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Contest
Por Matthew Reilly
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The New York Public Library. A silent sanctuary of knowledge; a 100-year-old labyrinth of towering bookcases, narrow aisles and long marble hallways. For Doctor Stephen Swain and his daughter, Holly, it is the site of a nightmare. Because for one night this historic building is to be the venue for a contest. A contest in which Swain is to compete--whether he likes it or not.
The rules are simple: Seven contestants will enter, only one will leave.
With his daughter in his arms, Stephen Swain is plunged into a terrifying fight for survival. The stakes are high, the odds brutal. He can choose to run, to hide or to fight--but if he wants to live, he has to win. For in this contest, unless you leave as the victor, you do not leave at all.
Readers all over the world have been cheering about Matthew Reilly's lightning fast adventure thrillers. Contest, the action-packed extravaganza that launched this international bestselling career, is vintage Reilly at his explosive best.
Acciones del libro
Comenzar a leerInformación sobre el libro
Contest
Por Matthew Reilly
Descripción
The New York Public Library. A silent sanctuary of knowledge; a 100-year-old labyrinth of towering bookcases, narrow aisles and long marble hallways. For Doctor Stephen Swain and his daughter, Holly, it is the site of a nightmare. Because for one night this historic building is to be the venue for a contest. A contest in which Swain is to compete--whether he likes it or not.
The rules are simple: Seven contestants will enter, only one will leave.
With his daughter in his arms, Stephen Swain is plunged into a terrifying fight for survival. The stakes are high, the odds brutal. He can choose to run, to hide or to fight--but if he wants to live, he has to win. For in this contest, unless you leave as the victor, you do not leave at all.
Readers all over the world have been cheering about Matthew Reilly's lightning fast adventure thrillers. Contest, the action-packed extravaganza that launched this international bestselling career, is vintage Reilly at his explosive best.
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A little too sci fi/aliens for me. It was ok.
Rating: 2Reilly's first book (written not released) and I feel like it shows.
Rating: 2If you want a book full of rip-roaring excitement and nail-biting adventure, you can't go past Matthew Reilly. Even though "Contest' is obviously his first book, it is still a great read and I liked the setting for all this action - the New York State Library.
Rating: 4Wow amazing! This was my first Reilly book and I LOVED it! I read the entire book in just a couple hours I was so engrossed! Ever since I read Preston & Child's individual and collaborative books Ive been looking for an author that writes similar to their style & havent yet found one until Reilly. So Im excited I cant wait to read the rest of his works!
Rating: 5Book DescriptionThe New York Public Library. A silent sanctuary of knowledge; a 100-year-old labyrinth of towering bookcases, narrow aisles and long marble hallways. For Doctor Stephen Swain and his daughter, Holly, it is the site of a nightmare. Because for one night this historic building is to be the venue for a contest. A contest in which Swain is to compete - whether he likes it or not.The rules are simple: Seven contestants will enter, only one will leave. With his daughter in his arms, Stephen Swain is plunged into a terrifying fight for survival. The stakes are high, the odds brutal. He can choose to run, to hide or to fight - but if he wants to live, he has to win. For in this contest, unless you leave as the victor, you do not leave at all.Readers all over the world have been cheering about Matthew Reilly’s lightning fast adventure thrillers. Contest, the action-packed extravaganza that launched this international bestselling career, is vintage Reilly at his explosive best.My ReviewI really enjoyed reading this book as I visited the New York Public Library last December during a charity event I was attending. The building is a wonderful site to set an adventure thriller story in and Matthew Reilly has taken advantage of that. This story has it all - aliens, monsters, adventure, mystery and very unique characters. The plot is an exciting contest and the losers die so that kept the pages turner all the way through. This is an excellent debut novel and makes you want to read more from this talented author. I have read his Jack West Junior trilogy and liked it very much. I do look forward to reading some other novels by Reilly and I would highly recommend this book to those who love adventure thrillers.
