A Review of Taran Matharu's The Challenger

Posted by: jacobballew

I had a great time reading Taran Matharu’s The Challenger (Feiwel & Friends, 2020), as it is the second installment in the Contender trilogy. The first (The Chosen) we already reviewed here at AALF, so here we are moving onto the second. Let’s let the official marketing blurb get us started.

“The stakes are higher than ever in The Challenger, the second book in the Contender YA trilogy by the New York Times bestselling author of the Summoner series, Taran Matharu. The first battle is over, but the Game is just beginning... Cade Carter and his friends have survived the qualifying round of the mysterious overlords' twisted games, decimated by the loss of so many of their comrades during the fight. But they have no time to mourn, for the next round of trials is about to begin. When the group discovers that their next foe will be even more ferocious than the last, Cade leads them on a quest out into their strange new world to find anything that might give them an edge. But what they find in the wilds could prove to be even more dangerous than the impending battle...The stakes are higher than ever in this thrilling sequel to The Chosen.”

So, there’s no way of getting around some spoilers, as I need to set up a little bit from the first installment, which leaves us with Cade and his merry band of contenders realizing that they have to get ready for a big battle. Once Cade is specifically selected from the group to fight an impressively evil-looking monster, they all agree that Cade is going to need some serious armor and some weaponry. Getting these resources requires that some of the group to leave their home, the keep, and to head out into the jungles. Cade heads out with a handful of others (including Amber, Grace, and Scott); things turn bad quickly, as they are captured. They are forced into a kind of tournament modeled on gladiators, and they must defeat all other teams, if they want to have a chance at freedom. You recall from the first installment that they have to survive this competition just so Cade can return in time to fight another monster. So, Matharu has set the stage for this second installment. What ends up being ingenious in a way is that this competition ends up getting Cade more fit and ready for the battle that will follow. Readers can rest assured that Cade is going to do well in this gladiator-style tournament precisely because there’s still a third book in the trilogy. But Matharu puts plenty of obstacles in Cade’s (and his team’s way). One particularly unsavory character from the first installment returns, and Matharu makes effective use of this antagonistic figure. Perhaps, the element that I find most enjoyable about Matharu’s series is his ability to weave in historical information at the right times. This world is one based upon individuals who have been taken from our reality under mysterious circumstances and deposited into a gamified reality, so you can imagine how many people or contexts that Matharu could use and input into the narrative. Whether it is a famous explorer, a pioneering aviator, a group of soldiers, or what have you, Matharu occasionally reminds us that these things that have gone away in our world may have been taken to this other world. Even entities that were thought to have gone extinct—like dinosaurs—find a way into this other place, where Cade and his allies must engage with if they are to survive. It remains to be seen what or who the big bad may be in this series. While Matharu has been planting some hints that there is an evil game overlord controlling Cade and his friends like chess pieces, my guess is that the reveal with be something else. But for now, we’ll have to wait and see, and wait for publication =).

 

Buy the Book Here:

 

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250138729

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