Name: Contender
ISBN: 9781444939019

Taran Matharu

The Challenger

Contender

Introducing an epic new trilogy from Taran Matharu, author of the New York Times–bestselling Summoner series. Throughout history, people have vanished with no explanation. A group of teenagers are about to discover why. Cade is settling into a new boarding school, contemplating his future, when he finds himself transported to another realm. He soon discovers their new world is populated with lost remnants from the past: prehistoric creatures, ancient relics, and stranger still — people. Overwhelmed by his new surroundings, Cade has little time to adjust, for soon he and his fellow classmates are forced to become contenders in a brutal game, controlled by mysterious overlords. But who are these beings and why did they choose these teens? Cade must prepare for battle . . . because hiding is not an option.

The Chosen

Eva Idsøe

I just like the overall book in general. I like how they were confused and in the end it turns out that this is a game from the ‘creaturs’ of earth that have some fun.

The Chosen introduces the first book in the Contender trilogy, an epic young adult fantasy from Taran Matharu, author of the New York Times–bestselling Summoner series. Throughout history, people have vanished with no explanation. A group of teenagers are about to discover why. Cade is settling into a new boarding school, contemplating his future, when he finds himself transported to another realm. He soon discovers their new world is populated with lost remnants from the past: prehistoric creatures, ancient relics, and stranger still—people. Overwhelmed by his new surroundings, Cade has little time to adjust, for soon he and his fellow classmates are forced to become contenders in a brutal game, controlled by mysterious overlords. But who are these beings and why did they choose these teens? Cade must prepare for battle . . . because hiding is not an option. Fans of fantasy and LitRPG will welcome this new character and world from the author of the Summoner series.

Contender Book 1

Lauren Sullivan

Content warnings: (view spoiler)[bullying, racism, ableism (hide spoiler)]

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but it certainly wasn’t this! And that’s not a bad thing – this is a wild ride, a sort of mashup between The Hunger Games, Jurassic Park, and The Martian. In addition, this book is ownvoices – Cade is South Asian, as is the author – and has a diverse mix of supporting characters, including one who’s Deaf.

Framed for a crime at his last private school, Cade has been ordered to spend a year at a reform boarding school. He figures he’ll survive by keeping his head down. All that changes when he, along with several other boys from his school, are transported to an alien planet and forced to fight for their lives. With new dangers around every corner, Cade must figure out how – if – they can get home.

“In the past, he might have played it safe, but now he wasn’t so sure. Pleading guilty had been playing it safe … and he’d give anything to change that.
But here, now? This was his best hope of giving himself a fighting chance. He’d roll the dice.”

This is a sort of man-vs-wilderness book that reminds me a lot of The Martian, just with more action. Cade soon discovers that, yeah, his strength he’s developed at the reform school thanks to endless burpees is helpful, but it’s his brain that’s his biggest tool. Whether it’s something he picked up from his history professor father or the fact that he (gasp!) actually thinks before he acts, Cade’s preferred solution to any problem is to outwit rather than out-brawn. A large part of Cade’s character development comes from how his interactions with the other characters change as the book goes on. At the start, he’s almost a side character in his own story, passive and unwilling to do too much to call attention to himself. As the story progresses, he slowly realizes that his best chance at survival is to stand up for himself.

The worldbuilding, while a bit disjointed, is where the book really shines. There’s a fun bit of mystery – how did they get there? where are they? – and a bit of suspense added by the countdown clock courtesy of the Codex, a floating robot that follows Cade around and gives some background on the various things he finds. Those added historical details are fun. Want to know about suturing wounds without thread? We gotcha! What Romans used instead of toilet paper? Yup!

A lot of time is spent on world-building, so while we get some character development for Cade, there’s not much time spent on the secondary characters. The first few chapters alternate between the planet and flashbacks to Cade’s time at the school, which serve as introductions to the other boys, but besides that there’s not too much time spent on them which left me rather ambivalent about what would happen to them. And while everything leads up to a big climactic battle, the ending of the book was a bit of a letdown. Yes, we get some answers, but it felt more like a teaser for the next book than a resolution to this one.

Overall, I wanted a bit more from the story than was there, but I enjoyed it enough to give it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next book in the series!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Laura Kehoe

This was such an interesting and fresh story! I will readily admit that I was not expecting all that happened when I first picked up this book. Sometimes I think the plot went a little too crazy and lost me a bit, but overall, I liked this one!

