Contest by Matthew Reilly
I read Contest by Matthew Reilly purely based on the comments section for another of his books. Multiple people kept mentioning Contest and how great it was, so I checked it out. The blurb made it sound fun, if a little batshit crazy.
And the blurb was exactly right. The Contest is a lot of both.
What’s Contest about?
Ok, here goes.
Every thousand years, some aliens have a competition. They put seven representatives of alien races, including humans, into an arena where they then fight to the death.
This time, the arena is the New York Public Library for some reason. The human, who has no idea what is going on, is a fellow called Dr Stephen Swain. But in addition, by an unfortunate turn of events, (she was standing near him,) his young daughter Holly is also along for the rip-roaring adventure.
The library is surrounded by a force field, trapping them in, and there some extra monsters and other shenanigans chucked in for a laugh.
That’s the premise and I will fight you to the death if you don’t think that sounds fun. If a little daft.
Contest by Matthew Reilly – is it actually any good?
The quick answer is yes.
Contest is Matthew Reilly’s first book and it is exactly the kind of first book I would have written in my twenties or thirties. But to be fair, I probably would have doubted my idea early on and abandoned it, as it sounds a bit far fetched. Mind you, it was probably incredibly enjoyable to write.
The thing is, he mostly pulls it off. If you can just get on board with the premise, then you’re in for a lot of fun. The aliens are kind of cool – there’s a demon-like one, an insect-type of creature, a kind of dinosaur thing, and so on.
I think it’s glowing reviews result from the fact that if you read the blurb, you know exactly what to expect. No one will read the book’s description and then expect subtle characterization or an exploration of deep political themes. They will expect aliens and violence and explosions. Contest is a kind of slightly silly mix of Die Hard, Jurassic Park, Gladiator, Alien, and a few others I could probably add.
I think I rated Contest 4 stars on Goodreads, based purely on shallow enjoyment. Ideally, I would rate it about 4.3. Maybe 4.35. Contest is an exciting page turner but you do have to get over an inner voice pointing out some bits that don’t quite make sense. Or some pretty mega fortunate coincidences. Why was Swain chosen? When his daughter was transported there and the mistake noticed, why wasn’t she immediately transported out again? Why-
Ok, my inner pendant is struggling to be heard again. Shut up brain, and enjoy.
Contest by Matthew Reilly is a ridiculously fun page turner, that is daft but exciting. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. If the premise doesn’t strike you as too ridiculous and you are kind of intrigued, then I think you’ll have a great time with it too.