And Another Thing...

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #6

by colfer-eoin

AN ENGLISHMAN'S CONTINUING SEARCH THROUGH SPACE AND TIME FOR A DECENT CUP OF TEA...

Arthur Dent's accidental association with that wholly remarkable book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has not been entirely without incident.

Arthur has traveled the length, breadth, and depth of known, and unknown, space. He has stumbled forward and backward through time. He has been blown up, reassembled, cruelly imprisoned, horribly released, and colorfully insulted more than is strictly necessary. And of course Arthur Dent has comprehensively failed to grasp the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

Arthur has finally made it home to Earth, but that does not mean he has escaped his fate.

Arthur's chances of getting his hands on a decent cuppa have evaporated rapidly, along with all the world's oceans. For no sooner has he touched down on the planet Earth than he finds out that it is about to be blown up...again.

And Another Thing...is the rather unexpected, but very welcome, sixth installment of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It features a pantheon of unemployed gods, everyone's favorite renegade Galactic President, a lovestruck green alien, an irritating computer, and at least one very large slab of cheese.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Fantasy, Comedy, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy

340 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 2009

Reviews

[Federico DN · Rating 3 out of 5]

43.

Dent, Trillian, Ford, Zaphod and Random, are miraculously saved from the destruction of the planet and they travel to Nano, a little refuge with the last survivors of Earth. But this idyllic oasis in the middle of the universe has some problems; mainly, the humans living in it.

Some good moments and funny scenes. In all honesty an entertaining reading, but far from being anything memorable. Does helps a lot to remove some of the awful aftertaste of the dismal ending in book #5.

It’s a rare thing when an author tries to continue the legacy of a previous one. Many find just the idea of it preposterous, so there’s a lot of unjustified hate for this book, and the author. Personally I reserve my contempt not for authors that merely try, but for those who try and fail miserably at it. And I truly think Eoin Colfer is not one of those cases. Sure there are noticeable differences in style and whatnot, and no one will ever replace the beloved one and only Douglas Adams. But in the vast land of imitations, I dare to admit Colfer is at the very least a decent try.

Would the late Douglas Adams approve this? We’ll never know. But his surviving widow did, and one would think she’s the one that knew him best in life. So maybe that means something.

Some people consider this book part of the series, others do not. I find the discussion moot. Like I’ve said before, for me it all ended hea in #4.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[2009] [275p] [Humor] [2.5] [Not Recommendable]
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★★☆☆☆ 0.5. Young Zaphod Plays It Safe [1.5]
★★★★★ 1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
★★☆☆☆ 2. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [2.5]
★★★☆☆ 3. Life, the Universe and Everything
★★★★☆ 4. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
★☆☆☆☆ 5. Mostly Harmless
★★★☆☆ 1-5. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
★★★☆☆ 6. And Another Thing... [2.5]

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43.

Dent, Trillian, Ford, Zaphod y Random, se salvan milagrosamente de la destrucción del planeta y viajan hasta Nano, un pequeño refugio con los últimos sobrevivientes de la Tierra. Pero este idílico oasis en el medio del universo tiene algunos problemas; principalmente, los humanos viviendo en ella.

Algunos Buenos momentos y escenas graciosas. Con toda honestidad una lectura entretenida, pero lejos de ser algo realmente memorable. Aunque sí ayuda bastante a remover parte de ese horrible sabor de boca que deja ese final abismal del libro #5.

Es una cosa rara cuando un autor intenta continuar el legado de uno anterior. Muchos hallan sólo la mera idea de ello algo totalmente disparatado, así que hay mucho odio injustificado hacia este libro, y el autor. Personalmente yo reservo mi desprecio no para aquellos autores que meramente tratan, sino para aquellos que intentan y fallan miserablemente. Y verdaderamente creo que Eoin Colfer no es uno de esos casos. Seguro existen notables diferencias en el estilo y qué no, y nunca nadie va a reemplazar jamás al amado y único Douglas Adams. Pero en la vasta tierra de las imitaciones, me atrevo a admitir que Colfer es cuando menos un intento muy decente.

¿Habría el finado Douglas Adams aprobado esto? Nunca lo sabremos. Pero su viuda sobreviviente lo hizo, y uno pensaría que ella es la que lo conoció mejor en vida. Así que tal vez eso signifique algo.

Algunas personas consideran este libro parte de la serie, otros no. Hallo la discusión irrelevante. Como dije antes, para mí todo terminó felizmente en #4.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[2009] [275p] [Humor] [2.5] [No Recomendable]
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[carol.]

I haven't read it, because I refuse to acknowledge there is such a thing, even in an Infinitely Improbable Universe. A Hitchhiker's book cannot be written by anyone other than Douglas Adams. I'll take the Vogon poetry instead, please.




Thanks to Tim for reminding me that this travesty does not exist.

[Petra X · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't read many books that scarcely deserve only a single star, mostly I give them up. But having paid full price for this hardback, and having been such a fan of the Hitchhikers Guide series I made myself finish it. I wouldn't let myself read any other books until this was finished, and its taken a while.

I thought that the quality of the writing, the stale gags and the constant and irrelevant interruptions of 'Guide' entries were the pits. It read like amateur fan fiction by a group of collaborators who would each write a paragraph or more and then leave it for the next person. I cannot imagine what Douglas Adam's estate thought authorising and endorsing this dreadful book - money I suppose.

I've never read any Eoin Colfer before, although I know he is a successful YA author and perhaps that's why the writing struck me as so shallow and immature, but whatever... I just didn't enjoy it and that's that.

[Henry Avila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things looked bleak in the last episode of our witty space saga, the Earth was to be no more, again, annihilated by bloodthirsty, heartless, repulsive aliens ( no not the Vogons, they come later), but have faith ladies and gentlemen, that our intrepid gang, somehow, will survive this catastrophe ... they do. Saved by an unlikely combination of renegade former Galactic President, Zaphod Beeblebrox ( never saw a buck he didn't like), who has lost his head, but not to worry, still has another and the giant green immortal creature Wowbagger, the being that for countless centuries has gone around the galaxy, alone in his powerful vessel, his goal insulting everyone alive, a hobby that keeps him happily active, yet some strange humanoids and near ones, are enjoying the dubious honor ... the thrill has gone... Death rays around their spaceship (inside Arthur Dent, Trillian, Random Dent their irritating daughter, Ford Prefect, Wowbagger, and Beeblebrox, look on with just a little touch of concern ), spraying lethal destruction, but in the nick of time avoid them and streak into the depths of the Universe, doesn't "dark matter" where. Soon hearing about the last outpost of Earthlings they travel there, the further away the better from the destroyed third rock from the Sun, home, forget bad memories hide on the small obscure planet Nano . Named after the late grandmother of its founder, Hillman Hunter, a professional Irishman ( Top of the Morning), he acts the part all about promoting his colony, it makes people feel comfortable and spending money freely, the pleasant results. Hunter, needs a god, and get back his investments to run this, and scare the colonists into behaving on this world, stop the disorder but has difficulties finding a competent fake, the servants are quitting, the rich old folks are complaining, imagine cooking themselves, the pain ! Still Mr. Hillman has a quiet place that the scattered few hundred homeless refugees left from Earth, can live in tranquility ...not to be. They are natural troublemakers, everywhere the gang goes...quickly causing mayhem, confusion, chaos, and ultimately the obliteration of whatever planet they're inhabiting. Zaphod Beeblebrox has a close friend Thor, God of Thunder, with his gigantic deadly hammer after a humiliating video, seen by billions, Thor wants to change his image, more heroic less comedic , ( he's not good at that) a deal can be done, the former president is his manager, after a brief and arduous negotiation, settlement with generous benefits, too, all is set... but the relentless Vogons are on the trail, a contract is a contract , kill every insignificant Earthling, not a human must live, they have a reputation to uphold ...Last book in the glorious series, while not the best , ( a different writer from the original ) still an amusing romp into a future that will sadly never happen ...but all wish it could .

