Never Say Die by Will Hobbs is a survival story written the way they should be–detailed, exciting, and personal.  Hobbs does take it to another level with an environmental message, but that message is long overdue in the survival genre.  In addition to this, Hobbs crafts an interesting character whose relationship with his brother is dynamic and realistic, and also manages to contribute to the overall plot rather than spawn into its own subplot, detached from the story.  This novel would be appreciated by fans of Gary Paulson and National Geographic, and even fans of dystopian fiction if they can accept that it’s not the end of the world.  Never Say Die is a wonderful read from an exciting genre.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 2 religious exclamations. 

Violence/Gore: Characters suffer numerous bear attacks and severe wounds and death, with description of blood, flaps of skin, and a bear eating a severed human arm.  There are also several National Geographic style scenes of animals eating each other, and 2 scenes where animals are killed with weapons. 

Sex/Nudity: None

Mature Subject Matter:

Half siblings, tradition, death of family members, responsibility.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None