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

claire

“I’m Bobby. I’m the Executive Producer. Love your work. Have a seat.” 

“I’m not gonna have a seat. I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

Ben took out the gun and aimed it at Crab. 

“I’m faster than that gun, muchacho,” Crab said.

(Bre)anne✨

For a long time, they stood there and stared at one another, dumbstruck. They didn’t say a word. They couldn’t.

“I can’t tell you or it’ll kill me.”

“No, but that would be a better title for it. No one ever knows what a producer does. It’s a shame, really.”

The clerk smiled at him. “Now you’re catching on.”

I put the path here. This is where I wanted to go.

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

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.

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

There they were. Two demon fuckers, trapped in that little Dustbuster.

Nothing about this land was permanent, not even him.

“I don’t know much, but I know that little bullets can do big, big things.”

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.

“People get bored because they’re boring.” Ben must have said this to his children a thousand times.

“I’m not a person. I’m a crab. I’m allowed to get bored sitting here in a shitty cave.”

“I wish you were bigger,” he said to Crab.

“I was wishing that long before you were, Shithead.”

Thanks for everything, Pennsylvania, but fuck you eternally.

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

One of the most stressful books I’ve ever read, it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time and the ending hit me like a ton of bricks

Victoria 

Megan Parrott

"The Hike" is a bizarre and strangely wonderful trip.

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

A man named Ben decided to take a hike. He didn't plan on being out that long. He had a business meeting later that night and a family to return home to the next day. He didn't expect to get lost. He didn't expect to stumble upon a scene of unimaginable horror, forcing him to run down a deep and twisting path that would lead him into a world of man-eating giants, bizarre demons, and colossal insects.

It made me cackle like throw my head back knee slap cackle and also curl up like an infant and cry for comfort. Intensely good book. It did so much by doing so little if that makes sense. I was right there with that main character. They wrote it in such a perfectly relatable and also completely new and foreign way. It amazes me every time. 

Maia Feruzi

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. ;)

“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

Elizabeth Jones

A man goes for a walk. 

This was a fun read. I love when I don't know what to expect from a story.

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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