The characters were all so well-developed and strong in their own ways. I loved getting to know all of them and see their growth throughout the book. Even when the story lost me a bit, I still had a great time reading because of how much I enjoyed these characters. They really stood out for me. 

As I said before, the plot was a little too crazy for me at times. Because this was such a different concept, I think a bit more world-building and backstory would have been helpful. Up until pretty much the end, I wasn't entirely sure what was going on and why the characters had been forced into all of the situations in this book. That made it hard for me to fully invest and believe what was happening. 

But, despite my issues, I did still enjoy this book! It was fast-paced, full of great characters, and had a really unique plot. I'm interested to see what happens next!

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book!

Jelke Lenaerts

This book has content warnings for racism and alcoholism.

I really enjoyed this book but it just felt a bit basic to me. The concept is very unique and unlike anything I've read before but the excecution of it felt very basic. I did like exploring this world and think we had an interesting cast of characters as well. I appreciated the lack of romance but I have a fear it's coming in the next book and I don't want it. I do want to continue on into this series mainly for the world, as it's a place I'm happy to explore more. The characters also felt pretty basic and didn't go through a lot of developements. The story was a very fast paste but somewhat simple because of it. I'm sorry, this review is all over the place but I just don't know what to say about it. It's fine. It's not amazing. It's not bad. It's basic but still interesting. 3 stars are the worst to review.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I bought this book! Support your authors!

Book: The Chosen

Author: Taran Matharu

Book Series: Contender series

Diversity: Middle Eastern MC, hard of hearing side character

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: Male MC, diverse reads, sci-fi

Publication Date: June 4, 2019

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Pages: 357

Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, gore, language, death)

Synopsis: Throughout history, people have vanished with no explanation. A group of teenagers are about to discover why.

Cade is settling into a new boarding school, contemplating his future, when he finds himself transported to another realm. He soon discovers their new world is populated with lost remnants from the past: prehistoric creatures, ancient relics, and stranger still — people. Overwhelmed by his new surroundings, Cade has little time to adjust, for soon he and his fellow classmates are forced to become contenders in a brutal game, controlled by mysterious overlords.

But who are these beings and why did they choose these teens? Cade must prepare for battle . . . because hiding is not an option.

Review: For the most part this was an amazing book! I felt the character development was great, the world building was well done, and the pacing was fast, but it fit well with the book. I liked how the author included the historical mysteries and this history buff learned a thing or two! I also read this in one go in just under 2 hours.

I had some little dislikes about the book though. I wish that the book did a little better with the grand reveal. It felt a bit blah and I guessed what happened back in chapter 2, but that's just me more than likely. I also wish that the book was a bit more realistic in some terms. The description of what happened in juvenile court is not realistic from what I've been exposed to as someone who worked in a juvenile court. For the first thing, a court can't send you to an alternative school. That's on the school to punish you in that manner. School punishments and court punishments do not overlap like that. Also, having a juvenile record does not mean your life is over. I hate it when books display that information because it's entirely inaccurate. Most juvenile records are sealed and even if it wasn't, you can always get with an attorney to get it expunged or get it sealed. Most states also give you a first offender conviction, where, if you use it, the record will be sealed. There are many ways for your record to not be seen by colleges and this narrative of "my life is over because I made one mistake" is entirely inaccurate. Even if you have a bad public defender, you can ask for a new one or, if needed, you can appeal and retain a new attorney as well. Do not ever take the advice of an attorney if it doesn't sit right with you. If you have questions, get a second opinion. If an attorney says "it's either this or that", get a second opinion. Sometimes attorneys are work or are not the greatest. 

Verdict: It was a great book.

Lisa Beasley

This was pretty damn intense. I have to admit when I first started I was a little unsure since it had a more modern feel to it but as soon as I got into it I really enjoyed it. It had everything I love endearing characters, personal journeys, suspense, mystery and of course, dinosaurs! It was a fantastic romp and I really want to read the next one like right now! I need to know what is going to happen next!

I didnt love this as much as the first one. I think it struggled a bit being the middle book. The characters were still good and some of the new ones were amazing but the plot was a bit messy and too much time spent in one area and not enough in others. Also that ending was a massive cliffhanger!

Contender The Challenger

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