From Goodreads: 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?

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Initially, I had a hard time getting into this story.  I felt like everything was a bit pushed and I didn’t understand what was happening with the flashbacks.  I liked the introduction of Griffon, but then he disappeared and I was confused as to his role in the book.  But then, it all came together, fairly quickly, and Omololu did a great job putting together the pieces of the puzzle, explaining everything, and capturing my interest, especially as the truth behind the Akhet came to light.

In my opinion, Omololu does a phenomenal job revealing bits and pieces of the truth at a time, leaving the reader constantly trying to decipher what is happening to Cole.  Though I tend to like instant gratification, and would have loved for the characters to spill it all out on the table in one fowl swoop, I found that I really liked being led along, trying to figure it out by myself.  While it was a bit frustrating, as Griffon isn’t completely forthcoming with his information, it did endear him to me heart, which is funny because usually I would have been highly annoyed by the character’s tight-lipped responses.  However, I think this is a testament to Omololu’s characterization abilities—though the characters are slow in divulging information, and though they make some serious errors, they are very real, and I liked that about them.

The idea of reincarnation was very interesting, and I enjoyed learning all the ins and outs of the Akhet.  I’m not sure if I would like to live multiple lives, especially if I could remember them all, but the idea is intriguing, to say the least.  Overall, Transcendence was a highly enjoyable book that I recommend to any YA novel lovers.  Four stars.

Bloomsbury Children’s Books has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel, via Netgalley, prior to its release on June 5, 2012.