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Kirstie Ellen's Reviews > Contest
Contest
by
by
Contest
What I thought about this book
I am pleased to say (this being my first Matthew Reilly book) that I thoroughly enjoyed this story; it was highly entertaining, something a bit different, and fulfilled all of Reilly’s promises of action, action, action, and more action. I loved it. Insane is probably a really good word to describe the experience.
I’ve never read Reilly before now, surprisingly, and I probably wouldn’t have if a friend hadn’t thrust this book into my hands and demanded I read it. In my usual fashion, I put off reading it for at least two months, lost the book, found the book, and then decided (in the words of Rafiki): it is time. Going into this book I knew it was, a) going to be fun, b) probably slightly boyish, and c) hopefully amazing seeing as the rest of the world seems to love the Reill-y-nator. So, allow me to paint you a picture of the premise *magical sound effects*
The Plot
Dr. Stephen Swain is an ordinary man, a single father, and a policeman. We begin with getting to know him, a tiny little bit about his life, and the fun ol’ times of a police officer. Oh, and we also find out about a relatively, extremely brutal murder within the State Library of New York. Because that is where the book is set. But! One night, whilst holding his daughter, Swain is teleported into the Library whereupon he discovers that he has been selected as the Earth “human” representative of the contest, in which he fights to the death or just dies anyway. *yay*. What I really loved about this book, if you read the little foreword by Reilly, is that he clearly wants this book to be something that grips you, gets you power-reading through the story and lapping up all the action: and he soo delivered. There no fluffing around developing character’s lives, their middle names, or which drink they prefer to have with dinner – no! We just get straight into the whole, fight or die, and even then you might just die anyway. Hazarr!
There are 7 contestants in the 'labyrinth' (as the Library is called), all of which are different ‘intellectual’ beings with nefarious plans for destroying each other. It a really fun setting because Reilly actually gives us maps of the library at the beginning of the novel. Usually, I wouldn’t bother using these (who can be bothered flipping back to the beginning of a back, right? Ugh), but this time I did. There’s very specific descriptions of where all the contestants are, etc, so flipping to and fro actually enormously added to the experience. This book kind of reads like a virtual game – I don’t know if any of you felt like that too, but that’s the best way to describe it. It feels like you’re helping Swain make the decisions to escape the aliens. And, whilst you can guess, you’re not entirely sure if Swain and his daughter will make it out together and alive – because this really is an action book; Reilly doesn’t care about being all sentimental and making his characters indestructible, he kills whoever he feels like – and there were some deaths I didn’t expect.
As a sort of sidekick, Swain (and every other contestant) has a ‘guide’. Swain’s is called Selexin. They’re dressed all in white, about the size of a young child and wear a special egg-looking hat that, when activated, connects the contestant to the mediators of the game so that they can witness and confirm the death of whomever the contestant might have just killed. He’s a pretty skittish little character and is totally bummed that he’s stuck with the human, because humans’ very rarely win these contests (which makes sense considering they’ve never heard of them, let alone the existence of other species). You see, if the contestant dies, so does their guide. Bit tough, eh? I loved his attempts at English idioms and how frustrated he is with trying to gasp and appropriately use them in conversation. Naww.
Swain's Daughter
Holly is Swain’s only child and she’s about, maybe 8 years old. I absolutely loved that she was a dominant character in this book. Without her, I think this could have easily flopped – it would’ve just been another bog-standard action book with some pretty cool creatures in it, but nothing overwhelming amazing. Adding a young, unintended element into this crazy story immediately heightens the stakes. Because now Swain isn’t just an ordinary man who happens to be a policeman and is lonely: now he’s a father. And it’s just not okay to kill a father, right? Especially as Holly’s mum is dead. Hm? Hmmm? HHHMMMM?! She’s a really great little characters and has balls of steel; she is confronted with quite a lot of things here and, for the most part, just sucks it up and helps her dad out. Her innocence was kind of heart-breaking – she often asks Swain when they can go home and gets scared and it makes you want to cry because it’s so unfair that she’s in the Contest when she can’t even begin to properly understand what was going on.
Her relationship with Selexin was adorable. He being a miniature creature and her being little made them perfect companions and there’s a part in the novel where their connection and teamwork really shines through. I just loved Holly’s character so much, and as I said, I really think that she makes this novel.
Violence
This is a very violent book. My friend had suggested my younger brother (13 years old) read this too. And I mean, yeah, he probably would enjoy this – but not the eye-gouging, head-rolling, blood-spewing violence, if ya get the picture. So hopefully that’s a useful heads up to you if you’re unsure on this book’s suitability. It’s certainly not ‘unnecessary’ violence, so to speak, seeing as Reilly is an adult fiction sort-of writer; it definitely amps up the tension and seriousness of the contest. You don’t just die, you die a really, really horrible (and painful) death.
Summary
I loved this book and I really want to read more of Reilly’s works now. It was definitely a fun and easy read and there is so much to enjoy within the book. There’s plenty of action and lots of really fun problem solving when characters are nutting out a solution to escape tricky situations. I definitely recommend reading this book; if you haven’t read Reilly before, like me, then this is probably a good one to start with. That being said, I haven’t (obviously) read any of his other books at this stage, but this is a nice short one that’s just BAM BAM BOOM the whole bloody time.
