Feedback (Variant)
If you haven&#x2019;t read Variant (2011)&#x2014;and you should&#x2014;tread cautiously into these spoiler-infested waters. Having escaped from the prison-like Maxfield Academy with the injured Becky, Benson comes across a town in the wilderness populated by the human versions of the teenage robots back at the school. What&#x2019;s more, these teens have a semi-psychic connection with their android counterparts, through which they can see, hear, and feel. One thing they can&#x2019;t do, however, is run because of the chips implanted in their brains. So Benson plots for a way to get them out from under the nefarious (and still quite mysterious) hand of Maxfield. In many ways, this is a remake of Variant, with Benson trying to outwit the overlords and head for freedom. However, the claustrophobic tightness of the first book is replaced here by a loose series of threats that never solidify into something worth rooting against. Newcomers will be thoroughly lost, but those who rightfully loved Variant will still hold on to hope&#x2014;because the final scene has one doozy of a revelation. Grades 8-11. --Daniel Kraus