Feedback [Paperback]

Variant was such a good book, I had to read Feedback when it came out, but Feedback doesn't have nearly the same sizzle. Benson is now outside the Academy . . . and that's the problem. We now have a funky robot town in place of the Academy and it just doesn't work as well. Also, Benson doesn't have the same attraction as before. Here, there is no single minded overriding purpose or goal that binds the story together from beginning to end. But most disappointing was the end. It came and went so fast, like turning off the bedroom light, and it just seemed too cheesy and shallow to me. So, if you've read Variant and are thinking about Feedback, don't. Keep Benson and Becky in your memory as they were at the end of Variant.

Feedback by Robison Wells is the sequel to the fantastic YA sci-fi thriller Variant, and as far as YA sequels go, this one is pretty good. This is far from a standalone book - you will need to have read Variant before starting this book - and I will have to spoil some events in the first book in order to properly review this book. So if you haven't read Variant, go do it now, it is a fantastic book. If you have read Variant, then read on and let this review help make it easier for you to decide whether to buy this book right now, or a few minutes from now.

***WARNING: THE FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS AND TRACES OF NUTS***

Okay, so now that I've put the spoiler tag up... Feedback continues the story of Benson, having just instigated a mass escape from that crazy 1984 Big Brother-esque social experiment high school and having just discovered that more than half the students are actually highly sophisticated androids. On the run with the severely injured rival gang-member Becky, Benson makes for the nearest village hoping to get some medical aid. What Benson finds is a village full of all those students that were sent to detention in the first book, and it dawns on him that this social experiment conspiracy is much further reaching and much more insidious than he originally thought.

So the first thing you will notice with Feedback is that Wells has immediately upped the ante, taking all of the established consequences from the first book and making them more severe to a wider range of people. Escape is no longer the main motive here, this story is all about survival and what it means to every single person. Some people are happy to fit in with the establishment, some people are tired of fighting, but some people refuse to be held captive and continue to fight despite the consequences. So Wells does what any sadistic author would do and puts all these different character types into a confined space and keeps prodding and prodding until they react. It makes for a fascinating read, and does a great job at both creating tension and building empathy.

While Feedback is very much a character study, this book is more about showing what it takes to reveal their true nature rather than growing them across a traditional arc. I love how Wells plays with the different aspects of character interplay in this story, and it certainly does a lot to make you think. But... I just wasn't a big fan of Benson in this book. He continued to be selfish, he continued to make the same mistakes, and he just came across as having a very abrasive personality. On the plus side, it made me question whether Benson was human or android the whole way through, which is a very clever thing to do in a book where all the characters are paranoid about whether or not you are who you say you are. I just couldn't come to care for Benson or his plight, and I didn't like the way in which he continued to do things that would jeopardise the survival of so many other people.

Okay so that last paragraph seems like a bit of a downer but I really did enjoy this book and I think it is something you should definitely give a try. The dystopian world Wells has created is one I want to spend more time in, especially given the massive tease we were left with right at the end. The story, the tension, and the character case studies should be reason enough for you to go pick this up and start reading now.

The reason I loved Variant so much was because Benson was a pretty sharp kid. He wasn't one of those annoying main characters who can't see the obvious right in front of his face. In Variant, he picked up rather quickly that something weird was going on and he was pretty consistent about figuring it out. I loved that I didn't expect the robot plot. That was great.

In Feedback, Benson was about the biggest idiot in the world. He is the only one who can go get help for the other kids, but does he? Nope, he just runs around in circles whining and making excuses about not leaving Becky. What was up with the Becky thing, anyway? In Variant, Becky was one of the most clueless and annoying characters. In fact, she was the first one I suspected of being a robot. Now, for some odd reason, Benson is obsessed with her. It doesn't make any sense. He was in love with Jane during the last book. He barely knew Becky.

Another problem with Feedback was that there were too many characters. None of them were distinctive from the other. In Variant, you could tell who was who by the roles they played in the school. In the town, no one has a personality, so I couldn't keep up with all the names thrown at me.

I did like some of the book. The town was a nice touch, and the implants explained why the kids didn't leave. But it seemed like there wasn't really enough storyline left to take up a whole book. No one really did anything for most of it. All of the important events could have been tacked onto the first book, just another 50 pages or so would have wrapped the plot up nicely. I don't regret reading it, and if you enjoyed Variant, I'd certainly encourage you to read Feedback. Just note that this book does not live up to the brilliance of Variant.