it is the best book ever i woul never put it down.

There was something about this book that got me. For such a short book l didn't expect to really like it, and wasn't sure how if it would live up to the first book-- but l was proven wrong in every way!
I wasn't sure what l was going to read, but l looked over my TBR cart and decided to read a little bit of this and see if l wanted to read it at the moment. It gripped me in from the first page. I felt like l was right there with Brian. Gary Paulsen's description makes you feel what Brian is feeling and understand him. I felt like the writing was pretty good as well. I definitely recommend this book!

i hated this book. it felt like trudging through water in heavy shoes. it can be done, but it’s not fun at all. the whole thing was short and easy to read, but SO. BORING. i’ve read stories from my english textbook that are more interesting than this. it’s just cheesy and the way they try to mimic teenage thought is hilarious. the only reason why it was so easy to get through was because skipping whole pages didn’t change anything. i could probably skip chapters at a time and still know what was going on.

Hatchet was really good but The River just felt like it was grasping for straws, and some books are just that good that they don't need a sequel.

The River by Gary Paulsen, is a sequel to his famous book Hatchet. The River is about Brian Robeson, who is now fifteen years old. Two years ago, Brian was stranded out in the Canadian wilderness for fifty-four days after crashing in a plane. Two years later, everything had returned to normal for him except one day when a man named Derek Holtzer visited him and his mom. He asked them about Brian going back into the woods to redo what he did two years ago, so that the military could use some survival techniques that Brian used. So Brian went back into the woods with Derek, so that his survival techniques could be observed. While they were there, Brian was showing him all the things that he did the last time like, how to find food, a shelter, and other things. However, one night, a bad storm came through and struck their camp that they made. Derek got his radio out, but when he did, lightning struck a tree nearby, which hit Derek. As a result, Derek was knocked into a coma, and now Brian had to help Derek survive the coma. Brian found a map in Derek's briefcase, and decided to take him to a nearby trading post. So he built a raft to carry Derek there, but they encountered many problems. Brian dealt with lack of sleep in taking him to the trading post, and also, they encountered very strong rapids, which separated them from each other.

Wow! This was a good 'wilderness-adventure' story!

Being one step above Hatchet, by the same author, The River brings the main character, Brian Robeson back into almost the same wilderness area in which he found himself struggling to adapt and survive in. While seeming to be not as long as Hatchet, it was still riveting enough to keep me interested and reading through till the end.

Like many fictional stories, it has its fast-paced parts, and it has its fair share of slow parts...Like a winding river, you never know just what might happen next until you flip to the next page. This being said, I feel the ending came a little to suddenly. But at the same time, I'm glad I was able to finish it in a little over a month. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys wilderness-adventures! I give this novelette a full 5 stars for this fact alone.

Read it! Even if it's not your usual genre, you just might like how it goes.

Decent sequel. It actually seems like a fun trip if someone weren't hurt!

This book was ok I thought. I mean it could have been better but it was still alright. Gary Paulsen did a great job as usual of always keeping the reader interested and in he used very good words to make it seem like we were right there with Brian the whole time. I thought the storyline was kind of stupid though because it didn't really make sense to me of why the government would send Brian back into the woods were he almost died. If you didn't know in the first book which I also recommend reading Brian has to survive in the woods by himself for like 60 days. So the storyline I thought wasn't the best but overall it was a good book the way Gary Paulsen used his words to make you feel what Brain was going through really saved this book from being pretty bad. Overall pretty decent book and I recommend you read. Honestly it starts off boring I’m not gonna lie but when you get about half way done then it starts picking up. There is lots of excitement and fun and this book and I hope you pick this book up sometime and read it!

Recommended to follow-up Books 1 & 2: Hatchet & The River with this one, then continue with the others in publishing order.

Pure nostalgie naar mijn kindertijd waarin ik met Brian op avontuur ging in de wildernis. Nu leest het iets te snel en de personages en situaties zijn iets te weinig uitgewerkt. Toch wel weer van genoten.

Oh my gosh you guys, this is the second book in The Hatchet series, and it is absolutely riveting. It's so well written, it's an absolute joy to read aloud — this series is in my top five favorite books to read aloud. It is poetic, rhythmic, vividly descriptive, musically dramatic, psychologically deep and insightful. I loved it just as much as the kids, if not moreso. It is definitely intense with tough substance like survival through pain and near death experiences. It's probably best for ages 10 and up, although I read it to my 7 year old because he loved Hatchet and has been begging me to read it again or to keep reading the series. It's definitely a book that teenagers will like as well as adults. It's truly memorable and takes you on a psychological journey of depth and wisdom with life lessons of heroic proportions. It's definitely for nature lovers, wilderness wanderers, and those who love adventure and suspense. SO GOOD. Gary Paulsen is a stud in the realm of middle grade and young adult novels, having written well over 200! His own emotional turmoil and difficult childhood is powerfully voiced in his stories along with his love of books/reading (how he escaped his painful family life and learned to heroically overcome) and his adventures running away from home and joining a carnival and surviving on his own. Amazing.

Not quite as strong as the first book, but it was a decent follow-up. There's not much I remember about it now as I read this back when I was school-age although I don't remember the exact year. I had enjoyed the first book and heard this one was out so I wanted to see how Brian's story continued. Now there's a total of 5 books but I'm not sure if I should check the rest out or leave it as it is.