Rating: 5Reilly's first book (written not released) and I feel like it shows.
Rating: 2Stephen Swain is teleported, along with his daughter, into the New York State Library to participate in the oldest living Contest. A battle between the 7 intelligent races of the Universe and one the will blow your mind. Only one may leave and even that is not a given.
It is Reillys first book and you can tell. It is a raw, it never stops moving at breakneck speed and the best part is the realism of the main character. Swain has a talent for reactive thinking(?), that is taking in every option, quickly making a decision, and then acting. The whole book Swain is running and on the move, very rarely having any chance at all to set up an offence as it were, and fighting beings who are both Alien and frighteningly similar to us.
A good cast of villains with Bellows the Shape Changing Trophey taking hunter who has taken on a massive human form (makes sense as all weapons and objects available will be made for human hands) and has illegally brought his 'dogs', the paralysing Lobster Reese that just never quits and thats only mentioning a couple of them.
Include in this the natural curiosity that is caused when the Library becomes covered in an electrical shield designed to stop anyone or anything getting in and out. Well when the army finds out there going to be interested aren't they!
Very imaginative and one of the best books I've read. There was an initial run of just 1000 copies for the first edition so if you ever find one in a book store grab it quick.
Rating: 5It is Reillys first book and you can tell. It is a raw, it never stops moving at breakneck speed and the best part is the realism of the main character. Swain has a talent for reactive thinking(?), that is taking in every option, quickly making a decision, and then acting. The whole book Swain is running and on the move, very rarely having any chance at all to set up an offence as it were, and fighting beings who are both Alien and frighteningly similar to us.
A good cast of villains with Bellows the Shape Changing Trophey taking hunter who has taken on a massive human form (makes sense as all weapons and objects available will be made for human hands) and has illegally brought his 'dogs', the paralysing Lobster Reese that just never quits and thats only mentioning a couple of them.
Include in this the natural curiosity that is caused when the Library becomes covered in an electrical shield designed to stop anyone or anything getting in and out. Well when the army finds out there going to be interested aren't they!
Very imaginative and one of the best books I've read. There was an initial run of just 1000 copies for the first edition so if you ever find one in a book store grab it quick.
A man and his daughter are drawn into a battle to the death called the Presidium. Seven life forms from different galaxies come together once every thousand years to determine superiority. This year’s labyrinth of choice is the New York Public Library. Human’s are the only representatives not aware of this ongoing “contest” and are the only species drawn into the event without consent. Of course, no human has ever won. Enter Dr. Steven Swain and his daughter (via teleportation of course) and the contest is on. Oh – did I forget to mention that there is a big, bad monster that has to be defeated at the end and some annoying interference from NSA?
This was another entertaining book from Mr. Reilly. It is his first novel (originally self published), so a little less intense than the Jack West series. I liked it for that reason. The style of this book also seems to foreshadow some of the author’s favourite elements used in the Jack West series. (Spoiler alert - Many book lovers will cringe at the destruction of the landmark and its contents … I did … but what does one expect when pesky aliens are involved)
Rating: 3This was another entertaining book from Mr. Reilly. It is his first novel (originally self published), so a little less intense than the Jack West series. I liked it for that reason. The style of this book also seems to foreshadow some of the author’s favourite elements used in the Jack West series. (Spoiler alert - Many book lovers will cringe at the destruction of the landmark and its contents … I did … but what does one expect when pesky aliens are involved)
The book took quite a while to begin. I think this is because of the amount of unnessecary characters and sub-plots. The NSA sub-plot seemd to have very little purpose, and I am sure the author was visualising his movie on screen as he wrote the prologue - pointless.
I never became attached to any of the characters. The daughter was written as an agressive and assertive third grade girl initally, however later she delivered lines that would be expected from a four year old. The author had not real idea about how children behave. I really don't understand why she was in the book in the first place, other then to tick another box in the list of sterotypical characters that every good blockbuster must have. Strong intelligent male lead (check), helpless female (check), big and babd bad-guy (check), bad guy that turns good (check), beauracracy that botches up (check), official that turns into a good guy too (check), government agency that bosses another government agency around (check).. and the list continues.
