Now this is a book I’ve been waiting to read for a long time! Almost every blog I’ve seen review it has really liked it. And the premise of the story was totally intriguing. And I have to say, I was not disappointed! I was able to get a good deal on the book from the book fair at my school in September, $6.99, probably about what I would’ve paid for the paperback with my employee discount at Barnes and Noble, but this way I was supporting my school.
Variant is about a school, a private school called Maxfield Academy. Benson Fisher is a foster kid. He’s moved from family to family. The last one he was with had him working at their store all the time. But not getting any money for it. So he saw this school and applied, and he was lucky enough to get in, or so he thought. When he got to the school, things were a bit weird. The woman who drove him to the school, Ms. Vaughn, dropped him off and never got out of the car when he got there. He soon found out there were no adults actually at the school. All teenagers, who ran everything. Security, maintenance, food, etc. The classes were taught over a tv, and the subjects of those classes were unusual, aesthetics, field surveying, and also scheduled paintball games. And no way out. No connection to the outside world, no phones, no internet, nothing. And what’s weird is that there is a ton more classrooms than are needed for the number of kids. It’s not quite like The Lord of the Flies, although Benson heard it was like that at the start, the gangs would fight so much that there were actual deaths. And now the “gangs” or groups, have come to agreements on how to deal with all of this. Yet when Benson first gets there it’s almost a fight to try to get him to join a gang, each gang tries. But he decides to be a V or a Variant. He learns that breaking the rules can mean a detention, and most people don’t come back from detentions, and are later told they’re dead.
So, I have to say that while the people here try to assure that it isn’t like Lord of the Flies, in a way it still is, just maybe a controlled experiment. And Benson tries to figure out that if it’s some kind of an experiment, what in the world are they trying to find out?
And man, what a huge cliffhanger!!! While I’m ready for more single books, non-series, I am eager to see where this story is going. I’m guessing we still have some big surprises in store, as there is no way we know the whole story yet. I can see this being a popular book for the Truman award, so I have a feeling it will be a definite one on the list for next year.
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I haven't read Lord of the Flies so I think I'm in the clear for this book! It sounds psychologically awesome!
And kudos to you for supporting your school! 🙂
Have a good week Lisa.
Amber Elise @ Du Livre
Lord of the Flies is good, you should definitely read it!
I'm reading this for a norwegian blog tour in november and I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't read any reviews except this yet, I just thought the story sounded really creepy and good. I agree with you on being ready for more single books. There are so many series and so little time:-)
You won't be disappointed! It was very good.
This sounds awesome! I love how it's a thriller:)
Lots of action and suspense in this book.
I just finished reading Variant about a week ago and I LOVED it!! I picked it up at my library and I read it in one sitting. Did not see the twist coming!!! Just ordered the second book from Amazon and I can not wait to see what happens.
It was one I hated to have to put down. When is the second one coming out?
I love this kind of books. The premise sounds really interesting! It sounds a little bit like The Maze Runner for me. The whole thing about teenagers being in charge and the experiment thing, I think I'm gonna love it. Just like you, I've seen so many good reviews of this title on blogs that I'm really looking forward to read it. Thanks for you review, it just makes me wanna read this book even more!
I was thinking of The Maze Runner a little bit too. It has the elevators in this book that bring them things they need and the food, clothes, etc. But no way for the kids to figure out how to get where the elevator goes.
This sounds good. I heard they have this at the library by me, so I'll have to read it 🙂
Definitely get it on your TBR list! It was a good one.