Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2011
384 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
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.
"Starred Review. With its clever premise, quick pace, and easy-to-champion characters, Wells's story is a fast, gripping read with a cliffhanger that will leave readers wanting more." - Publishers Weekly
"Hard to put down from the very first page, this fast-paced novel with Stepford overtones answers only some of the questions it poses, holding some of the most tantalizing open for the next installment in a series that is anything but ordinary." - Kirkus Reviews
"Variant is a chilling adventure that feels just a little too realistic for comfort. A lights-on read!" - Aprilynne Pike, author of the Wings series
"With Variant, Robison Wells explodes onto the YA scene with a brilliant nail-biter of a dystopian adventure. A breathtaking race for survival in a badly damaged world." - Jonathan Maberry, author of Dust & Decay and The King of Plagues
"Just when you think you've figured out what's going on, Robison Wells surprises you with more twists. I read this book in one sitting because I had to know what would happen next." - Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International
This information about Variant was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Robison Wells lives in Holladay, UT with his wife and three kids. He recently finished graduate school, during which he read and wrote novels when he should have been studying finance. Find him online at www.robisonwells.com.
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