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

The existence of this book is still an annoyance to me. I read it when it first came out and promptly got rid of it and never touched a copy of it again. Whenever I see it occasionally show up on my feed I still feel a wave of nausea that Colfer thought he could continue what Douglas Adams started.

The book wasn't funny, it wasn't clever and it dull from start to finish. When I was a kid I used to think that the ending of Mostly Harmless was the worst thing that ever could happen to the series, I was wrong obviously, and that ending is much more fitting than one page of this bad fan-fiction excuse for an addition.

I'd give it 1/5 stars, but but using the Infinite Improbability Drive, I have somehow improbably found a way to give it -5 stars.

[Scribble Orca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Am I becoming old?
Definitely.
Am I losing my sense of humour?
Most likely.
Am I disappointed that Eoin Colfer can't carry a candle to the late great departed Mr Adams?
Yes. The bugger.

I was conned. I was ripped off. I dreamed of dolphins and instead I got sardines.

And Arthur wasn't even wearing his dressing gown.

And that reminds me, wasn't Zaphod a brunette?

And another thing...a seventh book would be killing the overkill, Mr Colfer. Please don't.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are some great moments in this book, moments worthy of quotation. There is tea; there are gods; there is Vogon bureaucracy and Vogon poetry. And Another Thing... sublimely embraces the h2g2 universe by grabbing hold of it by the scruff of its neck and shaking it vigorously until more characters and random plot events fall out.

And I didn't like it.

See, h2g2's humorous nexus of improbable events with zany characters is the icing on an already delicious cake. My attraction to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and its sequels revolves entirely around Arthur Dent and his plight as one of the last two surviving humans in the universe. The book is successful because Douglas Adams juxtaposes his profound, dry, British wit with the tragedy of Arthur's situation, both the loss of Earth and his doomed love story with Trillian, then Fenchurch. It makes you laugh, because if you do not, then you will cry.

And Another Thing... is not an anomaly among the other books in this regard. Though it has been years since I've read it, Mostly Harmless also has a problem balancing story with humour, which is why I like my omnibus of the first four books just the way it is. And Another Thing..., picking up as it does just after Mostly Harmless, emulates its immediate predecessor too much for my liking. It is, sadly, a shell of an h2g2 novel.

The personalities of most of the characters were grating. I did not like the appearance of Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, nor did I particularly enjoy the animosity between Trillian and Random. Even Arthur, poor, lovable Arthur, can't manage to put much enthusiasm into being upset about the state of affairs. He is much too jaded now; no longer the uninitiated last man from Earth, Arthur has reached the same point I have in this series. We both just want it to stop, even though we know it won't.

As I mentioned above, there are some great moments. Some of them are funny, such as when Zaphod's second head—which now controls the Heart of Gold's computer in lieu of Eddie—chides Arthur's drinking habits:

"I don't suppose this computer has learned to make tea?"

A red light flashed on Left Brain's dome. "Stop talking now, Earthman. The word 'tea' has been flagged. The last time you asked for 'tea', you backed up the entire system during an alert."

This is a hilarious reference to the last time Arthur asked for a cup of tea from Eddie the computer and froze all of Eddie's logic circuits. Unfortunately, references to the halcyon days of h2g2 are about all this book can muster. And Another Thing... just tries too hard, something demonstrated aptly by the excerpts from the Guide.

I'm not about to accuse any part of this book of being particularly inspired, but the excerpts from the Guide are even more forced than the rest of the book. They attempt to replicate that atmosphere of randomness, that sense of tangents and digressions, that is characteristic of earlier h2g2 books. And they fail at that attempt, because the entries are often too unrelated to what's going on. They seem present only because they are an expected part of the h2g2 novel form, not because they actually work at that juncture. The beauty of h2g2 books is that, despite their disparate elements and interruptions, I always want to keep on reading. I had no such impetus here.

Hopefully you will have noticed that, until now, I have refrained from comparing Colfer to Adams. I have my reasons for this; while I'm ambivalent about this series being continued by another author, I'm not opposed to it in principle. Furthermore, h2g2 has always had a tradition of transformation. So I am willing to keep an open mind. Colfer's style is quite different from that of Adams, and I think that is part of the reason this book does not resonate as an "h2g2 book" like the others do. Nevertheless, I cannot blame solely Colfer for And Another Thing...'s problems. The series was in decline with Mostly Harmless, if not before that.

And Another Thing... is probably described best by its title: this is a postscript, a footnote to the rest of the series, and something I will probably leave forgotten. When I need my h2g2 fix, I'll grab my omnibus from the shelf and read one of the first four books. For all you hoopy froods out there, my recommendation is to read this one—for you should form your own opinion—but do not expect greatness, or even adequacy. For the rest of you, don't bother with this book (at least not yet). Besides, you probably don't know where your towel is, do you? That's what I thought.

[Dan Schwent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arthur, Random, Trillian, and Ford are rescued from the unrealities the Hitchhiker's Guide Mark II placed them in and then rescued by Zaphod Beeblebrox as the earth is getting destroyed yet again. The reunited crew is then saved from certain death by an immortal dedicated to insulting every sentient being in the galaxy. Things go pear-shaped when Arthur learns of a colony of earthlings on a planet near Magrathea and the Vogon Constructor Fleet bent on finishing what they started. Not a terribly unusual day for Arthur Dent...

Eoin Colfer raped my childhood! Just kidding. After buying this book, I have to admit I suffered from a bit of buyer's remorse. It sat unread on my bookshelf for almost a year. I even thought about getting rid of it unread. What if Colfer introduced a Jar Jar Binks and forever tainted my beloved Hitchhiker's Guide? After a reference to Doctor Who's special effects and an appearance by Cthulhu, I was convinced I made the right choice by reading it.

