Name: The Hike
Rating: 3.991228070175439 (57 reviews)
ISBN: 9780399563850

Drew Magary

When Ben, a suburban family man, takes a business trip to rural Pennsylvania, he decides to spend the afternoon before his dinner meeting on a short hike. Once he sets out into the woods behind his hotel, he quickly comes to realize that the path he has chosen cannot be given up easily. With no choice but to move forward, Ben finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a world of man-eating giants, bizarre demons, and colossal insects.

The Hike

(Bre)anne✨

Thanks for everything, Pennsylvania, but fuck you eternally.

He had suffered depression as a teenager, and the worst thing about it was that he knew when it was coming. He could feel the dread wafting in, a soft breeze through a cracked window. One little taste of the hopelessness and he knew that more was on the way. It was unstoppable. In human form, it would’ve been twice Fermona’s size and just as charming. He was hopeless to resist it and, at times, he didn’t even try. It was seductive, the way it urged you to stop caring. It could overpower him so easily, which of course was one more thing to be depressed about.

Nothing about this land was permanent, not even him.

It is not a prayer if you do not mean it.

“Honestly, it’s probably not that different from the world you know. Some people are happy. Some people are angry. There are wars. I don’t know if time makes much of a difference. The world changes, but people act the way people always do.”

“You don’t have to say anything. It’s love. Love doesn’t require an explanation.”

“There’s no honor in surviving. It’s what you’re supposed to fucking do. Half the people who survive stuff don’t even know why or how they did it. I know I don’t. ‘Honor’ is some bullshit word men made up to jerk themselves off. You can get away with anything if you just say you did it with honor.”

“The last time you see a person is the thing you remember best about them.”

There comes a point in life when you’ve seen so much that hardly anything surprises you or bothers you, and that’s a shitty moment. Wisdom is so terribly overrated.

“But just remember that everything bad can be made good if you know how to use it.”

“The Hike just works. It’s like early, good Chuck Palahniuk. . . . Magary underhands a twist in at the end that hits you like a sharp jab at the bell. . . . It’s just that good.” —NPR.org “A page-turner. . . . Inventive, funny. . . . Quietly profound and touching.”—BoingBoing From the author of The Postmortal, a fantasy saga unlike any you’ve read before, weaving elements of folk tales and video games into a riveting, unforgettable adventure of what a man will endure to return to his family When Ben, a suburban family man, takes a business trip to rural Pennsylvania, he decides to spend the afternoon before his dinner meeting on a short hike. Once he sets out into the woods behind his hotel, he quickly comes to realize that the path he has chosen cannot be given up easily. With no choice but to move forward, Ben finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a world of man-eating giants, bizarre demons, and colossal insects. On a quest of epic, life-or-death proportions, Ben finds help comes in some of the most unexpected forms, including a profane crustacean and a variety of magical objects, tools, and potions. Desperate to return to his family, Ben is determined to track down the “Producer,” the creator of the world in which he is being held hostage and the only one who can free him from the path. At once bitingly funny and emotionally absorbing, Magary’s novel is a remarkably unique addition to the contemporary fantasy genre, one that draws as easily from the world of classic folk tales as it does from video games. In The Hike, Magary takes readers on a daring odyssey away from our day-to-day grind and transports them into an enthralling world propelled by heart, imagination, and survival.

A Novel

Heather

It was supposed to be another boring business trip. But when Ben arrives at his hotel and decides to check out a trail in the nearby woods, he’ll soon find himself fighting for his life and desperately searching for a way out. No longer will this be just another boring business trip. Because what he experiences on that trail will change everything about him. Everything he believes, everything he thought he knew about the world. The illusion of safety shattered forever. What a trip this book was! And I mean that in every possible sense of the word. LMFAO. Magary wastes no time and dumps us right into the thick of it pretty much off the bat. One minute Ben is enjoying an innocent hike, and the next he’s running for his life from murderers wearing the skinned faces of Rottweilers. And that’s just the beginning! Imagine your worst nightmares and then multiply them by 100. That’s what this book felt like. What follows is a fast-paced, completely unhinged horror-thrill ride of a read. Ben has been warned NEVER to leave the trail unless he wants to die. Every chapter brings another horror to the forefront of the story, each more outrageous and terrifying than the last. Just when I thought Magary couldn’t possibly come up with anything more bizarre, he’d prove me wrong. Again and again. I couldn’t get enough of it. The complete lack of control Ben has over his circumstances gives this book that edge. He doesn’t know where he is, how he got there, or whether he’ll ever see his wife and children again. The only thing he knows is that he has to keep moving. Keep surviving. Find the mysterious Producer, who might be his only way home. I loved how Magary never gave us a moment of safety. Every time Ben survives one nightmare, another is waiting for him. Reading this book felt like taking a trip down the 7 layers of hell. Literallyyyyy. And I have to mention the Crab?! LMFAO. He brought Eeyore vibes, but times a million, with a foul mouth and absolutely zero patience for anyone’s nonsense. I LOVED HIM. His miserable, sarcastic little personality had me laughing out loud. The Crab made this book for me. Seriously. The Crab deliverd some of the best dialogue. This book is more than just a fun horror read thought, because underneath all the scares there’s a story about family, about surviving, about never taking anything for granted again. I enjoyed watching Ben grow as a character, as he refuses to just give up - he only has one goal: to get home to his wife and family. Erm and that ending! Loveddddd! Wild, weird, unhinged, terrifying, and absolutely ridiculously entertaining. It’s like Magary took a survival horror video game, mixed it with the most twisted fairy tale imaginable, threw in a foul-mouthed Eeyore of a crab, and unleashed absolute chaos. And I enjoyed every single second of it. Mem Not Rottweilers 😭 my fav breed The Crab Shithead - AHAHAHAHAHA killed me every single time

