I was given an ARC of Robison Wells Variant a few years
back, and had to write a review about it. I re-read it recently so this review
may be be different from my first one. Read more after the jump.
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 realizes that escape may be impossible.
The setting and story give off a Lord of the Flies vibe.
Much like the Gone series, violence is an important theme to the storyline,
making the narrative more sinister but also more fluid; the characters actions
make more sense. I enjoy a novel where nothing is what it seems, though too
much of it and you start feeling duped by the –perhaps condescending- Author. I
had that feeling a few times reading Variant, though those instances weren’t
often and they didn’t last long. Many characters are a bit two-dimensional,
though the ones that matter, like the main character, Benson, feature growth.
The story, a mixture of sci-fi, fantasy and Dystopia, makes reference to many
novels and themes of the genre, which is a nice metaphysical touch. I haven’t
read Feedback, the following novel so I have yet to find out how the story
progresses. The novel ends with a cliffhanger that is both shocking and quite
interesting and leaves the story open for much interpretation which I expect is
expanded on in the sequel.
You can buy Robison Wells’ Variant as well as his other
works here
And follow me on twitter and tumblr for more craziness.
No comments:
Post a Comment