And Another Thing brings the old gang back together in Hitchhiker style. While it's not as good as some of Douglas Adams's works, it's better than the last one. Colfer does a good job capturing the Hitchhiker feel. The relationships between Trillian and Wowbagger, Arthur and Random, and Zaphod and Ford rang true. There were some hilarious bits of dialogue and the plot seemed like something Adams himself would have done.

So why only a three? First, the story felt unnecessary and Colfer had the unenviable task of bringing the characters back after the events of the last boook. Second, it just wasn't that great. The footnotes weren't as funny as Adams' and felt a little forced. Arthur probably could have been left out completely. Colfer just isn't Douglas Adams, although he gave it a good shot.

I'm not exactly recommending this to Hitchhiker fans but I wouldn't say it sucked either. For what it was, it was the best we could reasonably expect.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was kind of scared to read this book. Actually, I was very scared, but I was also very excited--and then I read the forward. It was wonderful. Eoin Colfer knows he's not Douglas Adams, and he knows that his contribution to the trilogy won't be the same or mean the same thing to the readers. But he also clearly knows and appreciates his Hitchhiker's Guide, and he's funny.

So I read the book. It was nice right away, because the characters weren't all dead. Then the story took off on its own interesting and funny direction, and I was happy to go along in whatever really cool ship they could hitch a ride on. It clearly wasn't written by Douglas Adams, but it's also definitely part of the Hitchhiker's Guide--much more so than Terry Jones' Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic, which felt like it took place in another universe (in which they use "translation blisters" instead of babblefish).

I was afraid Colfer wouldn't include the random, hilarious, interesting, and sometimes thought-provoking tangents that Douglas Adams used to fill a lot of the pages of the previous books in the trilogy, but they were in there, diverting us from the main story as always. There were a lot of things in there from the previous books that I'd worried wouldn't make it in, or things that I'd kind of forgotten about (there was another Vogon poem, although I actually don't think it was half bad). There were also plenty of new things, some of which I thought were great, some of which...well, let's just say I got tired of the word "buffa."

Still, bringing in new stuff is not only not bad, it's necessary. Books that come after other books have to add new stuff so that they won't be the same as the first books. I'm sure had Douglas Adams written another Hitchhiker's book, there would be new stuff in it. And the new things and characters in this book were good new things and good new characters. Plus, the old things and old characters were done well. Unfortunately, there was very little that was actually about Arthur. My guess is that Colfer felt more comfortable making more minor characters his own (including fleshing out the backstories--not to mention current stories--and personalities of some people only mentioned briefly in the first five books) than trying to take on Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect. And hey, apart from what I assume were his fjords, where was Slartibartfast? And where was any mention of Marvin? Just curious.

But I don't want to end on a complaining note. Other characters like Agrajag did get nice mentions. So did Douglas Adams himself--or at least an episode in his life, which I thought was a really nice touch, and actually made me a little misty, before I kept reading and got to something funny. Also, interestingly, this was the second book I read today (well, the first one I just finished today, this one I read completely)--AS WELL AS the second book I've ever read--that included the word "philately." I'm not sure what that signifies, if anything, but I wanted to mention it.

Thanks, Eoin Colfer, for bringing the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy back for a while, but most of all thanks to Douglas Adams for bringing it to us in the first place.

[Joseph Cognard · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review with guest characters(Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect):
"Something seems odd," Ford said turning toward Arthur.
"Things have seemed ODD, ever since you convinced me to stand up and let that bulldozer knock down my house."
"Yes well sorry about the house, but more importantly something has changed."
"Is it me, have I changed, Ford?" Arthur inquired.
"Sadly, No." Ford paused briefly before trying to console Arthur. "Look Arthur, I haven't changed either."
"I noticed that." Arthur quickly added.
"Trillian & Zaphod, there the same as well," Ford continued pleading his case.
"Well Zaphod has chaged a little, you have to admit."
"True. It's just something changed a lot more than that. And I got to figure out what's going on before its to late."
"Before what's to late? Why do you never let me know what's going on?" Arthur demanded to know.
"Here put this over your head." Ford said handing Arthur his towel.
"What why?" Was all that Arthur could get out before Ford completely covered the head of the submissive Arthur.
"I don't want to scare the Author."
"I don't know about scaring him but you sure are annoying him."
"Not the Arthur, Arthur, The Author."
"What are you talking about"
"Arthur, You know when I told you I was not"
"From Guilford," Arthur interrupted with an annoyed looked that could be seen through the towel. "You already told me you are from the Planet Beatljuice, and you are writer for the Hitchhikers Guide Galaxy."
"Actually I'm a character for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy."
"I bet most of you writers are characters."
"No Arthur, I mean I am really a character in the fictional series. We all are."
"We're all..."
"Characters." Ford finished for Arthur. "In the greatest 5 book trilogy ever."
"Aren't trilogies three books?" Arthur asked.
"Exactly"
"Say, how did you find out we are characters."
"I got drunk with the Author, and he told me."
"He told you?"
"Yep couple of key clicks 'Ford knows he is a character in a book', and boom, I know I am a character in a book."
"Why didn't you tell me."
"Really Arthur, would that have done any good. Anyway, I think the big guy is mailing it in. Look at the new gadgets and life form. Okay maybe they are mildly amusing, but I wouldn't stay up late at night reading about them."
"I did notice there was very little logic to them."
"Exactly think about all the things we've encountered. Vogons Poetry, elevators that see into the future, infinite improbability drive, babel fish, 42, that dude you killed a million times. Just to name a few."
"Don't forget meat that wants to be eaten and Milliways."
"Exactly, they were all funny, and goofy, but at the same time were brilliant conceptuallly. But these knocks off, and their back stories are painful."
"So where are we going?" Arthur asked.
"Don't Panic, Arthur. Just hold my hand and WHO THE HELL ARE YOU."
"Shouldn't I ask that?" I said holding my ground as the two materialized in my living room. "After all it is you doing the apparating."
"You're not Douglas Adams,"
"No" I responded.
"Where is he"
"He died years ago."
"What nobody told me. You know if someone had told me I would have forgotten to send a card." Ford said sorrowfully.
"Can I take this towel off my head?"
"No," I shouted in reply.
"From the smell of it, I am assuming I am not missing much," Arthur said about my apartment.
"And to think I was about to write you a cup of tea." I smiled wider knowing that he could not see the grin.
"My ass you were, you writers are all the same, couldn't any of you just write 'Arhtur gets a charming cup of hot tea', would that have been so friggin hard."
Hey keep your hands away from that keyboard if you'd be so kind." Ford instructed as he noticed my hands working their ways to the keys.
"So are you writing this book 'And Another Thing'?"
"Reviewing it, I was just using you two in the review. "
"Well, how is it?" Ford asked me.
"Not that great, but I've read worse. Luckily for you, Ford, I think Thor is in it more than you are."
"Yes, I have a way of avoiding such things. Well we better be going then." Ford said.
"What about me." Arthur inquired.
"Sorry Arthur you're not as lucky as Ford," I informed him.
"Ford, is this fake writing thing going to be happening a lot."
"Wait till the copyright runs out, it'll be a nightmare."

