The Games (Kosmatka novel)

Lore & Background

The novel follows geneticist Silas Williams, who oversees U.S. selections for the Olympic Gladiator competition, an internationally sanctioned bloodsport with only one rule: no entrants may possess human DNA. To maintain America’s edge, Silas’s superior engages an experimental supercomputer to design the ultimate combatant, producing a monster unlike anything ever seen.

Reader's Guide

The Games received mixed to positive reviews. Publishers Weekly called it a gripping and gory near-future thriller in which genetic engineering and jingoism prove to be a terrifying combination. Booklist compared it favorably to Michael Crichton's work, calling it an outstanding debut novel. Strange Horizons considered it the literary equivalent of a slightly above average, big-budget Hollywood blockbuster—slick, streamlined, and safely familiar—praising Kosmatka's prose, pacing, and cinematic dynamism, while criticizing the worldbuilding and plot, and recommending that readers switch off parts of their brains to maximize enjoyment. The novel was a finalist for the 2013 Locus Award for Best First Novel, marking Kosmatka as a notable new voice in science fiction.

Did You Know?

• The plot involves an experimental supercomputer designing a combatant for the Olympic Gladiator competition.
• The only rule of the Olympic Gladiator competition is that no entrants may possess human DNA.
• Publishers Weekly described the novel as a gripping and gory near-future thriller.