The contest itself was full of plot flaws. Why would this event is only held once every 1000 years was never explained. Presumably the author thought it sounded like a good round number, without bothering to consider the differing length of a year on other planets. Why such a prestigious event is held with no audience. With all this technology I think motion-detecting video cameras would be easy. Why the forceful inclusion of the earth race. Why are earthlings made to seem so holy and pacifist. A more plausible plot would have seen the NSA with full knowledge of what was happening, hand selecting a participant and keeping the event secret from the people on Earth. Surely when a planet gets to host the event they are allowed to choose the location, or is it common to lose national treasures? Why were humans fit to fight these superpowered intergalactic beings, but the guides considered too small a race to participate?
Lastly, why did the officials make such a stupid ruling at the end. With the intergalactic prestige this event is supposed to have I thought they would actually care about having an outcome. Why did they not just disqualify the cheating contestant. It seems rather than referee the event they decided just to leave everyone to blow up.
The author seems more occupied with creating the follow-up to "Jurassic Park" (an author who he admits to being a huge fan of) than actually writing a good book in his own style. The book is unoriginal and very predictable. It bothers me when the author admits in his note to leaving out descriptions of several aliens in the self-published version of the book because he could not think of any.
Rating: 2I never became attached to any of the characters. The daughter was written as an agressive and assertive third grade girl initally, however later she delivered lines that would be expected from a four year old. The author had not real idea about how children behave. I really don't understand why she was in the book in the first place, other then to tick another box in the list of sterotypical characters that every good blockbuster must have. Strong intelligent male lead (check), helpless female (check), big and babd bad-guy (check), bad guy that turns good (check), beauracracy that botches up (check), official that turns into a good guy too (check), government agency that bosses another government agency around (check).. and the list continues.
The contest itself was full of plot flaws. Why would this event is only held once every 1000 years was never explained. Presumably the author thought it sounded like a good round number, without bothering to consider the differing length of a year on other planets. Why such a prestigious event is held with no audience. With all this technology I think motion-detecting video cameras would be easy. Why the forceful inclusion of the earth race. Why are earthlings made to seem so holy and pacifist. A more plausible plot would have seen the NSA with full knowledge of what was happening, hand selecting a participant and keeping the event secret from the people on Earth. Surely when a planet gets to host the event they are allowed to choose the location, or is it common to lose national treasures? Why were humans fit to fight these superpowered intergalactic beings, but the guides considered too small a race to participate?
Lastly, why did the officials make such a stupid ruling at the end. With the intergalactic prestige this event is supposed to have I thought they would actually care about having an outcome. Why did they not just disqualify the cheating contestant. It seems rather than referee the event they decided just to leave everyone to blow up.
The author seems more occupied with creating the follow-up to "Jurassic Park" (an author who he admits to being a huge fan of) than actually writing a good book in his own style. The book is unoriginal and very predictable. It bothers me when the author admits in his note to leaving out descriptions of several aliens in the self-published version of the book because he could not think of any.
