Transient

by K.M. Hill

If you could find out when you'll die - WOULD you?
Learning her expiry date doesn’t sound like much of a birthday present to Rae, but it’s been that way for everyone since the Cryptograph was introduced. A biological algorithm developed by Silicon Valley, it can determine with precise accuracy the lifespan of every human being on the planet.

Everyone gets tested when they come of age, but Rae wants to opt out. She hates how the system labels and categorizes society according to longevity - like Transients, whose short lifespan automatically renders them useless, Interims, the hard-working majority - or elite Constants, whose long lives guarantee opportunity and power.

But when Rae’s intentions to avoid the test are impeded and her lifespan is revealed, the future seems set in stone.
Or does it...?

Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult, Fiction

298 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 5, 2018

Reviews

[Valerie B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the concept really interesting and the reading was easy, but the overall book still feels a little like a rough draft. I felt like some parts could have been more fleshed out and other parts were repetitive and unnecessary. Even so, I couldn’t stop thinking about this story and when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it, wondering what would happen next. I enjoyed it enough to start the next book, Outliers, as soon as I was finished with Transient so there’s that. I say if you’re not too critical and just looking for an easy dystopian read, give this book a chance.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good overall

Interesting premise. However, there were sections of the book that the author repeated, rather than flushing out the society or backstories. Copy/paste to repeat the point you are trying to make is ineffective.

[Jody McGrath · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't Finish

DNF 70%

I tried to sludge through this, but it is really slow. I am sure they are setting up the series, but I couldn't hold out.

[Megan Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is this the Beaty dystopian book out there? No but it was entertaining, an easy read, and a really interesting concept. I mean, would you want to know when you die?

The weirdest part to me is that, as far as I can tell, takes place in 2016 which feels weird since that already happened and these are usually the future. It threw me off a little but I’ll definitely keep reading them.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

This is a great concept and I was hooked from the very beginning... So looking forward to book 2, can't wait to see what happens!

[Bex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not read. It’s badly written and it doesn’t conclude. So you keep reading just to find out what happens and... cliffhanger. Unacceptable imo. Not reading another book (or two) just to find out. Would rather google.

[Magwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Promising start

Would you want to know your date of death. An interesting storyline perfectly delivered with good characters and dialogue. Definitely worth a look as the plot is easy to follow and quite gripping.
With friends and family like that I'm not surprised with the path rae takes. No one is listening, they are just pushing their agenda.
Definitely entertaining and worth a look.

[Shannon Heck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept

I wasn't sure about this book at first, but I ended up liking it. It's similar to other dystopian books, but the concept of predicting death dates is a unique twist.

[Tammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is good

Very intriguing concept... Love the story line and the way the author wrote the characters. Rae is confusing but strong all in one. Drew is full of mystery and strength. They pair up with twist and turn all around them!

[Jess Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review: https://jessreviews877169955.wordpres...

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. Needs an editor though.

[Mary Higgs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its different unique

It holds your attention and draws u in... And i haven't read anything with a similar story line..the author writes well, I'm looking forward 2 book 2

[Christa Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall ok read

First quarter of the book was extremely slow and had me questioning what exactly I was reading. The terms "constant, transient and interim" would just pop up out of nowhere with no supporting info and then vanish. Every time I thought ok here is where I will understand something about the point of being transient and the anticipated flaw in the cryptograph the author would keep drawing it out with random descriptions of scenery etc. It was a rollercoaster. Then there were random i guess you can call them romance scenes that just pop up out of nowhere....a real hodge podge. It's like the author tried to write a twilight novel minus the vampire element....so Bella and Edward just turned out to be two brooding, confused weirdos. Plagued by numerous lengthy monologues that I found myself barely skimming. I had to skip whole pages at times. Honestly the plot and meat of the book didn't show up until the last quarter. I didn't understand the characters or feel invested until the last quarter. I mean there is suspense and then.....there is whatever this is. Hopefully the next book is better...I'm really hoping.

[Freya Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seems unfinished - there are passages repeated, typos and words in the wrong places. The story itself isn't bad..until we get to that big media interview where Tetrad are introduced and it all sort of falls apart for me. So....they have become part of a group known to the media as Tetrad but the members of the group don't know that and don't realise they will be asked about this in the interview. When the reporter repeatedly refers to them as Tetrad they say 'we're not a group' but at no point do they say 'hey there's been a misunderstanding here. Why do you think we're part of a protest group? Where did you get that idea?' As anyone would surely do? Instead they just sort of accept it and by the end of the interview they have decided that yeah they're part of a protest group and they're gonna start protesting. That's a level of agreeability and suggestibility that makes you go back a few pages to try and figure out if they're being drugged somehow.
The idea of a world where everyone knows when they're going to die and teenagers decide to fight their fate has been done before a lot more plausibly in Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin. I'd be likely to recommend you read Denton Little and skip this book.

