Let's Hear It for the Boys

Published: October 2nd, 2012

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 350

Summary: Goodreads

Benson Fisher escaped from Maxfield Academy’s deadly rules and brutal gangs.

Or so he thought.

But now Benson is trapped in a different kind of prison: a town filled with hauntingly familiar faces. People from Maxfield he saw die. Friends he was afraid he had killed.

They are all pawns in the school’s twisted experiment, held captive and controlled by an unseen force. As he searches for answers, Benson discovers that Maxfield Academy’s plans are more sinister than anything he imagined—and they may be impossible to stop.

Variant blew readers away with its breakneck pacing, flawless plotting, and impossibly high stakes. It earned starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and VOYA, which described it as “an exciting, edge-of-your-seat read that combines psychological themes from works like Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, and Ender’s Game in a truly unique way.”

In Feedback, Robison Wells delivers all the answers you’ve been craving—with enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing until the very last page.

I have to be honest, I haven't managed to find the time to read this follow-up to The Variant, (see my review here,) but if it is anything like as good as the first, it will be well worth reading.  Let me know what you thought of it.

Let's Hear It For the Boys - Variant by Robison Wells

Published: October 2011

Publisher:

Running Time:

Audio copy: Overdrive

Summary: Goodreads

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.


Variant, starts out as a fairly regular boarding school story, but within a very few pages, the reader realises that something is very wrong.  It was interesting for me to see how the 'herd mentality' surfaces - how we accept things at face value and don't question as long as we are comfortable.

All it takes is Benson to question the morality behind the school and the problems start.  Natural leaders surface and finally people act together and try to escape.  I loved the big question that no-one seemed to be able to answer as to why the school was set up in the first place.  There is a major twist in the story, that ratchets up the tension as the story progresses which was very well done.  Then just as you think everything is going to be ok, there is an OMG ending that made me want to scream. Perhaps it was because I was listening, rather than reading, but I certainly was surprised where the story ended. 

This was a great audio version of a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and I am looking forward to seeing where  Mr. Wells takes the story.  This would also be a good title for those who enjoyed Maze Runner or Gone, or Lord of the Flies (yes I know there has to be someone out there who enjoyed that book, besides me).