To put it simply, even though the galaxy is pretty darn big, it's a heck of a lot smaller without Douglas Adams in it.

Next Review (The Guest Room), Prior Review (Into the Water)

[Cecily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts at a disadvantage: I don't think Douglas Adams should have written a sixth volume, and I certainly don't think anyone else should, even with the encouragement of his widow and daughter.

Eoin Colfer is a successful author of children's books, and this reads like a young adult pastiche of Adams: the Bantally tree can perform hexes when it isn't hibernating, which sounds more like something from Harry Potter. Various things happen, but I'm not sure I'd describe it as a plot.

Colfer regurgitates most of the familiar characters (except Marvin) and situations in a repetitive, inconsistent and often abrupt and banal way. The excerpts from the Guide are sometimes too long and there is a rogue section that suddenly has about a page each of the inner thoughts of the main protagonists. In particular, he takes the delightful word "froody", that Adams used so sparingly, and peppers the entire book with it (three times in the first two chapters alone).

Although Adams had a bit of a thing about Thor and, as an atheist, enjoyed mocking religion, I think it is too major a theme in this book: Hillman Hunter (named after a car, like Ford Prefect) interviews gods to maintain cosmic order on his planet. Cue lots of silliness.

The only dash of originality is a nice Vogon who dislikes paperwork and killing.

However, I like the ideas of me-vangelists and symmetrophobia (a feature of a hideous Vogon ship) and there are glimpses of Adamsesque ideas and language: "Ford nodded with a wisdom beyond his ears"; "Zaphod stepped into as foul a den of broken dreams as he had ever been thrown out of and felt instantly at home"; "Fate was dropping him a wink, destiny was slipping him a brown bag, providence was beating him over the head with the hint hammer", and "handed... a gift-wrapped basket of mill grist".

Nevertheless, they don't salvage it for me. This book is anything but froody.

Hitchhiker's - Overview of series
And links to my other reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jay Daze · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's just wrong.

I opened And Another Thing... which Adams' widow commissioned Colfer to write with a sinking feeling and reading it has done nothing to dispel the disquiet. As much as I'd love to have another Douglas Adams' book (Hitchhikers or something else) this isn't it. There is no way it could be. Colfer gives it a valiant try. He's got the humour, he needs work on his digressions, doesn't really have that sharp organizing idea that Adams seemed to somehow structure his books around. (So loose, yet very tight at the same time.)

The only good thing about this book is that it highlights Adams' prose style, but just in the sense that Colfer's is clunky in comparison. Adams was like P.G. Wodehouse, his books musical comedy without the music, seemingly without effort. Colfer is playing with someone else's crayons and I can feel that -- all And Another Thing.. does is make me sad the big boy has left the playpen.

[Tony · Rating 1 out of 5]

My first thought was to just write ‘shite’. But, in a moment of calm level-headedness, I revised this to ‘mostly shite’.

Having taken a breath and another mouthful of wine, this revision was further revised to ‘absolute shite’.

Probably one of the worse things I’ve ever tried to read (I consider that I tried to read this in much the same way as Mr Colfer tried to write it, and that qualifies and quantifies my comment herein, therein and over and out).

Amen

So it goes.

Edit: this is dreadful and still scores 3.5. Serious question: How bad does something have to be to score less?

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

To say that I disliked this book would be an understatement. I have only finished this book because I despise leaving books unfinished. Now, I told myself when I sat down to read it that I had to judge this book on two criteria, I had to judge it as a novel in it's own right and I have to judge it as a hitchhikers book, but as I read the only point I kept coming back to is that this is an awful hitchhikers book, miles worse then any Douglas Adams wrote. It completely lacks the wit and sparkle of the original and instead is full of in-jokey refrences and giant gaps in logic.

Let me tell you how I think this book was written. I think Eoin Colfer sat down and read the first five books, making a list of witty things he could refernce. He then forgot all of that and made a plot...or maybe he already had the plot and he dug it out of a drawer somewhere. Anyway, he had this plot and he thought "hey, that's ok" and, yeah, it's not bad. The problem, it doesn't work with the hitchikers characters, it doesn't fit with the general way a hitchhikers story plays out and this guy just flat out isn't as funny as Douglas Adams.

No problem! Insert an excuse to make all the characters out of character and ignore any other problems and you have this book.

To tell you everything that I disliked about this book would take far too long so let me give you the main things this really made me angry.

1. Trillian.
Now, some of you may remember Trillian from the other books. She was the woman. Apparently that's as far as Eoin Colfer got into her character. In the first five books she is not just a woman. She is intelligent, educated, driven, level headed and damn curious to see the universe. In fact, she is arguably the only main character to posess a high level of any of these atributes. She worked out what was going on at Kricket when everyone else was lost. She has continually asserted her independence.
Guess what she does in this book? She meets a man, they have tension, they kiss, he is injured, she faints, they confess, they run away to get married and live happily ever after.
It was the marriage that got me, I have to admit. My mental picture of Trillian doesn't fit with the idea of her first thought when she's met someone she's attracted to being that she might like to marry them. She's just not that girl. Date, sleep with, sure. Marry...definetley not something to consider right of the bat.
Then the fainting. This is kind of typical of who Trillian is protrayed. She worries more about her looks then she ever would. It seems someone tipped her brains out and replaced them with cotton wool. Can you imagine Trillian who walked of into space to talk with the diffused cloud of a supercomputer intent on destroying everything ever fainting at someone being injured, even someone she was TTLY IN WIW WIF!!!!!!

2. Wowbanger the infinitely prolongued
You may remember this character from that one shot joke. He's the guy going around the universe insulting everyone who's ever existed in alphabetical order. Here's what he apparently didn't know about him. He'd an idiotic emo who just wants to be WUVVED!!!!! Seriously. First, the emo. My god, the emo. e goes on about his bloody existence and how woeful it is. He'd meant to be annoyed, pissed of, not a my chemical romance song.
But the big thing, the logic of him. Ok, we've got this guy with an infinite lifespan who's decided to insult everyone ever, in alphabetical order, and in order to do so is travelling backwards and forwards through time. So, he shows up for Zaphod Beeblebrox...and he remembers Arthur. First, he's insulting everyone ever so he's not going to remember Arthur. Aruthr is kind of a forgetable guy. Second, presuming last names as what will be in alphabetical order...he's come for Beeblebrox after Dent. He then says she's glad he got there in time to insult some more people before the planet blew up. Time travel, you guys! He can travel back to before the planet blew up. He then reveals that he'd given up the alphabetical thing and is insulting them by planet...because that's less predictable. Lolwat?? much?

