as I did.
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