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Reviewed by Mansoor Ahmed for Readers' Favorite
Transcendent by Laren Ruby is a gripping dystopian novel set in 2051, weaving two storylines into a single, deeply compelling story. In one thread, Dr. Marielle Stevenson is a scientist at Fort Hood watching her Super Soldier serum project produce results that terrify her, as the soldiers of group 2719-GT secretly train in the dark with twice their recorded speed, enhanced vision, and superhuman precision, hiding what they have truly become from the military brass who see only a weapon to be deployed. In the other thread, a teenage girl named Kai lives in Eie. This close-knit Blue Blood community has resisted the brutal annual Transcendent Campaign for 187 years, a hunt in which young people are either prey or predators for the ruling Purple Bloods of Mag City. When Kai's lifelong best friend Ulna begins to waver under the lure of the Campaign's spectacular technology and the promise of a better life, Kai's quiet certainty about who she is and what her community stands for begins to crack.
Laren Ruby writes with an assured hand that keeps both storylines equally urgent. The pacing is excellent, moving between the cool, clinical dread of the research facility and the vivid, kinetic world of Eie's festival grounds without losing momentum in either. I found Dr. Stevenson's opening scene particularly effective: a woman alone in the dark above a gymnasium, watching soldiers do the impossible and immediately understanding what it means, before the brass do. The characters are sharply drawn, particularly Kai, whose loyalty and quiet courage feel entirely real. The themes of power, control, and what communities sacrifice to remain pure run through both storylines with satisfying coherence. Transcendent is an ambitious, smartly constructed novel that earns its place in the dystopian genre by bringing something genuinely fresh to it.
