Customer Reviews

Contest

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

As Matthew Reilly has explained, this book was intended to be a no holds barred action adventure. Its very nature is to entertain and no apologies are made for the outrageous escapes or impossibly feats of heroics. I think he has met his goal in no uncertain terms.

Dr Stephen Swain has been handed one of the most sought after and prestigious opportunities in the universe. He has been chosen to represent Earth in the Presidian, a game played against the other 6 inhabited worlds. What an honour! What an opportunity! There's only 1 catch, the game is actually a fight to the death. Seven participants enter a labyrinth but only one leaves. Oh yeah, and Earth's participants have all performed remarkably poorly in past events.

Swain is afforded an advantage albeit a small one. This Presidian will be fought on his home ground or, more specifically, inside the New York Public Library. But any advantage he may have begins and ends there. Apparently, because previous representatives from Earth who were chosen based on their warrior backgrounds have performed so badly, Swain's selection was based solely on his ability to think his way around problems. So he enters a deadly fight to the death armed with - his wits.

So the battle begins after a quick rundown of the rules and the action becomes frenetic. It's a frantic bid for survival against the odds that doesn't fail in it's number one objective - namely to provide edge of the seat thrills.

Fans of Matthew Reilly will be pleased with "Contest". The novel is actually Reilly's first novel, although it was published after a few of his books (Ice Station and Temple) made it big. Readers of those two books will find "Contest" every bit as exciting and frenetic as those two earlier offerings.

"Contest" is a story about a "battle royale" that takes place every millenium or so between representatives of the 7 major populated social systems in the universe. This time, however, the site of this contest known as "The Presidium", is the New York City Public Library with its miles of tunnels and booklined aisleways. In past Presidiums, the human contestant has always been the first to be eliminated. This time around, Earth is much better represented by a tough-edged, bulldog of a man known as Stephen Swain. Swain's handicap is that as he is being (unwillingly) transported to take part in The Presidium (the reasons why are more than a little unsubstantiated) his young daughter, is transported with him.

Reilly's patterned style of guts, gore and exciting action are all present in this novel as Swain attempts to keep himself and his daughter alive through the contest. Reilly does a good job introducing the reader to the other competitors and creating some memorable characters in the process. Introduced along the way for comic relief, is Swain's guide, Selexin, who helps Swain work his way through the roster of competitors while serving as a great sidekick.

"Contest" is an extremely fast reading book and is hard to put down. In this reviewer's estimation, it's not quite as exciting or polished as the two aforementioned novels, but one needs to remember that this is Reilly's debut novel.

Give it a try, especially if you've read anything else by Reilly. You will find it comical and infantile in his scope at time, but always exciting and fast-moving.

RECOMMENDED

Radiologist Dr. Stephen Swain and his elementary school aged daughter Holly are in their Long Island home relaxing after a day at the hospital and school respectfully. However, aliens feel the widower will make a good participant in their cross species death contest based on Stephen's efforts that ended a violent problem. The ETs teleport Stephen and Holly to the New York 42nd Street Public Library to play in a deadly game of survivor.

The rules are simple: win or die. Seven species will compete until only one is left standing to confront the Karandon, a killing machine who has carved up the library security guard. Escape is impossible as a deadly electrical field encloses the building and immovable wrist bands will incinerate any of the contestants. Let the games begin.

The reader needs to move past technologically advanced aliens hosting deadly games sort of like an intergalactic Roman Forum (and several other questionable actions). If the reader can pass that critical go, the story line packs quite a wallop as the taut action leads to the audience rooting for the home team. Somewhat mindful of a Kirk Star Trek show (see "The Gamesters of Triskelion" episode), readers who relish action to the nth degree will join the ultimate survivor CONTEST, but with a galaxy of skepticism along for the ride.

Harriet Klausner

When I first heard about Matthew Reilly's Contest, I was very excited. I thought the idea of a life or death contest in the New York Public Library was a great idea. When I began reading it, I realized that I was not going to be disappointed. Actually it exceeded my expectations!

The Contest takes place in the New York Public Library between 7 competitors, each from a different world, and each with a "guide". The action is non-stop, and it is written in a way that transports you to the middle of the action.

One of the best things about this book was that it did not let you rest for one page. I read the book in two days and I really could not put it down until the last page. The idea is far fetched, if you are into reading something that might actually happen, you might want to shy away from this one, but if you are in a fun exciting read, this one is for you.

