Variant

By: Robison Wells

Narrated by: Michael Goldstrom

Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.

He was wrong.

Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.

Where breaking the rules equals death.

But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape - his only real hope for survival - may be impossible.

©2011 Robison Wells (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

School's in...Forever!

If you could sum up Variant in three words, what would they be?

Institutionalized (I just wanted a Pepsi) Mindfu$$ing...Stepfordites.

What did you like best about this story?

Yet another story directed for young audiences, that I, an adult took a chance on, and I am glad I did. It appears that many of these stories today, apart from the Gone with the werewolf teenie romances, are smartly written with the thrills and surprises I like also including the Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Lockdown, etc.

Best book ever

I love get the book and read it.it is 10 out of 10. Everyone I know loves it and you should love it too.

Great s

Loved It, very good book and very big plot twist, going to start and read Feedback now, this is an amazing series

Twists that I never saw coming.

As someone who attended a boarding school I found this story even more creepy. There's some really great twists in this story that put it in the definite sci-fi category. The author came up with a great idea, made you care about at least some of the characters, and hunger, along with the main character, to find out what the heck is really going on. It's a very quick read but didn't feel really rushed. The style is clean and makes sense for the narrator's thought process.

cant wait for the sequel

If you could sum up Variant in three words, what would they be?

unexpected unusual unique

What other book might you compare Variant to and why?

unsure if it was ever a book but it reminded me of an old sifi movie logans run

Decent dystopfic YA

I will say that this YA novel kept me entertained during a long drive. The setup is intriguing enough: a teenage orphan from Pittsburgh named Benson looks to escape his dreary life by winning a scholarship to a high-end private school in New Mexico. However, upon arrival, he finds that Maxfield Academy contains no adults, is full of security cameras, is surrounded by a high wall, and has a few simple rules that students must never, ever break. Cue shades of Lord of the Flies, Never Let Me Go, and the TV show Lost, as our protagonist learns that the students have organized themselves into different factions, some bent on following the rules, some out to cause mayhem, and some with more pragmatic ideas. The truce that exists between them is tense at best, and Benson must choose his allies and adversaries carefully. Not everything at Maxfield, of course, is what is seems, and, like Lost, it had me hooked.

Well, for the first half. Unfortunately, the twist that comes later would have been inexcusably silly in a grown-up novel. Then again, this is a book for younger readers, and I doubt too many will be concerned about that, or even recognize the creative property that Wells is, um, inspired by. The target audience will probably eat up the who-can-we-trust suspense, the action sequences (including paintball, of all things), the likable, outcast hero, and the romance.

All in all, probably not the most interesting or well-written YA dystopfic out there, but a perfectly readable entry for those who can’t get enough of the genre. Parental note: there’s some PG violence, one implied-but-not-discussed sexual encounter between secondary characters, and no bad language.

Solid Fun, Nothing New or Breathtaking

Variant is a solid story with interesting characters. It's nothing exceedingly noteworthy, but a good way to pass a few hours. If you like teen-dystopic-fiction, this should be right up your alley.

Kept Me Guessing

This book kept me hooked just by the fact I wanted to know "what is going on here". Benson is an orphaned teenager who has been tossed from foster home to foster home and just wants a better life. He applies to a boarding school in hopes for that better life. When he arrives he finds out this is no ordinary school and he is trapped. I was constantly guessing to try and figure out what or who was imprisioning the students all the way to the last sentence of the book. I wanted to jump in and help Benson escape. His determination kept me rooting for him. Narration was done and paced well. I think this is a book my boys would like because the romance factor is very limited and it is fast paced. Must read the next book. I have to find out what happens.

Interesting twist with a cliff hanger

Seems like just about anyone could enjoy the twists and turns this book takes. The book is an easy enjoyable listen with a few various aspects from suspense, to a little young romance with a big helping of mystery.

The book did keep my interest through the entire story and the twist revealing the schools secret was unexpected. The ending left me thinking WTF?! with a million ideas on what was going on. I will be keeping an eye out for the sequel.

Weirdly Fascinating

Love the fact that not too much of this story is given away in the description, so let's keep it that way!