#Diverseathon2021: Brian’s Hunt by Gary Paulsen (Brian’s Saga #5)
Brian’s Hunt
Series: Brian’s Saga #5
Author: Gary Paulsen
Narrator: Ron Mclarty
Published: January 1, 2003
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: May 18-19, 2021
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Millions of readers of Hatchet, The River, Brian’s Winter, and Brian’s Return know that Brian Robeson is at home in the Canadian wilderness. He has stood up to the challenge of surviving alone in the woods. He prefers being on his own in the natural world to civilization.
When Brian finds a dog one night, a dog that is wounded and whimpering, he senses danger. The dog is badly hurt, and as Brian cares for it, he worries about his Cree friends who live north of his camp. His instincts tell him to head north, quickly. With his new companion at his side, and with a terrible, growing sense of unease, he sets out to learn what happened. He sets out on the hunt.
Jessica’s Review:
As a part of May’s prompt for #Diverseathon2021 I listened to the Brian’s Saga series by Gary Paulsen and I have finally reached the last in the series: Brian’s Hunt.
Brian’s Hunt seems to pick up where Brian’s Return left off. This time Brian has a friend with him: He finds a severely injured dog that he takes care of. He begins to worry over the Cree Indian family who he has become friends with. In the ‘what if’ novel Brian’s Winter Brian comes across this family and they ‘rescue’ him and take care of him for several weeks before being able to go home. I still have confusion on if Brian’s Winter is actually not a what if scenario and did actually happen since the next books reference things that happen in that novel.
This is a bit of spoiler, but this novel will not be for the sensitive or younger readers as to what happens to the Cree family. They meet their untimely fate at the hands of a bear and the novel is descriptive in how Brian finds the family. Because of this Brian becomes determined to find the bear and he goes on his hunt.
I did enjoy listening to this series. I do recommend it for teenage boys, as our protagonist is a boy and we don’t get many of those in middle grade/ YA novels. Those novels tend to have female leads. I did not know it was a series until I decided I was going to read Hatchet for Diverseathon, and seeing they were all of a shorter length, I decided to ‘go all out’ and listen to the whole series as all were available through the Libby App. The only thing I was not a ‘fan’ of was the music added to try and enhance the suspenseful parts. I can see how the music would work for some but not others such as myself since I listen to these books while driving and the music was distracting at times.
The Brian’s Saga is recommended!
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For full details on this year long readathon, please click here.
And don’t forget about the awesome GRAND PRIZE at the end of the year. Click the link here for that information.
Beccie over at Bookies is having a giveaway for the month of May: She is giving away a copy of Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs (it is set in Canada). You can also enter this giveaway by entering through the Grand Prize link above.
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