Julie Strietelmeier

This is essentially like a black mirror cartoon episode with swear words making it the only "adult" part of the book. There's no message, no meaning, the ending is just like tv show "woaahh" ending that you as a human being don't inherit anything from. You just see and it and go "oh" and move on with your life. I therefore was left thinking just the experience of the book should have been enough and it most definitely wasn't. This needed to be an audiobook or just like a rick and morty type tv show you watch passively while cooking, it shouldn't have been written as a book. It's entertaining for some time as very specifically a concept I like is time passing fast in a book like "over the next 20 years"... but that's it or else it would be 1/5 cuz I like crabs. 

Arhant Srivastava

There were a few lulls in the story, but I have to admit one of the best books I've read this year. Engaging characters, bright world, fun elements, scary elements. I thought it was horror at first and in a way it was and in a way it wasn't. A book that is at once philosophical and also just pure fun. I wouldn't want to write an essay about it in school, or maybe I would because at least it'd have a lot of fodder to bullshit about. I wanted John Scalzi's book Starter Villain to be everything this book was. I feel like they have similar styles but Drew just pulls this off so much more elegantly. This book is for the kid inside us adults. It speaks to that side of us that feels fucked over by the world, but also we tell ourselves to keep going. Superb. 

"It'll only get easier from here, amigo. Everyone needs to have something inside them that no one else can have." - Ben

BC Hark

⭐4.75 stars 

There were a few lulls in the story, but I have to admit one of the best books I've read this year. Engaging characters, bright world, fun elements, scary elements. I thought it was horror at first and in a way it was and in a way it wasn't. A book that is at once philosophical and also just pure fun. I wouldn't want to write an essay about it in school, or maybe I would because at least it'd have a lot of fodder to bullshit about. I wanted John Scalzi's book Starter Villain to be everything this book was. I feel like they have similar styles but Drew just pulls this off so much more elegantly. This book is for the kid inside us adults. It speaks to that side of us that feels fucked over by the world, but also we tell ourselves to keep going. Superb. 

"It'll only get easier from here, amigo. Everyone needs to have something inside them that no one else can have." - Ben

Such an interesting, fun, and weird little journey this book takes you on.

Michelle Hruby

Ryan Mateyk

Colton Ray

After a while, I kind of wished for the weirdness to tone down and a story to appear. Alas, it did not.

Yaffa

I would say that this is somewhat of a modern rendition of a classic greek adventure. It's not a very deep one, just something of a light read. But the ending REALLY drives everything home and makes the book twice as good.

Joyce Gu

I am shook. I was pulled a little bit out of the story when the twist with the crab was revealed because I was like ugh, gotta relive this all over again? But the ending more than made up for it. A must read.

TW to be added later

I am shook. I was pulled a little bit out of the story when the twist with the crab was revealed because I was like ugh, gotta relive this all over again? But the ending more than made up for it. A must read.

Janice Hopper

I'll say at the start that I am one of the most literal people on earth. It makes me a great straight (wo)man for people who are good at jokes. It also means that most symbolism flies straight over my head. I say this so you know that if something looks symbolic to ME, it probably has huge flashing neon signs screaming "PARABLE!! SYMBOLISM!!!" all over it for someone more perceptive than I am. IOW, the symbolism is probably fairly heavy-handed for most folks. 

So: another reviewer called this a Bildungsroman. That's probably apt. Or a parable. It calls up a little of Job's (Bible Job) attitudes and trials. And it's kinda crazy on top of all that. I read a lot of fantasy, so talking beasts and magic castles don't faze me. A quest for a prize is something I understand completely. This book is all those things.

I listened to it pretty much straight through, over a couple of days. The narration (by Christopher Lane) was very good. I'm still a little bemused about the book. I'll probably be thinking about it for a while.

Jenny Walsh

I've never read a book that so QUICKLY sucked me in. It grabbed me and never let go. It's creative, surprising, funny, and profoundly thought provoking after you finish it. Wow. I originally listened to this one on Audible (and the narrator is GREAT) but I loved it so much I immediately bought a hard copy of the book.

Read it. Just wait til’ you meat Crab. ;)

Kohana

I liked how weird the book was but I started getting bored 60% in. Also, the ending did not do it for me.

Anastaciya

Mm, Alice in Wonderland for adults / on steroids 
It's a very trippy book. Very.

The Hike

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