3. The guide notes
I love Adams' footnotes. I hate Colfer's guide notes. I hate them becasue they claim to be from quide articles but quite clearly can't be because of how they're written. And they're in the text. Could they be more disruptive? NO. You're reading and suddenly you have two paged of text claiming to be a guide note but written in a terrible style about something almost entirely irrelivant. One of these appears at a tense point. I hate them.

Those are my three biggest, ok. To keep this short, no more detail, but other things that annoyed me: Zaphod is an idiot but he's not so incredibly stupid that he can't work out how to open a door or wahtever, Random is not a goth, Ford has a sense of adventure, Arthur does not have a sense of adventure, they get out of certain death through the infinite improbability drive...again, The bloody cows!, where did Zaphod even get a planet (and why would he sell it to humans when probably all the resources on earth couldn't buy one, he must be making a loss), Gods aren't species with planets, they're gods, when searching for a god, you'd think he could include soemthing more original then Cuthulu and Gaia, Wowbanger getting the imortality knocked out of him

Oh yeah...also...

When Wowbanger and Trillian meet we're told they're going to end up married.

Later, a plot point involves us wondering if Wowbanger will die. He hasn't married Trillian yet. No he won't. Tension over.

Yeah, I could go on but I think my point is made. If I hadn't re-read the hitchhikers books coming up to reading this I might have been more impressed but I did and this is NOT a hitchhikers book, it's a mess and a waste of my hard earmed money.

[Clouds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good things come in threes. While reading Great North Road I found out that my wife was pregnant! While reading And Another Thing... I got offered a promotion at work! Things are looking good :-) What will the next book bring?

How many other H2G2 fans saw this release and went “Woah! That’s so... No. ” *shakes head*

I loved the Hitchikers Guide passionately as a child, and Dirk Gently too – I’ve got Starship Titanic (and the PC game) – as well as The Salmon of Doubt and The Meaning of Liff. The only Douglas Adams book I haven’t read is Last Chance to See (his non-fiction book about Madagascan animals).

I hadn’t heard anything about this book – I knew of Eoin Colfer as the Artemis Fowl writer, but I hadn’t heard anything about him continuing Adam’s work. Then boom! I got off a train and it was all over a billboard. And the very idea gave me a bad taste in my mouth (like eating a sandwich in the dark, and then discovering the bread was mouldy).

So I waited four years before eventually deciding I had to know what he’d done with it.

It’s not a bad book – Colfer is a good writer – but he’s not Adams, and he shouldn’t have continued Adam’s story.

Have you ever seen Monty Python? It’s silly... but underneath the absurd is more than a dash of venom. Have you ever seen The Meaning of Life? That film is quite dark and disturbing under the lighthearted veneer (Mr Creosotes who eats until he bursts? The live organ transplants?) Without the sour, there’s no contrast for the sweet.

H2G2 has some of the same flavors – many of the ‘silly’ tangents are actually bitterly angry rants dressed up in whimsical clothes, and it’s the balance of light and dark which makes it so good. Do you remember the aside about the planet destroyed by its shoe industry? Women kept buying shoes, so more shops sold shoes, so the economy became geared towards shoe production, everyone was farming cows for leather, it all got more and more extreme until the whole ecosystem and economy collapsed and the whole planet became a desert wasteland, and the population evolved into birds that didn’t need to wear shoes. Does that sound like a man who enjoyed shoe shopping with his wife?

There’s nothing like that in And Another Thing... Colfer has a great imagination and has a lot of fun in the H2G2 world – arguably he gets a better handle on the zaniness of Zaphod than Adams ever did –but he doesn’t get Arthur. He doesn’t get the core of creative whinging that powers the story. This book is fun and light and breezy – not necessarily a bad thing, but not a fit continuation of Adams work.

Do you know what I think they should have done? Set the book in the H2G2 world – maybe give the old cast cameo appearances – but do it as a new, book within that world. Let it have it’s own life and set its own tone within the existing framework. That would have allowed Colfer to riff off the universe he clearly adores, but without alienating the fans who jarred with his reinterpretation of beloved characters. I honestly think it would have worked better all-round.

Despite all these complaints, I still gave it three stars (probably like, 2.7 rounded up, diggit?) because there are a lot of fun ideas and scenes. The phrase “Appease the cheese or you shall bring Edamnation upon us all” quote out of context at my wife, while she was brushing her teeth, elicited baffled and delighted giggles. The graceful Vogon at the end resonated nicely. Interviewing Cthulu and Gaia for the job of a plant’s deity was done well.

Overall, I’m pleased that I read it, and it was nowhere near as painful as feared.

After this I read: The Magic Faraway Tree

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Good:
There were a few funny moments and interesting ideas. Plus the characters all reminded me of the ones originally created by Douglas Adams. On the whole it was a fair imitation.

The Bad:
It felt like it was trying far too hard to be clever, and ended up reading like some intelligent child's contribution to the newspaper of an expensive school. This book also gave me the uncomfortable feeling that the fondly remembered originals in the series might not stand up so well to a reread almost thirty years later.

'Friends' character the protagonist is most like:
After serving a variety of character roles in previous books, Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox was an interesting choice as the main protagonist of this mostly ensemble story. He is a selfish and extremely camp version of Joey Tribbiani.

[Barry Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

And another thing - the radio series that preceded the books gave me the characters' voices particularly the guide itself, they stay with me they populate the pages, the story continued the trilogy to part 6, well done Eoin but really, well done Douglas!

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nothing couldn’t be and if it shouldn’t be then it generally was."

This was fun. It's not perfect, but all I wanted was to spend a bit more time with the gang and that's what we get. Practically everyone is in it, including one of my favourites Bowerick Wowbagger and in a bit of a weird move to perhaps drag in some Dirk Gently connectivity, we also get some Thor action based on Asgard.

"The Vogons were not bad people as such. It was true to say that nobody liked them, and that their inter-personal skills didn’t extend much beyond trying not to spit on the person they were talking to, but they weren’t bad. That is, they would not blast your planet into atoms without the proper paperwork. With the proper paperwork, however, they would travel to the end of the Universe, and to as many parallel ones as necessary, to see the job done."

Discovering that the humans still persist, some fastidious Vogons set out to finish the job that they thought they had dealt with five whole books ago. Zaphod and Wowbagger have a falling out and Thor gets involved. The Heart of Gold with its improbability drive is now being controlled by Zaphod's spare head, Left Brain.

After we find out that Zaphod is now sporting a single head on his ex-presidential shoulders, Colfer explains that he had had two heads the last time we saw him. You know, there are some details that a 'Hitchhiker's' fan may not recall but the number of Zaphod's heads is probably not one of those things.