This was part of an elimination-style book club, and did surprisingly well because it does its thing and doesn't care what you think. I respect that.The fundamental premise is that several intelligent alien species hold duel to the death once a millennium for no good reason. They think humans are (and have been for millennia) too backward to learn of their existence; but not too backward to be kidnapped to take part in the contest, whereas all the other contenders are hand-picked and know all about it. The other aliens have such evolved morality that the honour of taking part in a not-strictly-necessary fight to the death outweighs the simple fact that such humans (lacking preparation, or any knowledge of the contest, or their opponents' abilities, and having never seen an alien in their lives) will inevitably die ignominiously. It's vitally important that humans not learn anything about them, so they decide to hold this contest in a public building in the centre of a major city. Rather than finding a deserted warehouse or something, they pick the city library. Their cunning plan to avoid detection is to drop a savage alien monster into the library, where it can kill a few passers-by with no connection to the contest whatsoever. Next, they wait until the local law enforcement come in, seal off the building, and set guards inside while monitoring it constantly. Then, and only then, do they use powerful force-fields to block any exit from the building and start porting in contestants, in the process neatly sealing in a few more humans to die pointlessly. Luckily their Advanced Alien Morality has no problems with that.This is about averagely plausible for every other aspect of the book. Much of my enjoyment came from mocking and then rolling with the preposterousness that confronted me on every page. The sequence of hardcore characters set up, one by one, to seem like the protagonist, each kickier-ass than the last! The exploding wristbands! The alien guides whose sole purpose is to be a living webcam and exposition-device! The magnets! The alien cheating! The explosions! The Men In Black!It's incredibly fast-paced, not particularly well-written and utterly implausible at every step, but it were a laugh and it doesn't work the old brain too hard.
Rating: 3This very good book gives you an easy entertainment the basic plot is simple, yet exciting with intergalactic contestant monsters in the library. If you started, it catches you and you can not put it away until it is over. It made me fancy for M. Reilly other books too, but l found them not so likable after this book. It is one of his first books anyway.
Rating: 5very good, I am not sure if it is because I work in a libary and this is where the book takes place or what, but this was a really good story, and really creepy at times...
Rating: 5a great book, full of action and excitment
Rating: 5This book should have been made into a movie, it is extremely creative and constantly action packed, i will be looking to read more books from this author.
Rating: 5A really good concept, loads of potential but ultimately not explored well enough and disappointing.
Rating: 3When Dr. Stephen Swain is teleported into the New York Public Library with his young daughter in his arms, he must fight to save both their lives in an interalien contest. Winner takes all in this fast paced, action packed thriller.
Rating: 3Not as good as some of his other works (like the Scarecrow books) but still an enjoyable read. As a father I loved how a normal man can become the ultimate fighter when his child's life was threated.
Rating: 3apparently the first book this author wrote. i didn't finish it (after reading "temple" this one is quite slow and boring.) alliens chose earth (and this specific mall where the hero and his little girl are at the moment shopping) for their intergalactic, interspecies championship fight. they have these all the time on a different planet. too farfetched for me.
Rating: 3I picked this book up on evening when I just had to get out of the house and have some time to myself, and not be a mommy and wife. I grabbed a cup of coffee, cursed myself for not thinking to bring a book from home, and quickly got lost within the pages of this novel. My expectation were not high, all I wanted was to loose myself for a couple of hours within a quick, easy read, but this story allowed me to escape and was actually a good story. After about four hours, and I'm not sure how many cups of coffee, my husband called my cell phone to ask if I was ever coming home. I did, and quickly holed myself up in my room to finish my book. A wonderful escape to help save a woman's sanity.
Rating: 4So there you are in your kitchen, minding you're own business, when all of a sudden you are engulfed by this blinding white light. No, Scotty is not beaming you up, some aliens are teleporting you to a place where you do not want to be. Suddenly everybody is out to get you, unless you get them first....Fun, fast-paced, silly, scary, page-turning suspense. As always with books by Reilly, don't get hung up on the ridiculous story line, just enjoy the ride!
Rating: 4This is the First Novel from Matthew Reilly and his best, I think. It is different from the others and the main character is Dr Stephen Swain, he is trapped in a library in a gladiator type battle with alien races that hold a contest once every 1000 years, (as an alternative to war). The only way to survive is to kill everyone else and win the contest.
Rating: 4Another thriller featuring Scholfield, this time forced into a race anf fight to the death with a selection of the worlds "best" killers. It would be pointlessly churlish to complain that this stretches credibility beyond breaking point and into silly territory. Or that the violence is relentless to the point of boredom. Sometimes, you just need to veg out with something undemanding, and this is perfect for that.
Rating: 3