Variant

Benson Fisher has nothing in his life—no family, no friends, no ties to anything. So when he receives a scholarship to Maxfield Academy, it seems too good to be true. And it is. Now he’s trapped in a school that there is no escape from. There are no adults, breaking rules could mean death and the students survive by aligning themselves with the most powerful group. When Benson discovers the real secret that the school is hiding, he has to decide if following the rules is going to keep him alive or if escaping is his only option.

Variant is a fast-paced, roller coaster ride of a book. It literally grabs you from page one and never lets go. Wells knows how to pace a book perfectly, keeping the reader interested while still developing show more character and plot. The story is also original, which is always a nice change from the standard young adult fare. Variant will also appeal to both male and female readers, something that is often lacking in the young adult genre; rarely does one find a book that both will enjoy. Variant is that book.

On a more personal note, HOLY CRAP was this a good book! It was entertaining, chilling and just flat out good. I love a book that keeps me guessing. Every time I thought I had it figured out, it took another twist I just wasn’t expecting. I enjoyed everything about this book: great characters, well-thought-out plot, fantastic writing. The only thing I disliked was the last sentence in the book—which upon further thought, I won’t give away. Read it for yourself, you’ll see.

This was a great book, I will be recommending it to my girls and my librarian friends, and quite frankly, anyone else I can think of. show less

VARIANT by Robison Wells is a crazy boarding school story full of twists and turns like you wouldn’t believe. I’m not joking, I literally shouted at my car stereo at the end of the book. Talk about a cliffhanger!! I’ve always thought it would be neat to go to a boarding school (yes, even before Harry Potter), but I would not want Benson’s experience, at all.

Benson thought he was lucking out by getting a scholarship to a boarding school but after he’s dropped off and met at the doors by Becky, everything goes wrong. There are no grownups. No teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers, no one. The only people present at Maxfield Academy are the students. Divided into gangs, the students are monitored by cameras and recording show more devices at every turn, work the jobs around the school, teach the classes, act as security and even maintenance. All while trying to study and participating in epic paint ball games. Oh and detention? You’re never seen or heard from again after being sent to detention. Harshest school ever.

Benson can’t understand why people aren’t trying to escape until he’s told about the students who used to be at the school, and those who died before the gangs were formed. But he never tries to stop finding a way past the wall and the fence, back to the real world with grownups and days that makes sense. Benson is a great character, determined and strong and a nice guy. He finds himself getting caught up in the people and the school sometimes, but in the end does what he thinks is best for himself and the others. Of course, the school and the hidden people that run have something going on behind the scenes, and it’s insane. Guys, I did not even see it coming. What I thought it was, it totally wasn’t. Just when you think Benson has it all figured out and is on his way to escape, Robison Wells throws in another twist and more information that makes your brain do back flips.

Although I found it a little weird that not one of the teens at the school had anyone who would miss them or want to check up on them, I guess it could happen (the States is a big and populated place), and it makes the book work. VARIANT has great characters, and Robison Wells writes so that you can get attached to not just your primary characters like Benson, Becky, Jane or Mason but also the secondary characters. And seriously, trust no one. The gangs these teens have split into are their world in Maxfield Academy and the Society seems to run the show. The bad guys of the book (besides the people who run the school, whom we never see) are other teens and even though they’re working against Benson, you still feel for them. Narrator Michael Goldstrom does a great job of separating voices and reading so that the tension and suspense is clearly heard and experienced.

VARIANT is a great mystery with so many different genre elements I don’t even want to say them in case I give something away. This is one book where spoilers would be so upsetting to the “holy shit” moments that Robison Wells gives you throughout the course of the book. All I can say, is I can’t get my hands on the sequel soon enough. Cliffhanger of all cliffhangers in this one, you’ve been warned! show less

You really can’t trust anyone in this book. As much as you want to trust people, you’re better off assuming that everyone is against you. In this brilliantly plotted novel, Robinson Wells brings to life the nightmare that most every child has of boarding school: it’s a prison where the students are lab rats. Only, it’s no ordinary prison, as you’ll soon learn. It is a prison in which everyone is against each other in a game of survival.

