After surviving the Canadian wilderness, Brian returns home. But his life will never be the same. He becomes famous, swamped with the press every where he goes. Eventually, it blows over, but not for long. One day, after school, there is a knock on the door. It turns out that there are these people who want him to give a demonstration of how he survived so they can teach other people. Once they find a suitable lake to live around for about a month, the plane leaves. There only form of communication is a radio tranmitter. When a sudden storm hits, destroying the transmitter and putting this strange survival teacher in a coma, Brian doesn't know what to do. The only way to get somewhere is the river, running out of the lake. Brian decides that he must build a raft, sail down the river until he finds an outpost that can help this man. But will either of them survive the river?

Super quick audiobook for this one only because when I was rehashing Hatchet with Chris he was talking about stuff that definitely didn't happen in Hatchet (bears? Wolves?! Surviving the Winter???) and I wanted to read about THOSE THINGS. None of those things happened in this book either.

This book was fine. The premise was way too far-fetched and the writing style, again, was dodgy. Despite all this, I still did get invested eventually. I do feel like riiiight when it was really getting going, it just....ended. The whole resolution was only 15 minutes of the 2 hour audiobook.

So are these the best books ever? No. Will I continue to read the Bryan saga? Probably. Both Hatchet and The River were just so quick and the story does suck you in a bit once you get over how ridiculous it all is.

"The River" By Gary Paulsen is sort of like a follow up to his earlier award winning book "The Hatchet". In this epic thrilling book Brian, the main character, is headed back to the wilderness to do it all over again. Of course he's not doing this under his free will, the government has asked him to do go back so that they can study the techniques that kept Brian alive. These techniques will be used by the military and astronauts who need these skills to survive. But Brian isn't going alone, he is accompanied by a government psychologist, Derek, who is observing him and taking notes.
Derek doesn't really understand the true methods of survival. He has brought along with them food and emergency supplies that will be of much help. But Brian refuses to use any of these items, becuase he knows that in a real life stuation, they wouldn't be there. The wilderness is not fit for Derek. The mosquitos devour him at night and the sun beats down all day. Brian catches all the food and builds the shelter. One night, during a horrific storm, Derek is struck by lightning. This is no longer a simulation in the woods, its now life a or death situation. Brian needs to transport Derek to a hospital because he's in a coma. The only way to do this is by building a raft and sailing down the treachorous river to get to the nearest trading post. if his map his accurate he might succeed but if not, Derek will surely die.
In an incredible effort to save Derek Brian travels for days finding the trading post. He goes through many obstacles but succeeds and saves Derk's life. I thought this was a great book because now Brian not only had to care for himself, but he had to care for Derek who was in a coma. He had to take on the extra burden of another person as well as himself and he did it. The plotline of the story was excellent and I liked how it developed. A real page turner indeed

In Hatchet, 13-year-old Brian Robeson was forced to spend 54 days alone in the Canadian wilderness when the bush-plane pilot had a fatal heart attack and crash-landed in a lake, leaving Brian with nothing but his hatchet.

Now a government survivalist organization wants him to do it again, so they can improve the way they teach survival techniques. Things are going fairly smoothly - well, Brian learned a lot in his ordeal - but lightning strikes the government man through their 2-way radio, sending him into a coma and frying the radio. This time he doesn't even have his hatchet -just two pocket knives, a map, and the clothes they're wearing. But somehow Brian must get an unconscious, injured man 100 miles downriver to a trading post before Derek dies of dehydration.

Too often, a sequel doesn't live up to the original story, but this one definitely does. Once the lightning struck, I could not put this down.

So many students have fallen in love with the survival story, "Hatchet," by Gary Paulsen. In this book, "The River," readers reconnect with Brian as he enters the wilderness once again and is forced to find his way to safety. This is a quick read, but each moment is captivating and full of twists. I own multiple copies of this book for good reason - it hooks so many readers and draws them into the written word!

Guided Reading Level R

Brian goes back out into the wilderness with one person. He goes with someone that wants to teach others about the wilderness ,so they can have people know what to do in the wilderness. But some things happen to Brian and Derek that they have to leave camp and go to a trading post down river. Even bad things happen when they go on the adventure. I think that this is a great book because it tell you about the outdoors ,and what to do if your stuck with someone in the wilderness that is hurt.

