Author: Robison Wells
Publisher: HarperTeen, October 2011
Hardcover, 384 pages
Rating: 4/5
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.
I always am drawn to YA books that deal with the idea of a Big Brother, dystopian-type world. Variant is the type of book though that deals with a storyline that could easily happen in our time. Benson think he's got the golden ticket to an elite prep school, Maxfield, but when he arrives he discovers a prison-like environment where no one is allowed to leave and their every move is watched by video surveillance. There are no adults, and the population has broken into groups to survive. Some play along, but Benson decides to take matters into his own hands.
By the middle of the story I was reading furiously to get to the end. Wells' writing is polished and well-planned. I like that Benson is the narrator, because it's always refreshing to read YA from a boy's perspective. Like many others. the ending left me wanting to read the sequel, and I'm so glad there is a second book. Variant is creepy in many ways because this could happen in present day. It's the perfect book to read when you want a psychological story that keeps you turning the page.
I like YA novels told from a male POV. This sounds like a good read-thanks for the interview!
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