I would never want to be in Benson’s position, just saying. If I were Benson, I wouldn’t like any of the things I liked in the set up, but I can say what I like because I’ve never been there. I like how Wells set up the boarding house with its stark lack of teachers, its strange show more curriculum, and the prison environment. The imagery is bleak and vivid, but Benson’s wit and strength comes through it all. He applied for the school in the hopes of making a life for himself, but he finds himself in a horrifying game where he must play high stakes to survive.

I never knew where Wells and Benson would take me. No matter how much I guessed or hoped, something else happened, something I would never have concluded from prior events. If anything, the mystery grew thicker and the conclusion more indeterminable as I progressed through the book. And you know what the worst of it is? We have to wait for the sequel to find out more. show less

Variant is like a cross between Lord of the Flies and Winter's End, a less well-known dystopia by a French author that has a school setting like this. Having finished it, I'm not entirely certain how I feel about it. The story definitely left me with more questions than answers (typical) and somewhat frustrated. However, the whole thing was completely engaging and thrilling. Wells definitely had me flipping pages, reading as fast as I could to figure out what the heck was going on this frackin' creepy school.

There is something about schools that makes them perfect settings for dystopias, maybe the fact that, with boarding schools, you have very few rights. Or, maybe it's the fact that there are so many children; nothing is more show more terrifying than a creepy child. You expect adults to be jerks, but you hate to such betrayal and evil from younger individuals, perhaps because it hints at the evil in human nature.

Benson, despite his stupid name and the fact that he is a bit of a jerk, is a good main character. He thinks about himself first, something the others constantly rag on him for, but, really, who wouldn't be focusing on getting themselves out of such a weird place? My one criticism for him is that he does some stupid things in trying to escape, but, hey, I knew from the beginning that he was smart, but not insanely so.

Variant definitely is not the most pertinent dystopia for our lives, but it is a thrill ride from the first chapter. If you like action, mystery and twists, you will not want to miss this. I know I won't miss book two! show less

Benson Fisher, who has spent his life in foster care, hoped that by accepting a scholarship to Maxfield Academy, his life would change. It did. Just not in the way he imagined.

Upon arriving at Maxfield Academy, Benson notices that something seems off about the Academy. There are no adults around. The students act as the teachers and employees, bidding on jobs for points (which they use as money). Students are not allowed to leave the school; if they try they are sent to detention where they are never heard from again. The others try explaining to Benson that it’s best to follow the rules, especially with the cameras on them constantly, but he didn’t come to Maxfield Academy to be imprisoned. He came hoping for a new start before his show more eighteenth birthday. Refusing to be held prisoner, Benson searches desperately for an escape, uncovering some disturbing truths along the way.

Benson is a very strong-willed character. As soon as he enters Maxfield Academy, he senses something is off. He’s not really sure what, until Becky explains how the Academy operates. He doesn’t understand how the other students can act as though the entire situation isn’t wrong. Each movement, each word, is being watched carefully over the cameras (placed throughout the entire school). To Benson, this isn’t a school, but rather a prison. He needs to get out of there and he’ll stop at nothing to do so.

I found the entire Academy to be fascinating, too. The way they monitor the students, how they only go after children who won’t be missed (as there is no outside contact once you enter the Academy). It’s very all very disturbing, but it also keeps the reader guessing and curious as to what’ll happen next. You’re never truly sure who you can trust.

It is incredibly easy to get lost in the pages of “Variant”. With perfect pacing and a plot that’ll keep you guessing, “Variant” is one of the best YA books to come out this year. My advice? Set aside a few hours so that you can read this one in a single sitting. Oh, and go buy it. Now. show less

Now this is the type of book I've been looking for since I devoured the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix back in middle school. It's not a dystopian America. Benson is the type of kid you'd hear about every day, shuttled back and forth through the foster care system, getting nowhere. But unlike most down-on-their-luck little orphans, Benson doesn't look for a pair of parents for his very own, or tap-dance his way into the spotlight of some very impressed agent slash manager slash future father-in-law. He sends in for a scholarship to Maxfield Academy, a mysterious boarding school for kids like him who are down on their luck, hoping that maybe it can get his life going.