"Ford cradled Arthur’s cheeks in his palms. ‘Life is about moments, Arthur,’ he said seriously. ‘That’s the secret. Moments are longer than you think. If you add up all the good moments, then, you know – it’s, like, ages."

I have reread part or all of the series about once per year since first reading it nearly a decade ago. I listen to the audiobooks narrated by the author and nothing can compare to that experience, so even though I enjoyed this I'm not sure if it will make it to regular reread status. Probably not to be honest. Having the text to speech engine on my ebook reader "narrate" this book is never going to have the same effect. However I'm really glad that I finally gave this a go.

"did you see the list of submissions?’ He pulled a sheet from his cork board. ‘Oak Tree Rise. Aunty JoJo, the world’s greatest aunt. Frank. The planet Frank! Come on, kiddo."

Now, come on Colfer... ain't nothing wrong with a "Planet Frank" pal.

Lastly, you're not going to get everything you expect out of this story, so don't expect all of that. I think a reasonable effort has been made to keep the same spirit and feeling of the adventure alive. It ain't perfect but it is a fun one.

[Jay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unlike many fans of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I have no objection to Colfer attempting, in good faith, to give another lease of life to a series we all love. I never really understand the anger these things generate (we consumers are free to voluntarily purchase or ignore them at our liberty, after all). This 1-star review, therefore, isn’t me in a rage, gnashing my teeth, but rather an expression of jaded CBA-don’t-bother-ism.

Sadly, I just don’t think And Another Thing… adds anything to the set of 5 books Douglas Adams already left us with. Neither do I blame Colfer for this: The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a series that, I think, gradually lost its way well before Colfer’s time. Its first few books are classics, but by around Book 3, its central conceit — the idea that the Universe is an absurdist joke and not worth worrying about with too much earnestness — had morphed from a compelling source of humorous plotting to an excuse for convoluted, empty silliness. Stories need boundaries or they cease to be interesting and The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy lost any boundaries it once had a long time ago.

There’s an irony here, I think: The art of good storytelling is to attach meaning to events which wouldn’t otherwise be of interest. Even the most nihilistic stories are propaganda that exists intent on meaningfully promoting a vision of life’s meaninglessness. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s eventual downfall has come about because it successfully portrays a Universe of mostly pointless ridiculousness. It ceases to be an interesting piece of storytelling precisely because it achieves its goal.

[Andrée · Rating 3 out of 5]

... I don't know what to say really. The novel started off strong! The first chapter explains how the characters escaped the tragic ending of the 5th novel Mostly Harmless. It had a good recap of the characters and they alluded to the previous 5 novel titles conversationally. That made me giggle. But it didn't take long before the story got dull/repetitive/overdone.

Arthur, Ford, Trillian and Random escape the Vogons with the help of nonother than Zaphod and Wowbagger (the alien that insults everyone). There is a new Earth colony with inevitable civil unrest due to classist and religious differences, Thor the god of thunder makes an appearance and I really miss Marvin! Everything gets jumbled together and then the end.

Even though Eoin Colfer did a great job emulating Douglas Adam's style, I found his "guide notes" excessive, bulky and superfluous but I did enjoy this one:

The notion that religions can be useful tools for keeping the rich rich and the poor abject has been around since shortly after the dawn of time, when a recently evolved bipedal frogget managed to convince all the other froggets in the marsh that their fates were governed by the almighty Lily Pad who would only agree to watch over their pond and keep it safe from gurner pike if an offering of flies and small reptiles were heaped upon it ever second Friday.

It took me quite some time to finish this last installment of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In my opinion, the trilogy should've remained a 3-book affair!

[Martini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sorry for having to state the obvious here: This is not a book by Douglas Adams.
The main difference is that Douglas wrote SF with a portion of (wonderful) humor, while Eoin Colfer has written a comedy with SF elements. Still a really entertaining read, and the many references to the other Hitchhiker books made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, so much that the fourth star is for merely sentimental reasons.

The last book in the series will now be "Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion" by Neil Gaiman.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books and I usually like Eoin Colfer so I was hoping that I'd enjoy Colfer's continuation of the classic series. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out for me. I suppose my expectations were a little too high. There were some spots where everything felt authentic, but this didn't happen often enough for me. This probably would have been a two star read for me if it weren't for the Norse mythology aspect. That's always fun, and can you blame me if I totally imagined Thor and all the rest to look like their MCU counterparts.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this sixth book in the increasingly inappropriately named Hitchhikers Trilogy, we are treated once again to the very funny exploits of doomed earth-man Arthur Dent and his pals. This book is actually the first in the series not written by the now late, but still great, Douglas Adams. Filling in for him is Eoin Colfer, a man best known for his kids & teen books, but still quite a nice fellow.

In fact, during most of my time spent reading this book, I could quite easily forget that I wasn't reading the words of Adams himself, as Colfer seems to have been able to tap the cosmic consciousness to present to us, what Adams would have written, if he had continued to exist on our plane of consciousness.

Arthur and his pals have been away for a while, but in reality (and you know what the Guide says about trusting reality, don't you?) no time at all has passed and we pick up almost right where we left off. Of course, things being what they are, Arthur, Ford, Trillian and the gang are about to be obliterated in all parallel and multiple dimensions as the Vogons have Earth destroyed in every possible reality. But, hey, we aren't going to let a silly little thing like that stop us from having a perfectly good, and quite hilarious, time, are we?

[Purple · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad to say this is a terrible book. It gets two stars instead of one merely for being based on a great idea, and that is in no thanks to its author.

This book, basically, didn't have to be written. The Hitchhikers series was Douglas Adams', and Douglas Adams' alone. If someone had to finish it off then it should have been someone who would give it the love it deserved. Jasper Fforde springs to mind, as does Grant Morrison, although that may have been a bit too weird.

The guide notes here are terrible. The basic ideas are okay, but every new invention being called a 'something-o-something' shows a real lack of imagination on Eoin's part.

The characters are pretty much entirely wasted, with the exception of Zaphod. Wowbagger and Trillian is a ludicrous idea that sprang from nowhere and doesn't sit right at all.

And to cap it all off it makes a big thing about how "stories never end, they're just a middle" which pretty much makes the book a complete waste of time as it just underlines the needlessness of itself.

I wish this had been better, but in reality, I've never missed Douglas more.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you pay close attention, Colfer tells you exactly what you can expect from this book right at the beginning, using a well-chosen quote from Douglas Adams: “The storm had now definitely abated, and what thunder there was now grumbled over more distant hills, like a man saying 'And another thing...' twenty minutes after admitting he'd lost the argument.” (So Long and Thanks for All the Fish)

As Adams well knew, the phrase "And another thing..." is superfluous. It is said by the person who just can't let things go. It's a sullen, resentful phrase that doesn't add anything to the discussion that came before. In other words, Colfer is telling us, this book didn't need to happen and you probably don't need to read it. Which is very kind of him, I think, warning us in advance that way. But still, after a long time where I refused to give in, I finally, well, gave in and read the book.

