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A review by bookish_brooklyn
Contest by Matthew Reilly
5.0
I have just finished 'Contest' and have chills all over my body! To say this was an unreal journey, a thrill of a ride, with terrifying twists and turns would not even be an understatement! The premise of the book - a modern day fight to the death, inspired by the Gladiator-esque type Contests (pun intended, but no, genius really, the simplicity of the title, laying everything out in front of us) - but still, my socks were well and truly knocked off throughout and there was no way you could predict what might come next! Like, Stephen is told that he can only escape from the Contest itself if all his other opponents are dead, and he still would have to face one final opponent even then, a beast of all beasts! And so, I was scared for him, and his daughter (as Stephen Swain was holding onto young Holly at the time he was teleported into the State Library of New York), I realised, it's not just himself that Stephen has to protect, but even more so, Holly. Stephen is such a brilliant main character, he's just so....human! He's a man who lost his beloved wife a few years back, and has just been doing his best with his work as a prestigious Doctor, whilst being a doting Father to Holly - then to find them projected into this 'fight to the death' - it's like, 'please let them be safe!'
I was honestly so scared for them both, they found themselves (along with Selexin, Swains' guide for the Contest), who tells him of the frankly, inhumane (as expected really), guidelines for the Contest, such as, "if you step out of the Library, your contestant armband will detonate" (so there's me thinking "okay, well that's not scary (it is), how will they get out of this one?!" I was so fearful! And then the creatures, oh my word! And okay the Librarian in me just needs to *quietly* express her joy at the fact that...THE CONTEST WAS SET IN THE STATE LIBRARY OF NEW YORK!! *calms down*. No, but in all earnest, Matthew Reilly is a genius! And this is his very first book! But the setting of this insane, bloodthirsty (I am absolutely not even making that up), battle, just fitted so perfectly in the huge, labyrinth type building that is the State Library of New York! The seemingly infinite floors, the elevators, the shelves, books and desks, paired with the nail biting fighting, and the crazy (again, not kidding) alien species that Swain finds himself up against, (Bellos, just woah. I shudder as I type), and just the complete primal instinct that is the fight for complete survival, just, ahh, Matthew Reilly is brilliance personified! I cannot fault anything about this book - it was all so brilliantly written! I was constantly engaged throughout the story, I couldn't put the book down for most part when I was reading it, and could no way predict what might happen next! A wholly memorable journey of highly epic proportions! Cannot recommend enough!
I was honestly so scared for them both, they found themselves (along with Selexin, Swains' guide for the Contest), who tells him of the frankly, inhumane (as expected really), guidelines for the Contest, such as, "if you step out of the Library, your contestant armband will detonate" (so there's me thinking "okay, well that's not scary (it is), how will they get out of this one?!" I was so fearful! And then the creatures, oh my word! And okay the Librarian in me just needs to *quietly* express her joy at the fact that...THE CONTEST WAS SET IN THE STATE LIBRARY OF NEW YORK!! *calms down*. No, but in all earnest, Matthew Reilly is a genius! And this is his very first book! But the setting of this insane, bloodthirsty (I am absolutely not even making that up), battle, just fitted so perfectly in the huge, labyrinth type building that is the State Library of New York! The seemingly infinite floors, the elevators, the shelves, books and desks, paired with the nail biting fighting, and the crazy (again, not kidding) alien species that Swain finds himself up against, (Bellos, just woah. I shudder as I type), and just the complete primal instinct that is the fight for complete survival, just, ahh, Matthew Reilly is brilliance personified! I cannot fault anything about this book - it was all so brilliantly written! I was constantly engaged throughout the story, I couldn't put the book down for most part when I was reading it, and could no way predict what might happen next! A wholly memorable journey of highly epic proportions! Cannot recommend enough!