4 Stars! Definitely not as great as the first but still a nice little addition to Brian’s Saga. Easy to read and quick. Enjoy!

Quotes:
- “He realized that he was not always right, was, indeed, often not right, and at the same time he found that others were not always wrong.” (p10)
- “Luck… You move and you watch and you work hard and you just keep doing that until luck comes. If it's bad luck you ride it out and if it comes the other way and you have good luck you're ready for it.” (p40-41)
- “Time… Time was so strange. It didn't mean anything, then it meant everything. It was like food. When he didn't have it he wanted it, when there was plenty of it he didn't care about it.” (p107)

Personal Response
I really enjoyed The River by Gary Paulsen because of the story line and how the book ended. I also really liked this book because it did not lack details on what Brian was going to do. The only thing I disliked was the length of the book because I felt it could have been longer than what it was.

Plot
The book started out when a couple of guys knocked on Brian’s door asking if he wanted to do an experiment for the government. Brian had them come back so his mother could be around. Derek was one of the men. When they came back, Brian and his mother decided that he would help them. Then Brian and Derek decided where they would go during the time they would stay out in the wilderness. Derek tried bringing items to make it easier to live out in the wild. Brian told him to keep the items on the helicopter, except the radio just in case something goes wrong. First thing they did was build a hut and made a spear for hunting. Derek was taking notes on what Brian was doing to survive. After a few nights, they were in bed and a storm came through. Derek got struck by lightning and went into a coma. The radio broke during the storm. Brian decided to build a raft and went down the river to find help. They were heading down the river and came to a waterfall. Brian got hurt because they went down the waterfall and Derek was nowhere to be found. Brian started swimming down the river to try and find the raft and he did. Derek was still tied down to the raft and was still alive. Brian found people by a dock and they helped Brian.

Characterization
Brian did not change that much throughout. The biggest difference between the first book to the next is he chose to live out in the wilderness for the experiment. In the first book, he got stranded and was forced to live and survive by himself. In the second book, he was stranded with another person and had to keep them both alive.


Derek changed a little throughout the book. He wanted to learn how Brian survived out in the wilderness without any essentials. He had doubts so he brought supplies. He changed when Brian would not let him take the supplies. He had to survive without the supplies. He got struck by lightning and went into a coma. He then had to rely on Brian to save him.

Setting
The book took place in Canada’s wilderness. It was important because that was where they decided to do the experiment. The book never stated when it took place. I believe it took place a couple of years after the first book, which was the late 1990’s. The characters did not have modern technology like cell phones, so the book could not have taken place much later than the 1990’s.



Theme
Heroism is the theme of this book because of what Brian did to keep Derek alive. Brian knew he could not wait for help because of the poor condition Derek was in. Brian built a raft to escape the wilderness, so Derek could get some medical attention. He was a hero because he never gave up on saving Derek, even when they went over the waterfall.

Recommendation
I recommend this book to anyone who likes adventures and quick plot twists. I recommend this book to middle schoolers and above because the book has no mature content. I also recommend this book to males and females because of the series of events that happens can intrigue anyone.

I think that this book was alright. I feel like Gary Paulsen has made better books. I feel like this is a let down compared to his other books but I still liked it. I still think that he is a good author but this book made me less impressed. The reason I didn't like it was because they made Brian do it again. He suffered through a tragic experience and they MADE HIM DO IT AGAIN OMG! I do understand that it had to be him though. That way he can teach the others how he did it the first time. Then he made them leave the stuff on the plane. I get that and agree but I don't think I'd ever leave my stuff. Then they were coasting. After awhile, Derek, the psychologist that made Brian do this again, got struck by lightning. I'm sorry if this sounds mean but that was my favorite part. It was actually action packed. Then Brian thinking he should just go down to a trading post about 100 miles away was just ridiculous. Look, I know nothing about comas but I'm pretty sure the body starts regulating. Also, Brian has more guts than I ever would so no judgement here. Something was bound to go wrong on the river, knew that from the very start, but it shouldn't be rapids. Too easy to guess. I'm sorry for coming into this review and bashing it the whole time. I really did enjoy it. It just seems to me that everything that happened was so predictable. Very well written but very predictable. I knew that they'd be found. I could guess lots of what would happen. However I still really enjoyed it. All and all, I wouldn't recommend this book but the first was was great. If you want to know this book, I'd tell you it to spare the time. Still, Gary Paulsen is an incredible author but this book did not trip my trigger.

