Six of Three

No, I'm not talking about a Borg. The other day I saw a book in the library called "And Another Thing..." It's the sixth Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Book, only written by another author.


Since I read the other five books (and the two Dirk Gently novels) because Lita recommended them, let's see if I can recap them. This will be off the top of my head.




The first book is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Let me just say that I know that the radio programs were first but we're not going to consider them canon. Ok, nerds? Basically Arthur Dent is a normal guy who ends up being one of two survivors of the destruction of earth. A friend who is actually an alien rescues him and they end up on a stolen space ship that travels the galaxy. They join the president of the galaxy, a depressed robot, and the other surviving human and the book eventually becomes about the disappointing answer to the big questions about life. Throughout the book we get readings from a pda like device that tells us necessary and amusing exposition. There's no subplot about a feelings gun or a sore loser for the presidency. Which is for the best.

Author Douglas Adams must have had big problems with bureaucrats at the time because they are the villain that moves the plot along. The novel starts with Arthur's house getting bulldozed for unfair reasons, and then quickly parallels it with an alien race that bulldozes earth for very similar reasons. The Vogons disappear from the novel after Arthur and Ford escape them but they their decision to bulldoze the earth plays a big part in the end of the novel and the rest of the series.

This novel is very funny and you can see why it became a cult novel among nerds. (Again, forget the radio series.) All of the best bits of the 2005 movie were from the novel. (I actually liked the movie but where it goes wrong is when it tries to invent new stuff.) It's been a while since I read it so I'm not sure I can remember much beyond the best gags.


The second novel is Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy. Still pretty good, but not as good as the first one. The novel is picks up after the end of the first one and has the group going to a restaurant where the universe repeatedly ends. After some stuff happens the crew is split up and we get two plots for the rest of the novel. The first one involves the president of the galaxy and his human girlfriend trying to find the guy in charge of everything. Like the Ultimate Answer, it's a tad disappoining. Arthur and his alien friend Ford end crashing on a mysterious planet.

I remember liking this novel but it's a bit disjointed if I remember correctly. Not that there's anything wrong with an A-story and B-story, but it's now about two things instead of one. I can't even remember who the antagonists in the B-story were, and I may even be remembering stuff from the third novel and mixing it with this one. It still has some great stuff like the religion waiting for their messiah to the very last moment and the machine that humbles people.


The third novel, Life, The Universe, and Everything, is my favorite. It started strong with an irrelavent chapter about an immortal alien that wanted to insult the universe. Afterwards, it picked up where the second novel ends with Arthur and Ford escaping the backwards planet so they can hitchhike again. Then the novel becomes very disjointed with seemingly random chapters about pass characters. At one point we get a great chapter about Arthur escaping a vengeful creature and learning how to fly. In the end, the seemingly random chapters actually fit, which was real surprising.


The fourth novel of the trilogy is So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. Arthur is solo this time and he finds the earth mysteriously reconstructed. Most of the novel is spent on earth as he tries to figure out what's going on and he begins a romance with a woman hinted at in the first novel. I liked this novel even if it wasn't as strong as the others. One moment happens in the novel where Arthur and Fenchurch are flying around and Douglas Adams bluntly asks a question that was just floating in my mind. The novel ends with them hitching a ride and seeing Marvin the Paranoid Android for the last time in the novels. He's a great character so it was nice meeting him one last time.


The fifth novel is Mostly Harmless, and I just didn't like it. It dumps Fenchurch unceremoniously and gets off to a bad start. It brings back Ford and Trillian but it really shouldn't have. Douglas even tries to create another android but it's no Marvin. The novel isn't without it's moments, but it builds up to an ending that just doesn't work the way the third novel did. In fact, it tries to go out with a literal bang, but it just depressed me. Frankly, I'm willing to give the new novel a shot even if it wasn't written by Douglas.


So that's my brief take on the series. Third and the first are the best, second and fourth are worth reading, and meh on the fifth. Let's hope the new author doesn't screw up his chance to write a better ending to the series.