I read Ice Station by Matt Reilly before I read Contest, and while Ice Station was a bit better, Contest was right up there. I highly recommend Contest to anyone looking for a fun read that you will find hard to put down.

Once every thousand years, seven contestants are chosen from different galaxies to fight it out in a chosen arena. Only one contestant leaves the arena alive, garanteeing that his/her galaxy will be allowed continued existence for the next thousand years.
The fate of the Milkyway depends on the abilities of a New York Physyician to conquer the other six contestants entering the arena-The New York Public Library? While protecting his 7 year old daughter who has been transported with him, into the Library.
His only help comes from a guide given to each contestant, who tells him of the rules, and guides him throught the maze.
One of the contestants, of course, cheats, using intergalactic dogs to chase down, and eat the other contestants. And then, of course, there is another huge monster thrown into the ring to hunt down, and kill all the contestants. Wow!
For those wanting a total escape from reality, this book is good, not great, but good. Lots of action, as is common with all his books, but low on the believability scale.
This book was released in England, and Australia, where the author is from, several years ago, and is the author's favoite of his books. It was released because of the authors growing popularity with the readers in the U.S.
Suggestion: Read instead his "Ice Station", or "Area 7" both of them being better books.
Nanu,Nanu. Mork from Ork signing out. Shuzbut!

I've known about 'Contest' since LONG before it's most recent release. Anyone who gets into Matthew Reilly's novels will eventually find out about his first novel that he shopped around to publishers who all said, 'No thanks' and went ahead and published it himself. His sheer preserverance paid off when he received a contract to write 'Ice Station', his first commercial success. A novel which completely re-wrote the book on how an action/adventure novel should be written. I am NOT kidding when I say there is more action in the 1st 50 pages than in a DOZEN Dirk Pitt novels COMBINED. The pacing that Reilly creates is absolutely unbelievable. Something you have NEVER experienced before by ANY other author. 'Ice Station' was just one amazingly fun novel -- incredibly unbelievable -- but tremendously FUN. He followed that up with my personal favorite Reilly novel to date, 'Temple'...which continued his pacing with new intensity. He resurrected his main character from 'Ice Station' when he brought us 'Area 7' and thrilled me yet again with chase scenes that race along at warp speed. Now I discovered that 'Contest' would be partially re-written and released globally -- at the publishers request due to Reilly's stunning popularity. I was skeptical, but hopeful that 'Contest' would live up to his previous works.

I am happy to say that the plot to 'Contest' is simply FANTASTIC. Unlike one previous reviewer who made it out that in order for your galaxy to continue to survive, you had to win the Contest, this is NOT the case. Just one Contestant is chosen from 7 worlds to compete in The Presidian -- THE Contest. Either you walk out the winner or you don't walk out at ALL. Doctor Stephen Swain is sucked into what is called 'The Labyrinth' or to us mere mortals, The New York Public Library. Stephen is an UNWILLING participant. He was chosen against his will to participate in the Contest to either win, or like 2 other human representatives in the past, fail miserably. But along the way a few snags cause a few problems: Stephen's daughter, Holly, is accidentally brought along through a teleport device -- oh, and one of the Contestants has made the horrific choice to cheat, rendering all others participating in The Presidian an all but dismal chance at survival. Along for the ride with Stephen and Holly is their Guide, Selexin, who has the unfortunate task of telling his unwilling participant about how to proceed in a Contest he doesn't want to be in, and quickly decides that as nice as Stephen Swain is, he'll most likely be one of the first to die, and if the Contestant dies, so does their Guide, which means that Selexin must die as well. Poor Selexin. Along the way we also find out that whoever is IN the Presidian, they must be fitted with a non removeable wrist-band which gives out specific information, such as how many Contestants are still alive, and also acts as executioner should you accidentally find yourself OUTSIDE of The Labyrinth. It generously gives you 15 minutes to get back INSIDE before detonating. Oh, and the ENTIRE Labyrinth is sealed with an electronic force-field not only keeping everyone competing IN but also keeping everything else OUT. Now should you be fortunate enough to survive ALL the competitors, you then must pass one additional test: Kill the Karanadon -- a vicious beast that alone has left at least one previous Presidian without a winner at all.

