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Variant by Robison Wells
The Blurb On The Back:
Trust no one.
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, where video cameras monitor his every move – and where breaking the rules equals death.
All Benson wants is to find a way out. But when he stumbles upon the real secret the school has been hiding, he realises that escape may be impossible.
Benson Fisher’s spent most of his life in foster care in Pennsylvania. Determined to make a future for himself he applies for a scholarship to Maxfield Academy in the mountains of New Mexico only to find a school surrounded by razor wire and a 12-foot high wall. There are no teachers of any kind and video cameras constantly monitor the students who’ve divided themselves into three gangs – Society (who enforce the confusing and inconsistent school rules), Havoc (who rebel against the rules) and Variant (who play by their own rules).
Benson resolves to escape even though every other student who’s tried has either failed or died in the attempt. As he gathers information about the school and its operations, he grows closer to some of the other students – especially Jane, a pretty red-haired member of Variant. But one night Benson unwittingly discovers the school’s most sinister secret – a secret that will leave him wondering who he can trust and whether escape will ever be possible …
Robison Wells’s debut YA novel is a science fiction/thriller hybrid set in contemporary times – essentially DAS EXPERIMENT meets BLADERUNNER.
Although the central idea is an interesting one, Wells took so long establishing the premise of an inescapable school so that I was slightly bored by the time the first big reveal came. Afterwards, the pace speeds up to breakneck speed but instead of giving a pay off on the big reveal, the reader’s instead left with a cliff hanger (which is a personal peeve).
Despite Benson’s first person narration, he never really came off the page for me, being reduced to little more than providing exposition on the plot and set-up. His relationship with Jane failed to convince me as there’s little there to explain his attraction to her beyond her looks and the fact that she welcomes his advances. The other students were largely names on a page and I sometimes found it difficult to remember who was who. Those who I did remember were painted in such broad brushstrokes that they became caricature – with the exception of Becky, a Society student with a hidden past.
I am interested in the central idea in the book and would like to see where Wells goes with it in the sequel, but I’m hoping that now he’s dealt with all the set-up, there’ll be more action and more of a pay-off to come.
The Verdict:
Robison Wells’s debut YA novel is a science fiction/thriller hybrid set in modern times. I am interested in the central concept and in seeing where Wells takes it but for me, he took too long in establishing the idea of it being impossible to escape from the school, with the result that the story was slow to build up and then felt rushed in the final quarter. I’m also not a fan of cliff hanger endings and this book ends on a biggie. I’ll probably check out the next book in the hope that some of the main questions start getting answered.
VARIANT was released in the UK on 20th November 2011. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
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, where video cameras monitor his every move – and where breaking the rules equals death.
All Benson wants is to find a way out. But when he stumbles upon the real secret the school has been hiding, he realises that escape may be impossible.
Benson Fisher’s spent most of his life in foster care in Pennsylvania. Determined to make a future for himself he applies for a scholarship to Maxfield Academy in the mountains of New Mexico only to find a school surrounded by razor wire and a 12-foot high wall. There are no teachers of any kind and video cameras constantly monitor the students who’ve divided themselves into three gangs – Society (who enforce the confusing and inconsistent school rules), Havoc (who rebel against the rules) and Variant (who play by their own rules).
Benson resolves to escape even though every other student who’s tried has either failed or died in the attempt. As he gathers information about the school and its operations, he grows closer to some of the other students – especially Jane, a pretty red-haired member of Variant. But one night Benson unwittingly discovers the school’s most sinister secret – a secret that will leave him wondering who he can trust and whether escape will ever be possible …
Robison Wells’s debut YA novel is a science fiction/thriller hybrid set in contemporary times – essentially DAS EXPERIMENT meets BLADERUNNER.
Although the central idea is an interesting one, Wells took so long establishing the premise of an inescapable school so that I was slightly bored by the time the first big reveal came. Afterwards, the pace speeds up to breakneck speed but instead of giving a pay off on the big reveal, the reader’s instead left with a cliff hanger (which is a personal peeve).
Despite Benson’s first person narration, he never really came off the page for me, being reduced to little more than providing exposition on the plot and set-up. His relationship with Jane failed to convince me as there’s little there to explain his attraction to her beyond her looks and the fact that she welcomes his advances. The other students were largely names on a page and I sometimes found it difficult to remember who was who. Those who I did remember were painted in such broad brushstrokes that they became caricature – with the exception of Becky, a Society student with a hidden past.
I am interested in the central idea in the book and would like to see where Wells goes with it in the sequel, but I’m hoping that now he’s dealt with all the set-up, there’ll be more action and more of a pay-off to come.
The Verdict:
Robison Wells’s debut YA novel is a science fiction/thriller hybrid set in modern times. I am interested in the central concept and in seeing where Wells takes it but for me, he took too long in establishing the idea of it being impossible to escape from the school, with the result that the story was slow to build up and then felt rushed in the final quarter. I’m also not a fan of cliff hanger endings and this book ends on a biggie. I’ll probably check out the next book in the hope that some of the main questions start getting answered.
VARIANT was released in the UK on 20th November 2011. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.