He's right, but not in the way he thinks.

Okay, now show more I must confess: for the first half of the book, I DETESTED BENSON. He sort of reminded me of Katniss (I'm sure I don't have to give a link for you to know who that is) - running against brick walls, constantly causing trouble without getting anywhere for his pains...oh yeah, and he is completely gullible when it comes to a cute girl. One thing is for sure, though, the plot wouldn't be carried off without him...and it probably wouldn't have been as fun with an infallible, all-wise and dashing hero.

Other than the initial setback of a rather irritating protagonist, this book was completely awesome in that it never delivered exactly what you'd expect. Even the end was a cliffhanger and, although I'm not approving of series recently, I will definitely set aside my misgivings for a sequel.

Bravo, Mr. Wells. I'm looking forward to more. show less

A good number of YA novels take place in boarding schools, and Variant is another that can be added to that growing pile. But what makes this book stand out from others is that instead of having a misunderstood teenage girl as the protagonist, things get switched up and the main character is actually male. This puts this boarding school tale in a minority, since 75% of the other books I've read involving boarding schools of some kind have had their main characters be female.

I have to say, it was a nice change of pace. Not because I prefer reading stories about males, but because of the shift in perspective and priorities that came with a different gender.

Benson is a loner, a teenager's who has been shuffled from foster home to foster show more home, and who views Maxfield Academy as his chance to break the cycle when he's offered a scholarship there. Once there, he discovers that things aren't quite what they seemed to be. There are no teachers; students run the classes and the administration. Students have broken into gangs or factions, each with their own rivalries and credos. The school's most popular sport consists of a paintball war. Everyone's made to wear tracking devices, there and cameras and microphones everywhere, and breaking one of the major school rules is punishable by detention, which is a nice little euphemism for death.

Trying to escape is one thing that can earn you a detention. Talking about or planning to escape is punishable by the same.

To me, Variant read like James Dashner's The Maze Runner inside a boarding school. It's an obvious experiment, though the details of the experiment can only be speculated upon for the majority of the book. Most don't understand what's going on and are just trying to make the best of it, until somebody comes and messes up the system with their refusal to just accept that the old ways are the best ways.

The tension of the situation ramps up a notch when it's revealed that nobody can trust anybody about anything. Not even whether or not they're human.

Wells has a talent for character development, and clearly has the ability to take the basics of an idea that's been done dozens of times before and running in a new and interesting direction with it. The characters in Variant were well-developed and had their own foibles and curiosities, and it was fun to see them. In particular, I enjoyed how Wells had Benson comment multiple times on how the whole situation at Maxfield Academy was illegal. That's another point in his favour by comparison; I've read far too many stories about weird happenings at boarding schools where people notice that things are odd, perhaps even dangerous, but don't once mention trying to bring the police or the media into it. Wells's characters acted like real people, and it made for a pleasant experience to read.

Kudos to Wells for including romance in the story but not having it be anything but a side-story. Benson's attraction to Jane was sweet, fairly innocent, and very realistic, and most importantly, didn't dominate every moments of either character's life. I find that romance works best when it's a spice and not the whole of the meal, and I think that it was balanced quite well here.

If there was one thing I disliked about this is was the abrupt cliffhanger ending. A little too abrupt. Yes, it certainly made me curious and made me want to read the eventual sequel, but cutting things off in the middle of the action, at an event which is utterly baffling, left me feeling more than a touch disappointed. It felt more like a cliffhanger from a TV show than a book, and those don't always translate well from screen to page.

But overall, Variant was a well-plotted and well-executed YA novel, full of curious mysteries, tense action, and a desire to keep turning the pages. Highly recommended, especially to YA fans who enjoy a good boarding school tale but fancy a bit of a change from what's currently on the shelves. I sincerely doubt you'll be disappointed by what Wells has to offer. show less