Variant by Robison Wells review

Benson Fisher couldn't be more excited to have gotten the scholarship to Maxfield Academy. After bouncing from foster home to foster home he's finally getting the chance to really settle in somewhere & maybe have a normal teenage experience. Unfortunately that all goes down the drain as soon as he steps in the front doors. There are no teachers, there are no staff, there is razor wire & a tall fence surrounding the property and no one ever leaves. There are microchips in all the doors tied to each student's id & no one ever comes back from detention. Given all these circumstances, Benson finds himself very confused as to why all these teenagers are willing to stay. And then he starts to put things together.



No one here has family or friends. Nobody cares about these teens. And there is something supremely suspicious going on in regards to how things are run. There are 3 "gangs" at the school who bid on contracts for everything from grounds-keeping to security. So really, is it the other teens keeping everyone at the school... or is there someone higher up calling the shots? As Benson delves deeper into the troubling mystery surrounding this school, he's putting everyone in danger. The question is, who are they really in danger from & what is the worst that can happen?



Robison Wells has got a pretty good formula going in this book. Who could resist the rough & tough, down on his luck kid that refuses to take "no" for an answer? Benson has a bristly personality at best, but he is determined to convince everyone that things aren't as great as they seem & that everyone is being duped. Even more startling is just how well everyone seems to be taking their imprisonment. Granted they've all been there longer than Benson, but they've become complacent & complicit in their own restriction.



The dynamics between the 3 rival gangs really sets the tone for all character interaction. In a way, their divisions remind me of the gangs in S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Society is very much like the Socs wherein they claim to uphold the law & be of better moral character and yet they dole out punishments that never seem to suit the crime. They take orders without question & believe in their mission.



Havoc resembles the Greasers because these characters do the dirty work that makes the school continue to function, but they enjoy causing mayhem. They toe the line in regards to rules, breaking minor ones that won't cause too much trouble, but never crossing over into major infractions.



What The Outsiders didn't officially have is a third group of misfits, in the case of Variant we have the Variants (Vs for short). This other group is just that, it is the remainder of people who don't really fit in well enough in either of the other groups to have joined them. Benson winds up in this group because he doesn't buy into either of the other groups' missions. The Vs are consistent & kind of free-thinking, while the others are pretty rigid in their tenets.



The dialogue left something to be desired, but what can you expect from miscreants in an unsupervised boarding school? I think the language was intentional, so I can't fault it. The best part though is the twist. And let me tell you, this one will make you do a double-take. Truly masterful, Variant is not one you'll want to miss!



ARC graciously provided by Around the World Tours

Variant by Robison Wells review

Nostalgic Friday: The Outsiders

Welcome back to Nostalgic Friday! Since I love all things historical (culturally, physically, and personally) I do a post on Fridays honoring some awesome book that is a bit older. Many of them are books I enjoyed in my teens and others are books that I discovered as an adult that I think are relevant to YA readers.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton was originally released in 1967. I picked this up on a whim after catching the 1983 film of the same title, staring very young versions of Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, Diane Lane, and many others, on tv.

The Outsiders follows the struggle and strife of life on the outskirts of 1960's Oklahoma society. Ponyboy Curtis is a Greaser (lower middle class kids known for their long, greasy hair) along with his brothers Darry & Sodapop. Darry became their guardian when they were orphaned by a tragic car accident. Ponyboy's best friend Johnny is a shy, quiet greaser with a terrible home life. They all mostly do what they want, while trying to avoid confrontations with the Socs (Socials, the upper mid-class kids from the right side of the tracks).

One night after seeing a movie together, Johnny & Ponyboy are seen walking with two Soc girls who also saw the same movie. The girls' boyfriends don't take too kindly to the Greasers messing with their girls. While there isn't a fight immediately, later that evening when the boys are blowing off steam after fights at their respective homes, their are caught by some Socs in a local park. The boys start getting the snot kicked out of them and soon Ponyboy blacks out after nearly being drowned in the fountain. He comes to next to a shell-shocked Johnny and a dead Soc.

They flee the city because they know there's no way they'll get a fair shake in court. While hiding out in an abandoned church, they gather information from town from a fellow Greaser Dally. Eventually, when word comes that the Greasers and Socs are going to go toe to toe in a rumble, the guys decide it's time to return and face up to their actions, after the rumble. When they're getting ready to grab their stuff and head out, someone completely unexpected happens forcing them to make decisions that will forever affect how they are viewed in society.

The book means SO much to me. From the fact that Ponyboy reads from Gone with the Wind when they're out at the church to the way Darry and Ponyboy butt heads is just poetic to me. I felt like I really understood the Greasers and that the Socs really were just spoiled brats. You could fast forward to today and other than the "rumbles" the situation is still pretty much the same. This book is timeless!!

While sometimes it could get a little character heavy (there are SO many names and a few of them are only a few letters different) and there was a little too much testosterone, the plot was rather original and unique in its own right. It was so really and lifelike, almost like the author was writing about something he had actually witnessed. All the guys represent almost extremes of different emotions and personalities, the mixture of which can sometimes be volatile or calming.

This really is a must read book and the movie is quite true to the story. A fanmade movie trailer is linked at the bottom, check it out to see some famous movie hunks way back when. Anybody already read/seen it? If not, whichever one you do decide to experience, I know you won't be disappointed!

Nostalgic Friday: The Outsiders