“I couldn’t believe it. A whole school full of people like me−no friends, no family. No one would notice that we were gone.” – page 22 of ‘Variant’
I’m officially back at school with two tests and a report! I wish I had more time to read, but I did get a chance to read the novel ‘Variant’, by Robison Wells that came out recently, and it was absolutely worth being my chosen book.
One thing I will recommend right off the bat, is: don’t get too attached to the characters! This is the same advice I would have given the main character Benson. In the story he’s a 17-year old boy who has been in foster care since he was a child; he applies for a scholarship to a school called Maxfield Academy, in the desert of New Mexico. He’s excited for the opportunity to get out of Pittsburgh, and start a new life where for the first time in a long time, he hopes to make friends. And he does, but none of them are what he thought they were. Some are better, and some are much, much worse. One of his first impressions of the school is that the “gate in the wall wasn’t natural”; it “looked like thick, solid steel, and as it swung open, it glided only an inch above the asphalt. [He] felt like [he] was entering a bank vault” (pg. 4). There’s an extremely high fence, “topped with a spool of razor wire, like the kind on repo lots and prisons” (pg. 1). He soon discovers that the school has no teachers, no adults whatsoever, and no contact with the outside world. They’re trapped.
No one at the school ever seems to graduate, and students that get detention are never seen again. There are only four rules to abide by: do not try to escape, refuse punishments, or participate in violent fights, and finally, don’t have sex. Student behaviour is monitored by security cameras throughout the school. All the students have jobs, which, since a violent war occurred at the school, are split up among three gangs. The first, ‘Havoc’, is made up of violent wannabe gangsters; they have the cafeteria and grounds keeping contract. ‘The Society’ are stuck-up, supposedly rule-abiding students, with a secret thuggish side, who have the most power at the school. They have the Academy’s trust, and the Security, Administration, Medical, and other contracts. Last of all, the Variants are kinder, less violent students, and many have a secret desire to escape. They have the janitorial and maintenance contracts. On his first day, Benson is forced to choose between these gangs, who, among other activities, have paintball games in which the losing team receives a punishment such as not being allowed any food for a couple of days.
At times, I found ‘Variant’ to be so suspenseful that I was constantly skipping pages to see if one of Benson’s enemies had finally had it with his controversial personality, and tried to off him. However, sometimes it felt as though Wells was adding details just for the sake of making readers edgy. As soon as Benson realizes how horrific Maxfield Academy is, his first thought is of escaping. His first impulsive attempt is immediately thwarted and he’s injured, but he continues to search for ways to get out with almost no attempt to be cunning.
I hope you check out this book, because it’s a really exciting read!
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