[Andi Masdon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot is original enough as far as dystopia goes. There are some similarities to the more mainstream Hunger Games and Divergent series. Instead of a faction system, a test (the cryptograph) determines your date of death and thereafter classifies and labels you based on that expiry - either transient, interim, or constant. It is controlled by a monopoly business that is unaccountable to even the government... ::enter the protagonist:: Rae, like Katniss (Hunger Games), is made the face of a movement by circumstance; like Tris (Divergent), she doesn't just accept things a face value or because "that's how it's always been" and therefore challenges the powers that be. The story is crudely written with more than a handful of grammatical errors - not enough to make one lose interest, though - that's the only reason I gave it a 3. With some tightening, it could easily be a 4-star read.

[Tatiana LaCarra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately the story is improbable.

When I read the synopsis and learnt that there was a society able to predict the exact day you'll die I had doubts, but when I started reading the book and learned that they can also know specifically if you die for natural causes, for suicide or car accident etc, it was just ridiculous. And the only people who think that's weird, let's rebel, are bunch of misfits, the oldest being 18. The storyline is also very boring and every happenings is very convenient. The characters are not developed. Overall i found it a quite forgettable book. One of the reviews said "if you liked Divergent or the hunger games".. i loved both and this has nothing to do with any of them. NOTHING!

[Courtney Usilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough to keep reading but mildly infuriating

The content and idea behind this novel is fantastic. But the book itself is riddled with grammatical errors, such as wrong pronoun usage thus confusing the reader as to who is being spoken about/to. This makes it a difficult read at times .

Timelines , also, don't always add up. There was a point that the characters referred to being somewhere for weeks then the next chapter in reference to the same characters, place, and forward movement in time it was "about a week after [being there]" it doesnt make sense and creates a disconnect for the reader.

Great idea but the discontinuity and grammatical is something that editors should've noticed and remedied.

[Elizabeth✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this book really isn’t too bad! I have been going back between 3-4 stars. Probably more of 3.75. I LOVE the idea behind the book. It kept me intrigued for the most part of the book.

However, there were a lot of typos. I saw at least 2 parts of the books repeated... like WORD FOR WORD. There was a big paragraph and then a response to a few questions that were EXACTLY the same. I was disappointed at the lack of care some of these characters showed to each other. It just doesn’t seem like they have any depth in the characters (if that makes sense). But, it still has me intrigued about what will happen next, so I intend to finish the series. But not my favorite so far.

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this easy read dystopian a 3.5 stars. It had quite a few errors like it hasn't been edited properly & the language for 16 year olds seemed a little too old but overall I loved the concept and it was a book I read in a few days. The only reason I marked it down was because I wanted more details about the characters relationships with each other, which I felt was a little rushed and not enough to completly connect with them. I was interested enough to get stuck into book 2 with the hope she'll give us a little less detail on the tech side of OBK and a little more with the characters.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't feel too wowed by this idea. Basically it seemed like some one took the algorithm that they use for actuaries in insurance and threw in some molecular biology terms and said that it could now predict exactly when everyone would die. And it caused classes to evolve of people who would live a long time and became the elites and people who would have short lives and became the have-nots. It just didn't feel hugely believable or exciting to me and the characters didn't feel very relatable or engaging.

[Zoe Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy but enjoyable read

I downloaded this on a whim while looking for something new to read and it’s a good little read. It fits nicely into that teenage girl facing hardship turns hero niche but I like the premise of the dictated life spans in this one. This is well written but there isn’t a huge amount of character development...I’m intrigued to see how their stories progress in the second instalment though.

[Katelyn Reeves · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so badly to enjoy this book. Honestly I did. But there were so many typos. So many run on sentences. I just... I just couldn’t. I finished it and I’m glad I did that as it takes a lot for me to DNF a book... but man it was hard to get through it all. I think with a good editor and some rewriting it could be good. The premise is intriguing. It just needs some work and reads as though it wasn’t edited and a 15 year old wrote it...

[Colleen Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite some repetitiveness, I really enjoyed this book, right up till the last page. It would have been a solid four stars if it hadn't ended with a cliffhanger. If you can't resolve the storyline in a single volume and still set up the next book in the series, you aren't ready to publish.

Sadly, this is one more author to add to my "never buy" list. Reader beware.

[Jaclyn Wegener · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had a really great storyline and I thought it was a super interesting but the end could've been a lot more interesting. It all seemed really squished together without much build. It didn't make me want to read any of the next books because I didnt really get to know the characters or want to know more.

[Angeline Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novel and interesting

Really enjoyed this book. The idea is original and interesting and the main characters are easy to like and relate too. Some of the conversations carried out by text online under user names were a little hard to follow as to who was who but otherwise enjoyed and looking forward to reading the next book

[Betsy Tait · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed the read and I’ll continue with the series. However, it was a little slow and at times the dialogue became confusing as to who was talking. I skimmed at some points to get on with the story.

[Vonntanice Dent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m hooked!

This book was by far a great dystopian read. At first I thought it was going to be too predictable in that it was dystopian. But it has enough twists and turns to keep you turning the page. I’m off to book two and pre-ordered book 3 already!

[Bonnie Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were definitely issues with repeating. I thought I was accidentally reading the same page. And there was a timeline slip up. Overall concept good, if you knew your date of death would it change you?

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good storyline

I like this book as it made think if this will be real if I will be open to the idea to my DOD.
This is the first dystopian that I read with this storyline.
Now I'm looking forward to read the second book 😀

[Jose Popoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining, engrossing, very well written. Waiting for book 2!