If Variant teaches you anything, it's that school could've been substantially worse.
Orphaned 17-year-old Benson Fisher gets accepted for a scholarship at Maxfield Academy in New Mexico. From the moment he arrives, he realizes this school is unlike the "thousand schools" he's attended in the past. He's told to speak with Becky, who does the orientations at Maxfield. She is also 17. Two of the students warn Benson not to listen to "Isaiah or Oakland." Moreover, the school has no principal, teachers or any adult presence at all.
The students must perform assigned jobs, ranging from custodial, security and cafeteria duties to teaching classes with lesson plans--assigned by adults who monitor them through cameras. Everyone must obey four rules: no sex, no trying to escape, no refusing punishments and no violent fights. Disobeying the rules leads to detention--from which no one returns. The students have divided themselves into three gangs. Havoc (led by Oakland) wants to rule the school; the members of Society (headed by Isaiah) "play by the rules"; and the Variants are "everyone else." The only thing they share in common: "No one has any ties to home--no friends, no family."
Robison Wells's debut novel unfolds at a thrilling pace with a sympathetic protagonist who challenges the students' acceptance of their confinement and tries to unearth the truth behind this experiment--all the while plotting his escape. Despite an abrupt cliffhanger ending, the novel delivers a twist that will keep you doubting the humanity of every character until the last page. --Adam Silvera, a bookseller and intern at Figment