Far North

This is a terrific adventure story set in the Northwest Territories where two sixteen year olds and the uncle of one take a plane ride out of radio range. The inexperienced pilot landed the plane on a river near the top of a waterfall and then the engine stalled. The passengers were able to reach the river bank but the plane and pilot went over the falls. The boys, one from Texas, the other one aboriginal as well as his elderly uncle, had to spend the winter in the frigid conditions with little in the way of necessaries. Although the old man knew little English he was able to share his knowledge and using his old skills for Arctic living gave him some satisfaction and spiritual comfort. It was interesting to see the difference in show more characters and how they approached problems, of which there were many. I appreciated that Hobbs portrayed the respect Dene have for living creatures and the environment. Enthralling throughout.

Reading about the icy, snowy conditions was almost a physical relief as we in the British Columbia interior still suffer from record high temperatures, drought, and wildfires. show less

The first thing you should know about the Northwest Territories is that it's big. It stretches from the Yukon practically to within spitting distance of Greenland. The N.W.T. Is twice as big as Alaska. … See if you can picture this: only sixty thousand people live in the entire N.W.T., and almost a third of them live in the city of Yellowknife.

And so. When the pilot engaged to return two natives back to their home, decides to take a sightseeing detour to show Texas teenager, Gabe, some of the territory he'd been describing, Gabe sees first-hand how remote and severely beautiful it is. Having chosen to go to school in Yellowknife in order to be nearer his father, who is working on the pipeline, Gabe wants to experience all he can. But show more he gets more experience than he bargained for, when everything goes horribly wrong and the plane's engine dies. The other two passengers, Raymond, a classmate of Gabe's who's abandoned school, and Johnny Raven, an elderly Dene indian are hard put to help each other survive. Johnny Raven must rely on the strength of their youth, and they, in turn, must rely on his years of wilderness wisdom.

This was a heart-pounding read; the author did a great job of laying out the story, making you wonder how and what the three would choose at each juncture of decision. The setting was wonderfully evocative, the characters very believable, the writing very well done. show less

Canada’s Northwest Territory, a land of vast majestic forests, towering mountains, and massive waterfalls. But aside from the beauty it is also a perilous place where winter lasts from September to April and gets so cold if you were to spit it would freeze before it hit the ground. Gabe Rodgers experienced both in the trilling survival story, Far North, by Will Hobbs. Rodgers was an average 15 year-old from Texas, until he decides to move into a boarding school in Canada’s Northwest Territory to be closer to his dad who works on an oil rig. At the school he gets Raymond Province, a Dene (the native people Canada), as a roommate. For the first couple weeks of school everything seems to be going great, he and Raymond are friends, show more he’s beginning to adjust to the cold and he’s happy. One day his father arranges for him to be taken on flight with a bush pilot to see the wilderness of the Northwest Territory. The pilot’s job was to deliver two denes to their village in the Nahanni Butte. As luck would have it they were Raymond and his great-uncle “Jonny Raven”. In the middle of the trip the pilot decides to take a little detour to show them the waterfall, “Virginia fall” and there they have some unfortunate engine troubles which ends up making the plane stall after landing in the river above the falls, leading to the pilot’s death, the destruction of the plane, and leaving Rodger, Raymond and Jonny Raven stranded with a few weeks of food, a rifle with only three bullets and various other basic gear. Now they have to survive using only the skills that Jonny has developed over years of living off the land and hunting with ancient traditions, with the hammer of winter coming down on them hard.
The largest portion of the book focuses on their fight for survival and rescue, but a good amount centers on the effectiveness of the old ways that Jonny Raven uses, like honoring the animals he kills, building brush teepee and his knowledge of how to hunt. Another important theme is the loss of culture that is shown through Jonny’s attempts to teach Raymond the old ways and the incredible difficulties that come from Raymond speaking almost no slavey (the Dene’s language) and Jonny speaking only slavey. This is only intensified after Jonny’s unfortunate death. “They say our people have been living out here for thousands of years. Before rifles, before modern clothes, before hardly anything. They knew everything about the land… I don’t know anything.”(pg. 153) So much knowledge is lost over the generations, especially when things become modernized and eventually entire cultures are wiped out or forgotten, along with all the wisdom that they’ve found. The book was fast paced and always interesting to read. Constant foreshadowing, many times using Dene signs like ravens crowing at night being a bad sign, to many life and death struggles that seem to appear in the blink of an eye almost randomly keeping you on your toes throughout the entire book. This is a story that I’d gladly read again and again. -T.T. show less

10th grader Gabe Rogers heads to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to be nearer his father who is drilling for diamonds in a remote region. After his mother's death nine years earlier, he's lived primarily with his grandparents in Texas. He wants to see the north about which his dad talks. At his boarding school, his roommate is a boy from one of the Dene villages. Gabe's father arranges for Gabe to fly with a bush pilot one weekend. The flight just happens to be when his roommate Raymond decides to return to his village along with Johnny Raven, an older man from the village who had been in the hospital in Yellowknife. The pilot makes some unwise decisions and suddenly only Gabe, Raymond, and Johnny are left to survive in the extreme show more cold. It's a great story of survival for middle age readers, especially boys. The story kept me captivated. I stayed up later than I had intended just to finish the story in one sitting. show less

Gabe leaves his grandparents and a promising high school football career in Texas to be near his father in the Northwest Territories. His boarding school roommate, Raymond, is from a Native American village. The two share an easy acquaintanceship before a fateful plane ride that leaves them stranded in the wilderness with a Dene elder who does not speak English. Some summaries and reviews of the book make much of the clashing cultures, while, really, it seems that all involved are respectful of each other. Both boys, but especially Raymond, receive a bush education from the elder, who gets to live some of his last wishes before a sudden death that leaves the boys on their own. There is lots of action for Hatchet fans and the characters show more are solidly drawn. Native American cultural and issues are looked at from the outside by our European American main character, who does not judge or appropriate them. Fiction that touches on these subjects is difficult to find, so keeping a copy in a library system is recommended. Still, the search for excellent fiction with Native American characters written by Native Americans should not end here. show less

This was a great survival novel. I enjoyed the interplay of the characters, especially the Uncle. His efforts at communicating with the kids, who didn't speak his language were really good. The mix of adventure and character development was quite good.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys survival novels or novels about the north.

This was a great adventure/survival story that fans of Hatchet should enjoy.