Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 5-12. In this sequel to Hatchet [BKL N 15 87], one of the best and most popular books of the 1980s, Paulsen takes the wilderness adventure beyond self-preservation and makes teenager Brian Robeson responsible for saving someone else. It's a year later, and Brian, now 15, is persuaded to repeat what he did in Hatchet--survive for a period in the Canadian wilderness. This time, though, he won't be alone; Derek, a government psychologist, will take notes so that others can learn from Brian's experience. Everything goes well, in fact, too well; it's like a pleasant camping trip, until Derek is hit by lightning and lies in a coma. With no tools except a knife, Brian has to build a raft, navigate the river and the wild rapids, and haul Derek to the trading post about 100 miles downstream. It's all very well for Paulsen to insist that luck is part of survival, but there's luck and then there's wild coincidence--are we really supposed to believe that Brian would find all the logs for the raft conveniently cut for him right there in a beavers' clearing? As usual, Paulsen overdoes the Hemingway-type cadences and sonorous repetitions, especially when he's talking about Life. But at its best, the terse, almost monosyllabic writing perfectly expresses the basic struggle in the woods. There's candor not only in the dark scene where Brian is tempted to ditch Derek and make it alone, but also in the undramatic final admission that Derek would probably have been all right even if Brian had not made the run. Young people (including the most reluctant readers) will find the survival detail as gripping as ever, and when rooted in physical fact--in what the final chapter title calls "Measurements"--the plain words tell a great story of rebirth and connection. ~--Hazel Rochman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Nearly two years after being marooned in the wilderness--the experience recounted in Hatchet --Brian agrees to go back, accompanied by Derek, a psychologist who wants to study the strategies and especially the mental toughness that brought Brian through. At first he chafes at the relative comforts, the lack of true challenge, this second time around. All that changes when Derek is struck by lightning and falls into a coma--Brian must raft Derek to the nearest outpost, 100 miles downriver. In attempting this sequel Paulsen has set himself a difficult task, which he meets superbly. The new adventure is as riveting as its predecessor and yet, because of significant differences in the nature of its dramatic tension, is not merely a clone. The experiences of Hatchet , distilled by time, inform Brian's character throughout, so that the psychological terrain of the sequel is fresh and distinct. The older Brian is more reflective and accepting, and these qualities add new dimensions to his interactions with nature. And returning to the north effects a subtle but startling change: instantly, almost unconsciously, Brian finds himself absorbing every detail of the scene around him--taking the scent of the wind, reading the shape of each cloud--and in the process turning inward, finding words superfluous in the face of the wild. There is no dearth of action and physical suspense here, rendered in terse, heart-stopping prose. Paulsen, as always, pulls no punches: a scene in which Brian fantasizes about cutting Derek loose from the raft is as powerful as they come. Ages 12-up. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
In a poorly conceived sequel to 'Hatchet' (Penguin), Brian returns to the wilderness at the request of a government survival school. When a freak accident sends his companion into a coma, Brian rescues him, floating him down the river on a raft. The vigor and veracity of the short river section does not compensate for the ridiculous premise, incredible coincidences, and unsatisfying ending. From HORN BOOK 1991, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A sequel to the most popular of Paulsen's three Newbery Honor books (Hatchet, 1987), based on an unlikely premise-- government researchers want Brian to reenact his northwoods survival so that his strategies can be observed and taught to others. Derek, a young psychologist, and Brian are dropped off at another Canadian lake, near the first one, equipped only with knives and a radio that Derek has promised not to use except in a dire emergency. Everything goes all too smoothly until their camp is struck by lightning, zapping the radio and leaving Derek in a coma. Brian manages to float Derek 100 miles down a river to a trading post, thus saving his life. The lyrically described details of Brian's adventure-- building a fire, making a raft--are of most interest here; for all its graphically evoked perils (rapids, the craft's unwieldiness, exhaustion), the journey's successful outcome seems less in doubt than did the outcome of the compelling autobiographical wilderness experiences described in Woodsong (1990). In Hatchet, Brian discovered his own strength, adding depth, complexity, and tension to the story; here, that strength is a given--as he himself points out. Perfunctory in design but vividly written, a book that will, as intended, please the readers who hoped that Paulsen, like Brian, would ``do it again.'' (Fiction. 11-14)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