There is SO MUCH to 'Contest' that I could never possibly include it all here. With that said, I still felt that it wasn't as fast paced as his previous 3 books -- but that isn't to say that it wasn't moving along a like Saturn V rocket. On the contrary, this story moves. All in all, I think that 'Contest' ranks above 'Ice Station' and 'Area 7' but is just slightly behind 'Temple' in overall satisfaction (this is just my opinion -- your opinion may vary). Truly a story worth telling and even better to read. Once again, as with ALL of Reilly's previous works, BEFORE you begin, check your believability meter at page 1 and you will then embark upon a few hours of absolute true escapism at its finest. I anxiously await Matthew Reilly's next adventure and will pick it up without question having now added him to my short list of MUST READ Authors. HIGHLY Recommended.

Matthew Reilly has successfully captured his boyhood fascination for aliens, monsters, godzilla like lizards and hobbits (almost like one) in this book. It's one cool book which is hard to put down and it takes you to a roller coaster ride right from the start. It is a fast paced action thriller in which a simple doctor is put to a contest with 6 other warriors from different Alien races. The plot becomes more complex as his 9 year old daughter is also caught in between aliens and monsters. If you like science fiction and thoroughly enjoy fights (Nasty fights), you would love this one. And by the way switch off your brains when you pick one up for a trip.

Contest is Mathew Reilly's first book. It originally failed to attract a publisher and Reilly published it himself. Initially it was not that successful but it put his name out in the market and he was able to find a publisher for his second book Ice Station that was a success. This edition of Contest is somewhat expanded from the first version and has some more alien characters included.

The plot is that every thousand years all intelligent members of the galaxy send a representative to fight to the death in a sort of sporting event called the Presidium. Earth as an intelligent life form has a representative but unlike the other races they do not know about it until a contestant is whisked to a remote location to battle with six other species. Generally humans have done badly in this competition no doubt as they have not had the chance to prepare for it but also because the alien races are bigger and tougher.

Previously the runners of this intergalactic event have chosen humans with a military background. However on this occasion they choose a human who hit the newspapers as a result of being confronted with and fighting off some robbers. That is not someone with a combat record but with the reputation as a fast thinker. The hero is a Dr Swain who by accident is teleported with his daughter to the contest arena which in this case is the New York Public Library which is sealed off from the outside world by a field of electricity.

The book is a reasonably typical horror flick with people walking down book lined corridors and finding that bad things happen as monsters come out from behind large stacks of books. Will Dr Swain end up dead or will he end up doing rounds of the intergalactic talk shows as earth's first major celebrity?

Reilly is a writer who in his media interviews candidly says that his books are not meant to be epic works of fiction aimed at educating the world about the meaning of life. Rather he sees books as entertainments like action movies but unlike action movies the freedom to imagine means that there are no restrictions on budget or special effects. As such most of them have been successful. The one exception is his third book which suffered the problem of being set in a defined historical period. His fiction is best when it is set in imaginary worlds. This book is surprisingly entertaining and professional as a first work. That is probably reflective of its revision and expansion from its original form. Still a great airport book.

I did, however, like this book. Things like Star Trek bore me to tears, so I avoid epic journeys through dead space like the plauge. Movies like Preditor, Alien, and Avatar are just as unappreciated. There are only so many good plotlines in the sci-fye genre and they get recyled over and over again with each new generation of writers.
That said, it comes as no suprise that a plotline, such as the one found in 'Contest', has been used before. My advise is to GET OVER IT. This book may not recieve the 'best book of all time' award were there such a thing, but were you really looking for that in Matthew Reilly? 'Contest' was a rush of anticipation, suspense, and plain curiosity. Even when the book took a second to let the reader catch their breath, another random element was introduced to shake things up.
The idea of having an alien death match in the New York Public Library was an interesting idea. Personally, I believe Matthew Reilly suceeded in creating an action packed book that was, at the very least, fun to read.
As for the whiners in 'one-star', if a good book was only dictated by perfect grammer, we wouldn't have Harry Potter.

After reading this I became an instant fan of Matthew Reilly! His pace is breakneck, stories exiting and twists never disapoint! This one in particular was a lot of fun just for the fact of having an interstellar death match in the New York Library! How awesome is that? This book took me a day to complete. There is suspense and action on every page as Steven Swain and his daughter have to kill and evade an assortment of the scum of the universe. I can not wait for a movie adaptation (done right of course)of this one. Everyone I have recomended this book to has loved it. I suggest you read it as well.