It's not as bad as I expected it to be, certainly, but it lives up to its title. If you haven't read it, you don't really need to. It doesn't add very much to the overall mythos of the Hitchhiker's Guide universe, or to its characters, and while it has some entertaining moments in it, a few places where I genuinely laughed out loud, and some interesting explorations of Vogon sociology, if you give it a miss then you're probably not missing a whole lot.

If you'll recall, at the end of Mostly Harmless, the fifth book in the trilogy, the Earth - all of the Earths - were destroyed by the Vogons once and for all. The galactic conspiracy of psychiatrists had won, with the omnipresent Guide Mark Two as their weapon of choice, and the whole business about the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything was finally at an end. With the exception of Zaphod Beeblebrox, all of the main characters were vaporized, much to Arthur Dent's own relief. If ever there was a conclusive ending to a series, that would be it, although allegedly Adams had a couple of ways in his back pocket to bring everyone back, should he need to do so.

Alas, Adams left us far too soon. In 2008, however, it was announced that there would indeed be a sixth book, penned by Eoin Colfer, of the hugely popular Artemis Fowl books. Fans across the world were both excited and apprehensive to see what would be done with the characters we had grown to love over so many years.

To his credit, Colfer wrote a very funny book. I was laughing by the first page, and he really did a fine job of capturing the tone and cadence of the Guide entries and the way that Adams would narrate the story. His depictions of some characters - especially Zaphod and Random - were spot-on, and you could see a lot of elements in the book that were nods to some of Adams' favorite themes.

In essence, what happens is this: Our Heroes are introduced to us in a stasis hallucination, held between ticks of the clock by the Guide Mark Two as the planet-destroying beams of the Grebulons descend towards Earth. They are rescued by the Heart of Gold and Zaphod Beeblebrox, who has detached his left head and is using it as the ship's computer. Unfortunately, Ford causes Left Brain to freeze up, so they need to be rescued again - this time by one of the most popular bit players in the series, Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, an immortal being who has decided to spend eternity insulting everyone in the universe in alphabetical order. Wowbagger reluctantly takes them aboard, and in doing so insults Zaphod to the point where Zaphod promises to find a way to kill him, a proposition that Wowbagger has no problem with. Zaphod's weapon of choice? A down-on-his-luck thunder god who's been slumming it around Asgard.

Meanwhile, there is a planet of human refugees that is undergoing some rather entertaining class warfare, and the solution to this is, apparently, to find just the right kind of god to run the place. And even more meanwhile, a young Vogon is having second thoughts about his Vogonity and whether or not it's okay to destroy inhabited planets just because there is a work order on hand that says they should.

I want to criticize the book for being directionless and unfocused, but let's be fair - that describes the first book as well. Given its genesis as a radio drama, Adams never really had a grand plan for what would happen in the beginning of the series, and wrote in an episodic fashion that had (as far as I could tell) no real end point in mind. The difference, however, is that while those books had no real direction to them, they were charged with a kind of chaotic energy that made you want to keep reading just to find out what happens next. Arthur Dent, our avatar in this universe, never got a chance to rest or even change out of his dressing-gown, and so we were dragged along with him. It was exciting and confusing and weird in all the right ways, and we didn't mind not knowing where we were going because the trip to get there really was just that much fun.

In this book, however, Arthur really doesn't want to be involved. He's had an imaginary lifetime of living in peace and quiet, and seems to have outgrown the antics of Ford and Zaphod. He's the reasonable adult in this book, and not all that much fun anymore. As I read, I was disappointed that Colfer didn't seem to have captured Arthur's character very well, but perhaps I was wrong - Arthur didn't belong in this story, and he wanted nothing more than to not be in it anymore. And it showed.

Another telling moment comes near the end of the book. The narrative takes a moment to remind us that, "There is no such thing as a happy ending." And a few lines later, it quotes a certain pole-sitting philosopher who says, "There is no such thing as an ending, or a beginning, for that matter, everything is middle." That certainly is true of life, and you can imagine it being true of the lives of fictional characters. Louis and Rick will walk off the tarmac in Casablanca and go on to do other things, perhaps help the resistance fight the Nazis. The lives of Luke and Han and Leia have been extended far beyond their original showing on film, thanks to the Extended Universe of Star Wars. Scout Finch and her brother Jem will grow up and have children of their own; the rabbits at Watership Down will live and breed and die; Guy Montag will help rebuild the intellectual society that he was originally trying to destroy...

We know that these worlds have lives beyond the last page, no matter how thoroughly they're destroyed at the end. There's always going to be some thread hanging loose that can be picked up and used to continue the story beyond where it left off.

But that doesn't mean that we should.

I applaud Colfer for taking on the project, knowing that it is better for the series to be continued by someone who knew it and loved it and who was influenced by it, rather than by someone who couldn't show it all the love it deserves. As I said, I laughed while I read this book, a lot more than I expected to. But as the title implies, this feels like an attempt to continue a story that has been finished for a long time. Rather than breathe new life into the Hitchhiker's franchise, it simply reminds us all the more sharply of what we once had and will never have again.

--------------------------------
"I do not hate myself. In many ways, I am not altogether too bad."
- Constant Mown (Vogon)

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shameless money grab or loving homage to the genius of Douglas Adams?

"And Another Thing..." is a bit of both actually. To celebrate 30 years of the genius that is "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," we've got a new installment in the increasingly mis-labeled trilogy of books by Adams. Eoin Colfer was given the nod to write the book and approval by the estate of Adams to create this sixth installment so that book had that going for it. But given that Adams had pretty neatly wrapped up his most famous series before his death and it makes me wonder if Adams were still around would he have been talked into writing the book or even allowed it.

Judged by the standards of how Adams wrote, "And Another Thing..." is kind of like the fifth season of "Babylon Five." It's there and at times it sticks out like a sore thumb. But every once in a while, you get glimpses of what you loved about the first couple of books in there as you can see Colfer channeling some of the insanity that made Adams' novels works so well.

Colfer wisely writes the story as an appendix or a DVD extra to the Hitchhiker's saga. It's not a necessity but it's still worth reading in spots. The gang is all back for one last set of wacky adventures including Arthur saving the last remnants of Earthlings, Trillian fretting about being a parent to Random, Zaphod going to Olympus to talk to Thor and Ford being Ford. There's a subplot about a the human colony taking applications for a new god that gets some comedic mileage but, unfortunately, it fizzles out long before Colfer lets the storyline come to its natural conclusion.

