Variant

Benson Fisher, a 17-year-old orphan who never stays in one place for long. The longest he ever lived with a foster family was 4 months and the shortest was 7 hours. After getting tired of moving from place to place he decides to join a school, Maxfield Academy. He arrives at the school with high expectations. Instead of feeling enthusiastic, he felt exasperated because the school rules sucked. All the students were locked in the building with no way of escape and they were not even allowed to talk to people outside the school. Also, detention was everyone’s nightmare, they say that anyone who goes there never comes back. There also were no teachers or adults, so the school was managed by students and rules.

He went inside the boys’ dorm and met Isaiah the head of Society who told Benson about the different gangs. Society is the rule followers, Havoc the troublemakers, and the Variant the ones in the middle. Benson chose Variant, he didn’t want to be in Society or Havoc. Days passed by quickly with Benson making new friends, Variant winning the paintball match, and the school announcing a dance. It was a couple of days before the big dance, there was another paintball game. Something tragic happened, Lily, Benson’s friend tried to get behind the walls but sadly didn’t make it. It was the day of the dance and Benson was going with a girl named Jane.

Jane and Benson went down to the cafeteria and danced and danced till their feet hurt. After that the went outside to take a long walk, suddenly, he saw Dylan, a Society kid, holding a pipe. He hit Benson hard with it causing him to fall on the floor and blackout. He started whacking Jane too, she collapsed on the ground and blood was spurting out from her body. Hours passed by, and Benson woke up to see Jane sprawled on the grass. She woke up a few minutes later than Benson and started walking to the basement and Benson obviously followed her. Both of them went down there and Jane suddenly pulled her ear out and plugged a wire in it. Benson was heartbroken….was his very close friend….an android. The next couple of days were unfortunate for the Vs and Benson because they lost their beloved friends.

Benson made a decision, he would tell the rest of the 70 students about Jane. He first showed the Vs and the leaders of Society and Havoc. Once they reached the basement one of Benson’s friends saw another body which shocked them…..Dylan. Everyone except most of the Society and some of Havoc wanted to try to escape. First, they walked for about an hour in the woods to reach the wall. Second, they knocked down a tree and climbed over the wall. Third, the group found a wired fence and went through it. But they found Ms. Vaughn who told them about the androids, about fifty percent of the group were androids who joined her side. 3 out of 32 people made it out, but Mason, Benson’s other friend smashed a wrench into Becky, he turned out to be one of the androids.

Benson and Becky barely escaped Mason and they were on the run. It was freezing outside and Becky couldn’t even walk. So, Benson set up a shelter for Becky to rest. While she was lying down he went to find help. After walking for what seemed like miles and miles, he finally reached something that looked like a barn. Benson had to see if they were going to help. After going into the barn, he saw someone very familiar….Jane, looked older than the Jane he knew. She asked him what he wanted and offered to help him. Benson agreed earnestly and took the tarp with him to Becky. He saw Becky in thirty minutes or so, Becky and Benson headed back to the barn. Jane welcomed them in, she called a couple of other people to try and heal Becky. They found out that the school was tracking them so they have to be on the run.

I really, really liked Variant!!! Reading the book got me on the edge of my seat. When reading Variant there is always a curiosity to know more about what is going to happen which made it VERY hard to put down. Even though there were a LOT of heartbreaking moments in the book like Jane and Mason turning out to be androids, there were some happy parts like the start of the dance. I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery and finding things out. I cannot wait to read Feedback the second book to learn what move Benson makes next.