Happy reading!
What I thought about this book
I am pleased to say (this being my first Matthew Reilly book) that I thoroughly enjoyed this story; it was highly entertaining, something a bit different, and fulfilled all of Reilly’s promises of action, action, action, and more action. I loved it. Insane is probably a really good word to describe the experience.
I’ve never read Reilly before now, surprisingly, and I probably wouldn’t have if a friend hadn’t thrust this book into my hands and demanded I read it. In my usual fashion, I put off reading it for at least two months, lost the book, found the book, and then decided (in the words of Rafiki): it is time. Going into this book I knew it was, a) going to be fun, b) probably slightly boyish, and c) hopefully amazing seeing as the rest of the world seems to love the Reill-y-nator. So, allow me to paint you a picture of the premise *magical sound effects*
The Plot
Dr. Stephen Swain is an ordinary man, a single father, and a policeman. We begin with getting to know him, a tiny little bit about his life, and the fun ol’ times of a police officer. Oh, and we also find out about a relatively, extremely brutal murder within the State Library of New York. Because that is where the book is set. But! One night, whilst holding his daughter, Swain is teleported into the Library whereupon he discovers that he has been selected as the Earth “human” representative of the contest, in which he fights to the death or just dies anyway. *yay*. What I really loved about this book, if you read the little foreword by Reilly, is that he clearly wants this book to be something that grips you, gets you power-reading through the story and lapping up all the action: and he soo delivered. There no fluffing around developing character’s lives, their middle names, or which drink they prefer to have with dinner – no! We just get straight into the whole, fight or die, and even then you might just die anyway. Hazarr!
There are 7 contestants in the 'labyrinth' (as the Library is called), all of which are different ‘intellectual’ beings with nefarious plans for destroying each other. It a really fun setting because Reilly actually gives us maps of the library at the beginning of the novel. Usually, I wouldn’t bother using these (who can be bothered flipping back to the beginning of a back, right? Ugh), but this time I did. There’s very specific descriptions of where all the contestants are, etc, so flipping to and fro actually enormously added to the experience. This book kind of reads like a virtual game – I don’t know if any of you felt like that too, but that’s the best way to describe it. It feels like you’re helping Swain make the decisions to escape the aliens. And, whilst you can guess, you’re not entirely sure if Swain and his daughter will make it out together and alive – because this really is an action book; Reilly doesn’t care about being all sentimental and making his characters indestructible, he kills whoever he feels like – and there were some deaths I didn’t expect.
As a sort of sidekick, Swain (and every other contestant) has a ‘guide’. Swain’s is called Selexin. They’re dressed all in white, about the size of a young child and wear a special egg-looking hat that, when activated, connects the contestant to the mediators of the game so that they can witness and confirm the death of whomever the contestant might have just killed. He’s a pretty skittish little character and is totally bummed that he’s stuck with the human, because humans’ very rarely win these contests (which makes sense considering they’ve never heard of them, let alone the existence of other species). You see, if the contestant dies, so does their guide. Bit tough, eh? I loved his attempts at English idioms and how frustrated he is with trying to gasp and appropriately use them in conversation. Naww.
Swain's Daughter
Holly is Swain’s only child and she’s about, maybe 8 years old. I absolutely loved that she was a dominant character in this book. Without her, I think this could have easily flopped – it would’ve just been another bog-standard action book with some pretty cool creatures in it, but nothing overwhelming amazing. Adding a young, unintended element into this crazy story immediately heightens the stakes. Because now Swain isn’t just an ordinary man who happens to be a policeman and is lonely: now he’s a father. And it’s just not okay to kill a father, right? Especially as Holly’s mum is dead. Hm? Hmmm? HHHMMMM?! She’s a really great little characters and has balls of steel; she is confronted with quite a lot of things here and, for the most part, just sucks it up and helps her dad out. Her innocence was kind of heart-breaking – she often asks Swain when they can go home and gets scared and it makes you want to cry because it’s so unfair that she’s in the Contest when she can’t even begin to properly understand what was going on.
Her relationship with Selexin was adorable. He being a miniature creature and her being little made them perfect companions and there’s a part in the novel where their connection and teamwork really shines through. I just loved Holly’s character so much, and as I said, I really think that she makes this novel.
Violence
This is a very violent book. My friend had suggested my younger brother (13 years old) read this too. And I mean, yeah, he probably would enjoy this – but not the eye-gouging, head-rolling, blood-spewing violence, if ya get the picture. So hopefully that’s a useful heads up to you if you’re unsure on this book’s suitability. It’s certainly not ‘unnecessary’ violence, so to speak, seeing as Reilly is an adult fiction sort-of writer; it definitely amps up the tension and seriousness of the contest. You don’t just die, you die a really, really horrible (and painful) death.
Summary
I loved this book and I really want to read more of Reilly’s works now. It was definitely a fun and easy read and there is so much to enjoy within the book. There’s plenty of action and lots of really fun problem solving when characters are nutting out a solution to escape tricky situations. I definitely recommend reading this book; if you haven’t read Reilly before, like me, then this is probably a good one to start with. That being said, I haven’t (obviously) read any of his other books at this stage, but this is a nice short one that’s just BAM BAM BOOM the whole bloody time.
Happy reading!
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