Variant - Robinson Wells
Synopsis: 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 was halfway through this book when, all of a sudden, all I could do was sit and stare at the page going - WHAT? Wait, no. What? What in the world am I reading??
I'm not kidding.
But let me start at the beginning. I think Robinson Wells is pretty genius in the creation of this dystopian society. I mean, people talk about how dystopian societies often reflect high schools - and Robinson totally takes that and literally makes the dystopia into high school. It has all the elements teenagers feel in high school - it's like prison, there are cliques that are naturally set against each other, you're always being watched, and detention means death (in the case of Variant, detention literally means death). There's no adults, no one is allowed to leave, and there's certain rules they have to work around - but the elements of their world are always changed by an unknown force. So, naturally the students organize and create their own emulation of government and society. It's a fascinating study.
But then the middle. I'm not going to tell you what shocked me - but I definitely had a harder time processing the wrench thrown in at the middle than the cliffhanger ending. I just have to say - whatever you're expecting for this book - you're so going to be shocked. SHOCKED. (Unless you're very intuitive - it could just be that I have like no ability to predict where things are going - well, unless they're blatantly obvious).
My only issue was Benson. After awhile I kind of wanted to lock him in a closet. I had trouble grasping his character, his personality. All he does through the whole novel is talk about how to escape. He's very single-minded. Even when he's veering somewhere else, something jerks him back to a new escape tactic. Which, okay, I guess any sane person would want to try to escape undeserved and nonsensical imprisonment - but really dude, let's talk about something else for just a second. I really felt like all his escape obsession got in the way of making him a really vibrant character.
Still, I can't wait for the next book. I need to know what happens and I'm curious to see if other aspects of Benson's character will be allowed to come out. And maybe by the time the second book is published I will have wrapped my head around the - you know - thing that shocked me. Because...just..WHAT??
Anyway- he's the book trailer, which is sufficiently spooky.
Variant - Robinson Wells
Synopsis: 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 was halfway through this book when, all of a sudden, all I could do was sit and stare at the page going - WHAT? Wait, no. What? What in the world am I reading??
I'm not kidding.
But let me start at the beginning. I think Robinson Wells is pretty genius in the creation of this dystopian society. I mean, people talk about how dystopian societies often reflect high schools - and Robinson totally takes that and literally makes the dystopia into high school. It has all the elements teenagers feel in high school - it's like prison, there are cliques that are naturally set against each other, you're always being watched, and detention means death (in the case of Variant, detention literally means death). There's no adults, no one is allowed to leave, and there's certain rules they have to work around - but the elements of their world are always changed by an unknown force. So, naturally the students organize and create their own emulation of government and society. It's a fascinating study.
But then the middle. I'm not going to tell you what shocked me - but I definitely had a harder time processing the wrench thrown in at the middle than the cliffhanger ending. I just have to say - whatever you're expecting for this book - you're so going to be shocked. SHOCKED. (Unless you're very intuitive - it could just be that I have like no ability to predict where things are going - well, unless they're blatantly obvious).
My only issue was Benson. After awhile I kind of wanted to lock him in a closet. I had trouble grasping his character, his personality. All he does through the whole novel is talk about how to escape. He's very single-minded. Even when he's veering somewhere else, something jerks him back to a new escape tactic. Which, okay, I guess any sane person would want to try to escape undeserved and nonsensical imprisonment - but really dude, let's talk about something else for just a second. I really felt like all his escape obsession got in the way of making him a really vibrant character.
Still, I can't wait for the next book. I need to know what happens and I'm curious to see if other aspects of Benson's character will be allowed to come out. And maybe by the time the second book is published I will have wrapped my head around the - you know - thing that shocked me. Because...just..WHAT??
Anyway- he's the book trailer, which is sufficiently spooky.