The book captures the spirit of what Adams created even if it's not quite able to capture the style and wit that Adams used in his writing. As I've pointed out before, Adams and Terry Pratchett make writing a funny book look deceptively easy, but it's never quite as effortless as it looks. Colfer comes close but still never quite gets the flow. A lot of the narrative momentum is lost by the Guide entries, some of which come across as asides Colfer couldn't quite figure out how to work into the narrative and so he threw them in anyway.

"And Another Thing..." isn't as great as it could be but it isn't as horrible as you imagine it could be either. It's a nice extra to the "Hitchhiker's" universe and won't tarnish or trample the memories of the original five novels. In fact, it may send you headed back to them again to rediscover them...and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Anniek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a lot of mixed reviews of this book and that made me hesitant to read it. But I'm glad I did, because I think Colfer did a great job here! Of course he's not Douglas Adams, but he doesn't pretend to be. He makes the story his by putting a lot more emphasis on all kinds of mythology, especially Norse, which had me cracking up a lot of times. I loved all the different sorts of references. If you read it, see it as an hommage to Adams' iconic Hitchhiker's Guide.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absurd, witzig und skurril ist Eoin Colfer angemessen mit seinem 6. Teil der Trilogie „Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis” in die Fußstapfen Douglas Adams getreten. Ich sehe es als eine Hommage und mochte es.

[Kalkwiese · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Anbetracht der Umstände, unter denen dieses Buch entstand, hätte es wirklich schlechter sein können. Eoin Colfer hat im Auftrag von Douglas Adams' Witwe aus Notizen dieses sechste und letzte Buch der Anhalter-Reihe geschrieben. Das Ergebnis versucht, so gut es geht Adams zu imitieren, und das gelingt Colfer durchaus oft, doch genügend Aspekte von Adams' Schreiben fehlen auch.
Beispielsweise die Kürze. Dieses Buch ist doppelt so lang wie das kürzeste Buch der Reihe und mindestens 100 Seiten länger als das längste vorige Buch. Viele Szenen oder Dialoge hätte man ohne viel Verlust kürzen können, gerade weil Adams' Bücher sich so dicht und eingedampft lesen, was auch zu der typischen Überforderung beiträgt, die das Leseerlebnis der ersten zwei bis drei Bände auszeichnet.
Der satirische Charakter hat hier mehr von Klamauk. Natürlich gibt es auch witzige Momente, doch sie sind weniger geschmackvoll, tragen nicht das Gewicht der vorigen Bände und ... zeigen, dass Adams nunmal ein Unikat war.
Trotzdem bemerke ich, dass ich den Buch wohlwollend gegenüber stehe. Vielleicht ist es der Effekt, dass längere Buchreihen einen gefangennehmen, das mag ich nicht beurteilen.
Was lässt sich jetzt über die Reihe sagen? Wer sie mit einem guten Happy End beenden möchte, sollte nach Band 4 aufhören. Wem das egal ist und wer nur mit einem guten Buch enden möchte, kann sich das Happy End von Band 5 versauen lassen. Der ist immer noch ein gutes Buch. Und wer es unbedingt wissen will, der macht auch mit Band 6 nicht so viel falsch, muss aber eben mit einer Fanfiction rechnen.

[Zarkseven · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this frood named Eoin Colfer, well known for his Artemis Fowl children’s books, was asked by the widow of the late great Douglas Adams to “finish” the Hitchhiker’s Guide series. Finish H2G2?! Well doesn’t that just take the biscuit! What do you call Mostly Harmless, for Zark’s sake!?

Actually, I don’t care about all that. Hitchhiker’s Guide isn’t sacred, and has appeared in so many forms that it’s almost too difficult to count. That Colfer was approached by Adams’ widow Jane Belson, not the other way around, is the right start for me, meaning it wasn’t a vanity project. That Colfer has always been a fan that appreciates the uniqueness of the series is a critical next step. And that Colfer was quoted as saying that “this is a wonderful opportunity to work with characters I have loved since childhood and give them something of my own voice while holding onto the spirit of Douglas Adams and not laying a single finger on his five books” says to me that this is a serious effort that deserves open-minded consideration.

So now that I’m finished with And Another Thing: Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Part Six of Three, I can truly and unequivocally say whether this Colfer chap really knows where his towel is, or whether I now have this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side.

LIKED

Nostalgia. I listened to the audio, read by Simon Jones (who portrayed Arthur Dent numerous HHGTTG iterations), and I have to say that for the first 10-15 minutes of listening to him speaking new Hitchhiker’s, I was grinning from ear to ear. Nostalgia is not always good, as frequently the reality is not as good as you remembered it to be. But I’d say that overall the book was upbeat and fun, didn’t take away anything from what came before it, and gave us just a little bit more.

Unmistakably Hitchhiker’s. The Part Six detractors will hate me for even thinking of saying this, but the book felt like a Hitchhiker’s book. Possibly more so than Adams’ last two entries into the series. There really isn’t a series that feels like Hitchhiker’s, and someone with less appreciation or imagination might not pull it off. Colfer definitely pulled it off. Taking a new trip with Arthur and Ford and Trillian and Zaphod felt good because the tone and essence that makes Hitchhiker’s so special was there. It was a good romp in the Hitchhiker’s universe with all the trappings we know and love.

NOT SO MUCH

Guide Notes. I think it’ll probably be a universal criticism of this book that the Guide Notes were over-played. If I remember correctly, Adams phased them out and they did not appear in later novels. I appreciate Colfer bringing them back, as it’s one of those distinctly Hitchhiker’s type of things, and the early Adams’ novels that used them were more popular with fans than the later ones that did not. But they interrupted the flow of things way too much, and I really don’t remember any of them like I do about what happened to all the biros (ballpoint pens). So I appreciate their use, but wished they had been used more sparingly.

Missing the Mark. In addition to the Guide Notes, a few other things didn’t work for me. It’s hard to say that Colfer should not have done this or that, as he shouldn’t try to imitate Adams. But I found a few things distracting. Names that are puns was one of them. They didn’t really make me laugh, or groan. More like just roll my eyes. There were also a few too many references to previous things from Hitchhiker’s radio, TV, novels and so forth. When you’re on Part Six, it’s hard not to mine that previous gold for more nuggets, and even Adams may have done the same if he were the author. Not that I’d advocate getting rid of them all, but each reference used was an opportunity wasted to come up with something new and just as unique and fun.

RECOMMEND?

To people unfamiliar with Hitchhiker’s, I’d say start at the beginning. There’s too much history here to start at Part Six. But for Hitchhiker’s fans, I would definitely recommend it. There’s not much of a point in the story/plot, but is there ever in Hitchhiker’s? If you go into it expecting Douglas Adams, you’ll find ways to be disappointed. If you go into it expecting the essence of Douglas Adams, I think you will be entertained. Colfer does know where his towel is. And for Zark’s sake, listen to it read by Simon Jones!