The Games

By: Ted Kosmatka

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Jurassic Park meets The Hunger Games in this stunning new high-energy, high-concept tale from first-time novelist Ted Kosmatka, a Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Set in an amoral future where genetically engineered monstrosities fight each other to the death in an Olympic event, The Games envisions a harrowing world that may arrive sooner than you think.

Silas Williams is the brilliant geneticist in charge of preparing the U.S. entry into the Olympic Gladiator competition, an internationally sanctioned bloodsport with only one rule: no human DNA is permitted in the design of the entrants. Silas lives and breathes genetics; his designs have led the United States to the gold in every previous event. But the other countries are catching up. Now, desperate for an edge in the upcoming Games, Silas’s boss engages an experimental supercomputer to design the genetic code for a gladiator that cannot be beaten.

The result is a highly specialized killing machine, its genome never before seen on earth. Not even Silas, with all his genius and experience, can understand the horror he had a hand in making. And no one, he fears, can anticipate the consequences of entrusting the act of creation to a computer’s cold logic.

Now Silas races to understand what the computer has wrought, aided by a beautiful xenobiologist, Vidonia João. Yet as the fast-growing gladiator demonstrates preternatural strength, speed, and—most disquietingly—intelligence, Silas and Vidonia find their scientific curiosity giving way to a most unexpected emotion: sheer terror.

Praise for The Games

“Blends the best of Crichton and Koontz.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Outstanding . . . very like something Michael Crichton might have written . . . [a] bold mix of horror and SF . . . Expect big things from [Ted] Kosmatka.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Kosmatka successfully captures the thrill of groundbreaking technology. . . . The pleasure of his polished, action-packed storytelling is deepened by strong character development. This near-future SF thriller . . . seems destined for the big screen.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Critic reviews

“Exacting science and meticulous attention to detail provide the backbone for this thriller, which blends the best of Crichton and Koontz.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Very like something Michael Crichton might have written . . . An outstanding debut novel; expect big things from Kosmatka.”—Booklist (starred review)

“”Kosmatka successfully captures the thrill of groundbreaking technology characteristic of Michael Crichton’s technothrillers. . .The pleasure of his polished, action-packed storytelling is deepened by strong character development. This near-future sf thriller will capture the imagination of 'unstoppable monster' lovers and fans of disaster fiction alike and seems destined for the big screen.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“Kosmatka’s debut novel is a . . . technological thriller that revs up like a racecar with a dose of bad attitude and steadily creeping horror. . . . [Readers] who enjoy the karmic boomerang of authors like Michael Crichton or Preston and Child should eat this up.”—School Library Journal (starred review)

“I stayed up very late just to finish this, and The Games certainly lives up to its buzz. . . .The Games is a sci-fi/thriller with unexpected depth and humanity, and a few twists that I didn’t see coming. Very highly recommended!”—My Bookish Ways

“Modern SF started with something like E. E. Smith’s The Skylark of Space and progressed to Jack Williamson’s The Legion of Space, then to Heinlein’s classics, and on through the work of Larry Niven, John Varley, Greg Egan, Charles Stross, Cory Doctorow—and now, writers like Ted Kosmatka.”—Jonathan Strahan

Great idea turned into a predictable story

The idea is great and when I first tried to read it the concept disturbed me enough to not continue past the first chapter or so

I came back to eat a year later and even though I knew I hadn't read it, I felt like ever word of it was familiar

It moves slowly in the last third, possibly because the ending is so obvious it just drags

Would have been a great novella.

Five star game!!

Amazing book. Part sci-fi and part thriller paired with Scott Brick is an all around winner. Reminiscent of Koonts early work and Robert Charles Wilson with a bit of Robert Sawyer thrown in for good measure. I found the synopsis intriguing and I was not disappointed. There are several different stories happening at the same time that converge about 2/3 of the way in. I think Kosmatka has a gift and I will be looking forward to his next endeavor The Games is a cautionary tale. Just because we can does not mean should!

In a word... Excellent.

I cannot say that the story was entirely unique or unpredictable. Two qualities I look for in every new story I purchase. That said, this story is so masterfully executed that the similarities, or rather parallels, to other works are overshadowed completely. An amazing story from start to finish with the expected cautionary notes.

I originally purchased this because of the narrator and was in no way disappointed. Scott Brick has once again brought a story to life in a way that so few can.

I showed up for the narrator, I'll be staying to enjoy the other works of an excellent author.

An isolated AI singularity event

Genre: Sci-Fi

Rated: R for violence and horror

Static or Dynamic: the first half is static and straightforward plot setting and the second half is dynamic and actiony.

1st or 3rd Person: 3rd person with 3+ people to follow

Abstract or Concrete: Balanced: many parts of the book were concrete and mechanically described how something looked or how someone felt about something. However, a large portion of the book revolves around the concept of whether or not the society in the book is mature enough to handle the technologies they possess. It's a classic story of what happens when a lesser developed civilization stumbles on a piece of technology that is waaaaaaaay to advanced for them and ends up getting itself into trouble, however, this particular story is a spin on that taking it a level deeper.

Linear or Non-Linear: Mostly linear, however, one of the characters is in a sort of "timeless" category, though, not really.

Narrator: No complaints

Plot Outline: A parallel American society has an Olympic gladiatorial glorified cock-fight competition where each country pits a biologically altered monster against the rest of the world's monsters. America finds a designer that is cunning beyond words and possesses technology that hasn't been charted. Furthermore, the result is arguably even more cunning and horrific. The story is relatively straight forward and it analyzes the morality of a mob based world that can only be satiated with entertainment. Most of the story is a hard science backed look at the ramifications of genetic engineering. Do yourself a favor and look up Haploid, Diploid, and the types of Zygotes with respects to chromosomes an animal can have if you don't know and want the full ramifications of what's happening. It's not something that is really going to trip you up but it will give you some background that could help smooth some explanations out.

Thoughtful sci-fi

Once again, Kosmatka doesn’t disappoint. I am a very picky sci-fi fan. If it’s not believable or boring, I can’t read or listen to it. Ted Kosmatka is an excellent sci-fi author. I wish he had more books on audible!