Rating: 
Summary: I rooted for the bear
Review: (...) Who is this guy? Lying in his sleeping bag in bear country eating a meat sandwich without a care, toppling rock spires for fun, finding a beautiful "crystal cave" and then knocking pieces of crystal off with his ice axe (did he even carry them all the way out?), stashing food anywhere and everywhere, tempting death over and over in the most unbelievable ways (how did those snowshoes hang up in that crevasse anyway?)-- I really did root for the bear, page after page. Was this bear "vengeful"? Or a bear exploring poorly hidden food stashes, treating a stumble-bum human in a remote area as a potential food source... etc. Ascribing human emotions like rage or desire for revenge to a bear is like calling a storm "furious." It places a human face on a natural force, but it doesn't tell us anything true or useful. I agree with the other reviewers that parts of this seem made up out of whole cloth, or at least greatly exaggerated. Yes, it's an "adventure" story-- the friend who lent it to me loved it (hey, maybe he's five-star guy!) and couldn't put it down-- but nonfiction? I think not. Humans are a species who are doing incredibly well; bears are not. I can't help but think that the loss of two bears in exchange for this particular human was not a fair trade. (...)
Rating:
Summary: No stars---read Jon Krakauer instead.
Review: Don't bother reading this book...unless you're rooting for the bear. The narrative is poorly written and filled with the European male explorer arrogance of "first" ascents. He claims to have not intended to kill the cub because of his great respect for nature, yet at every turn is cracking towers, rolling boulders down cliffs and stealing crystal from caves. I just feel sorry for the cub who died at the hands of such an idiot.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bloody likely
Review: Fletcher knows that anyone with any knowledge about bears will see he's pulling their leg. He also knows that a lot of people will believe his story. But let's get serious. A 1200 pound female grizzly found in the interior of Alaska in May, after a long winter's fast? Not bloody likely. And verification of his story? If I had the adventure he describes with a 1200 pound grizzly, male or female, I would have someone fly me back to the scene for verification. Very easy to do. Fletcher, of course, did not do this. No pictures, no nothing. Fletcher wrote the book tongue in cheek to make money, and I hope it does make money, because it is a real page-turner. I couldn't put it down. It's a great tall tale, and like the best tall tales, it will fool a lot of people.
Rating:
Summary: Not bloody likely
Review: Fletcher knows that anyone with any knowledge about bears will see he's pulling their leg. He also knows that a lot of people will believe his story. But let's get serious. A 1200 pound female grizzly found in the interior of Alaska in May, after a long winter's fast? Not bloody likely. And verification of his story? If I had the adventure he describes with a 1200 pound grizzly, male or female, I would have someone fly me back to the scene for verification. Very easy to do. Fletcher, of course, did not do this. No pictures, no nothing. Fletcher wrote the book tongue in cheek to make money, and I hope it does make money, because it is a real page-turner. I couldn't put it down. It's a great tall tale, and like the best tall tales, it will fool a lot of people.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable!
Review: I don't buy the story. The author may have done this climb, but the bear story is a classic tall tale. There is just too much happening that can't happen. Mr. Fletcher knows climbing, but for someone who supposedly has climbed in Alaska before, he doesn't know much about bears. The most hilarious scene (after the one where he supposedly kills a grizzly cub by throwing his ice hammer at it)occurs when the bear rears up on its hind legs, jumps across a creek and charges him RUNNING ON TWO LEGS! Enough said. The most amazing thing is that he was able to sell this to a publisher here in the US. Revealingly, Amazon UK is selling the book in the "fiction" category, where it belongs. Accepting it as such, it does get quite suspenseful at the end.
Rating:
Summary: At Best An Excessive Embellishment
Review: I eagerly purchased this book based on a review in a magazine. What a mistake. I suspect the author had some sort of encounter with a bear and then dreamed up a story that somehow made it into print after 22 years. A bear would not behave as portrayed in the book. The circumstances of its demise is laughably unrealistic. The choices made as part of the climb are not those of an experienced climber. I expected much better and am disappointed a publisher would have so easily allowed nonsense to reach print in the form of a serious book.
Rating: 
Summary: Never happened!!
Review: I lived in Alasksa for 1.5 yrs and knew plenty of people with Bear knowledge. Grizzly bears in the interior of Alaska do not grow this large, or hunt humans for revenge.. The book maintained my attention but also is a crock! Also this guy almost died on several occasions and remembers every detail! Give me a break.!
Rating:
Summary: A "true" Tale of Fiction
Review: I looked forward to reading this book, but after finishing it, I felt duped. I can't remember the last time that I read a book of non-fiction that I so completely disbelieved. I believe that Mr. Fletcher climbed an Alaskan mountain and met a bear, but his Friday the Thirteenth style description of being stalked by a grizzly can't be true.
In addition, his cheerful description of toppling a rock spire just for the fun of it indicated a rather cavalier attitude towards the beautiful environment he professes to love
Rating:
Summary: unbelievable
Review: I love true stories, especially man vs nature true stories. However, I found this one flat out unbelievable. I felt let down and tricked. My intuition tells me this story is a tall tale. There is nothing concrete to justify my doubt just an overall feeling you get when someone is putting you on. That in itself would be okay if the tale was soooo good that it wasn't a waste of your time but unfortunately it is not. Luckily it is short.
Rating:
Summary: Wish "No Stars" Was An Option Here
Review: I normally do not write negative reviews, clinging to the adage "if you can't say something nice..." but people should be warned not to buy this awful piece of fabrication. Where was the editor? The fact checker? There is no way anything descibed in this book is even remotely true.
I can't believe the publisher put this completely unrealistic, badly written fairy tale on the market, much less promoted it as a true story.
A slap in the face to anyone who has ever actually climbed a mountain, visited Alaska, or seen a real bear.
Shameful.
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