Brian Robeson has survived 44 days in the northern countryside with only a hatchet. Now the astronaunts want him to do it again to learn how he managed to do this. Brian was given a partner named Derick who would take notes on what he was doing. Something tragic happens and Brian has to save Derick. Derick fell into a coma and he needs medical treatment before six days, or he will die. Brian finds a map of the closest river so he builds a raft. He travels a long way down river with his partner at his side, waiting to see civilization.
This book is basically another "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen, but Brian is put up to the task to save Derick. There was not as much excitement, danger, or caution as Hatchet, but it showed how Brian Robeson can make it out alive even in the harshest conditions.
The theme of this novel is that Brian Robeson and Derick are at a life or death situtaion. Brian is to show Derick how Brian made it 44 days in the cold with only a hatchet.
I would recommend this book to all aged men because it shows how a young boy can survive with only a few tools. This boy survived a plane crash, 44 days with only a hatchet against the elements and animals, and a raging river.

This was a quick read, and a very good book!! I love the storyline and I will definitely be reading the next few in the series!

Good book, an excellent sequel to the original one. Immersive and great plot, too!

George Fox
3-29-15

-The River by Gary Paulsen
-The main characters in The River are Brian, a fourteen year old boy and Derek, Brian’s guide in the wilderness.
-Brian, a fourteen year old boy, survives a plane crash that he lands in a lake in the wilderness.  He is alone and scared but survives for two months, until he is able to get help and returns home.  Now the government has asked him to go back and do it again, in order to teach people how to survive in the wild.  Brian is taken in the wilderness with a government survival instructor named Derek.  Everything is going extremely well, then lightning strikes, and the rest of their trip will be very different.
-Once again Brian is faced with unexpected challenges. He has to dig deep and relay on himself to survive.
-Overall I liked this book because the events were always changing, and there was a lot of action.  I would recommend this book to anyone who liked the book Hatchet, anyone looking for a good survival story, and anyone who enjoys reading action and adventure stories.

I realized that I never gave a review for Hatchet which is first book in the series, but not going back now. I also decided to mark this as a short story as all the books in the series (see other reviews) are all approximately 3 hours of listening time. Honestly, I really liked the entire series. Hatchet is about a 13 yo boy who learns to survive in the wilderness, for 54 days, following a plane crash. This one, The River, is about same boy (Brian) going back into the wilderness with a psychologist (Derek) who wants to watch Brian survive again while taking notes, so that Derek can help to train others survival techniques, who may be put in a similar situation. I loved the Brian refused to take anything with them and that he was honestly bored on this trip until Derek got hurt. Then the story took off. The writing, as simple as it is, really puts you in the wilderness with them. I really hope I can get my son to read this series when he gets a little older.

Kind of a let down if I am being honest. I really enjoyed Hatchet, but this one just seemed rushed.

So, again an overdrive pick from an author that I had not heard of prior to this, Gary Paulsen.

I listened to this book in a single sitting and it was just about 2.5 hours, so it must be a short book indeed. The audio was a bit dramatic, but I did enjoy it.. Peter Coyote has a very nice voice and he sounds very clam and serious which was fitting. He reminded me of the guy that narrates Robert Parker's books... Joe Mantegna. The cadence is about the same.. so always a good listen.

The story is about a 15-year-old boy that was lost in an airplane crash in a previous book. He was able to walk out of the where ever he was downed, a feat that has not gone unnoticed by just about everyone. Now, for the good of everyone that might actually need survival skills, and the blurp says, "Brian Robeson, a 15-year-old boy who spent 54 days surviving alone in the Canadian wilderness the previous summer, is hired by the government to again live in the woods with only two knives and surviving only by his wits, so the military can learn his survival techniques" hinting of course that the military sends a guy to observe and record what Brian does.