The book “The River” by Gary Paulsen is very suspenseful and shocking. To really understand the book you must read the first book “Hatchet.” “Hatchet” is the beginning to Brian’s story. Brian was put on a plane which later crashed on a deserted island up north. The pilot was killed and Brian had to survive all by himself, and he did. In “The River” the government decides to send Brian back to the wilderness. This time he’s not alone, he’s accompanied by another boy named Derek. Derek and him were successful at first but then Derek became ill and very dehydrated. Brain did all he could to help Derek. Finally Brian signals someone and the two are rescued and survived.

I give “ The River’ 5 stars. One reason was because I enjoyed the suspense of not knowing when or if they will be saved. Another reason I gave the book five stars was because it was a great sequel to one of my personal favorite books. I really enjoyed “Hatchet” and the storyline of it. The shocking plane crash and the fight for survival. The constant fear and thought that Brian was not going to survive. It all came back into the second book. I also really loved the fact Gary Paulsen brought in another character. This caused a lot of stress for Brian and a lot of suspense for the reader on weather on not Brian AND Derek would survive. This constant fear and feel of suspense causes the reader to not want to stop reading.

“The River” was very riveting. Although it is like some other books Gary’s take on the topic really stands out. The way Paulsen brings in the suspense and problems, then assists the problems, and brings them back, really creates a good story. It was very intense and it keep the reader reading. Also when Paulsen makes it seem like Derek was going to die and Brian couldn’t get him help fast enough really brought excitement to the book. This excitement and suspense in both books, make me want to read more.

2.5 stars

The book The River is about the boy nmaed Brian and he is also the main character from Hatchet. In this book three guys come to Brian's house to see if he would like to go back to the same forest that he was stranded in and spend some time camping there. The reason is the men wanted to know how to survive in the woods. Brian will teach one of the men how to survive in the wilderness so then they can teach it to other people. At first Brian thought that it was a crazy idea, but he decided that it was not that bad of an idea because he would be helping people.
They chose a lake that was about a 100 miles away from the lake that was where Brian was first stranded. At first they were going to have a lot of gear with, but then Brian said to leave the gear in the plane and only bring the radio just in case they need help. Everything seemed to be very easy from the beginning of the trip. Brian and the man that came with his whos name is Derek were able to find food and shelter right away. Brian thought that it all came to easy, but that changed very quickly.
One night during the trip there was a huge storm and the two people and the radio were shocked by lightning. Brian was fine, but Derek was in a coma and the radio was broken. So Brian decided to build a raft and sail down a river that ran out of the lake where he was at. On the map that they had it showed a building down the river where Brian thought they could get help. When Brian got to the building it was a cabin and they were able to get help. Derek got out of his coma and was fine and Brian was also fine. Derek gave Brian a canoe because Brian wanted a canoe instead of a raft on the river.

Better than the first!

I am really glad I continued this series. I’ve developed a fondness for Brian and for Gary’s writing style. The River successfully pulled me in.

The River is the first of a few sequels to the book Hatchet. Brian finds himself back in survival mode once again, and it’s an intense new journey. The story starts out a bit questionable and slow but right around the 40% mark, I was completely traumatized by the turn of events because up until then you are waiting and wondering what is going to go wrong. Then it was a complete race to the end.

Since this was one of the series my husband recommended I read I asked him how he managed during this particular turn of events, and he admitted he stopped reading the book after that lol. So feeling betrayed, I pushed myself along into perusing through the rest of the book, so I could finally fill him in on how the story actually ended.

“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.”
—Brian

Brian may have left the woods but the woods never left him. The imprint of survival instincts have lurked in the back of his mind since his experiences in Hatchet. We really get to see how he has matured as a character since then. I suppose once you feel true hunger though, it’s impossible to forget. You are forever changed. Everything about survival is food.

Immediately when plunged back into the wilderness, an innate way of existing demands control over Brian. He is instantly in tune with the sounds of nature and the impending weather forecast. He is intuitive and focused on the fundamental human core needs. It’s pretty amazing to read about and ponder how you would react yourself in such a situation. I’m pretty sure I’d totally let a teenage boy outdo me and just lay down and wait for death to take me haha! The mosquitoes alone would destroy my mental strength.

I am really looking forward to completing the Hatchet series in the future!