This doesn't work too well for the government guy who is struck by lightning and the hero, our 15-year-old pulls it all out of the shitter and rescues them both. I really enjoyed the listen, the story was well written, you can tell the author spent a great deal of time in the wilderness, but not to the point of being a show-off.

I liked Brian and think he is the starter for an adventurer. He was respectful and polite and seemed like a serious kid... one you would want to know if you are going to get lost in the wood for more than a couple of hours.

It was a 4-star read and I recommend it. You can, like I, read it without the first book HATCHET, but I intend to find that book and check it out as well.

Happy Reading!

brian is such a tool. only maybe it's not brian's fault, maybe it's gary paulsen's fault for really trying to determine the limits of a reader's tolerance. i am comfortable with suspending disbelief - i watched lost well past the comfort point because of some innate need to see something through to its end (thanks, dad!) that impulse applies here as well - i will read all the books in this damn series because, like kasia, i can't NOT read them. fortunately, these only take about an hour to read, and they do feed my greedy survivalist bug, so there's somewhat of a purpose to it all.

however. i have to call "bullshit." Hatchet i can understand: small plane - pilot has heart attack - brian is stranded in the wilderness with nothing and must learn to live in the wild. awesome. this one: brian is in a different wilderness with a man who works for the government to re-enact the experiment for the benefit of psychology and its applications etc. etc. and then lightning strikes old government johnny and he goes into lightning coma (this is all on the back of the book, relax) but really?? lightning?? brian, there's a point where you have to stop and think that maybe you're the bad seed in these scenarios. maybe just being near you leads to disaster, and the wilderness is the best place for you, where you can't destroy anybody else. think about it.

but at least there is this:

Out here, in nature, in the world, food is everything. All the other parts of what we are, what everything is, don't matter without food. I read somewhere that all of what man is, everything man has always been or will be, all the thoughts and dreams and sex and hate and every little and big thing is dependent on six inches of topsoil and rain when you need it to make a crop grow - food ...that's all i did - think about food. You watch other animals, birds, fish, even down to ants - they spend all their time working at food. Getting something to eat.That's what nature is, really - getting food. And when you're out here, having to live, you look for food. Food first. Food. Foodn

.

and me, stuffed on french toast and grapefruit, would have to agree.

come to my blog!

I thought The River was a very good and exciting book. The first book I read by Gary Paulsen was Hatchet. I enjoyed reading that book, so I looked for more books by him, and I found The River. The River is a book that takes place after Brian gets rescued from the wilderness after forty four days. When Brian got rescued, the government thought that he was really good at survival technique for surviving, so they asked him to teach the government official how to survive with nothing. Brian agreed and they set out on there journey into Canada.
When they got in the wild everything was looking good for them. All they had was two knives and a radio to communicate with the people back in the United States. Once they were about a week into their trip a huge storm hit and lightning hit the government official and put him into a coma. Brian then knew that he had to do something really quick. Derek, the government official, would die if Brian didn't find help but they had no way to call for help because the lightning had shut down the radio and it didn't work anymore. So Brian took Derek, who was still in a coma down the river on a raft to try to find help. Brian knew they were many miles from anybody else and he thought they were out of hope, but he stayed strong and continued down the river.
After about three days on the river Brian suddenly found what he was looking for. He found a tribe of Indians along the river, and he was so glad to have found them. Nobody even knew they were there because the area was so remote. After they got to the Indians they fed Brian and helped with Derek. Derek had not drank anything for two days and he was getting very close to dying. The Indians started a huge fire to attract attention to airplanes because they were looking for Brian and Derek since they weren't answering their radio call. After a while a passing airplane from miles away saw the smoke and came to rescue the men. They were both rescued and lived after what had been a terrible tragedy. I think this is a great book for all middle school boys to read, and I strongly encourage them to read it. It teaches and demonstrates how to live alone in the wilderness. I will now try to read more books by Gary Paulsen to see what Brian will do next.