And Another Thing... (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #6) in Douglas Adams (incorporating The Hitchhiker's Guide)

Oct 08, 2009 Rachel rated it really liked it

Shelves: male-author, adventure, sf, read-in-one-day, series, humour, h2g2, read-2009, bought-with-james, male-author-hero

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 inte 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. ...more

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Oct 26, 2009 Purple rated it it was ok

Shelves: humour, 2-star, science-fiction

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 terri ...more

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Nov 16, 2009 Phillip Brooks rated it it was ok

Mea culpa, I am an enormous Douglas Adams fan. I had low expectations for this book and I was not won over by the time I'd finished reading it.

While Eoin Colfer does an excellent job of trying to pick up the abandoned threads where Mostly Harmless stagnated and stalled. Instead of resolving those threads in this book, the story seems to turn inwards. There is no real movement forward with the overall tale. It reads like fan fiction from the least popular age of a show.

Had this been written by Do ...more

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Nov 11, 2009 Jenn rated it liked it

Shelves: next-in-series

And Another Thing... feels like the situation from which the title comes from- like a man saying "And another thing…" twenty minutes after admitting he's lost the argument.

The overall tone is similar to the 5 books that came before but mainly feels more like a weak attempt to 'finish' the series. I found the plot to be enjoyable, mostly thanks to ZB and the Thor storyline, but like many have said the Guide entries interrupt much too often. It felt as if Colfer was trying too hard to fit into th ...more

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Dec 17, 2023 Andrew Yablonski rated it did not like it

Shelves: own, digital, guo

I created a new shelf called "GUO" for books that I have officially given up on.
Although this book tries it's damnd hardest to capture the spirit of the Douglas Adams originals... It fails spectacularly.
...more

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Mar 17, 2010 Robyn rated it it was ok

As a long-time fan of Douglas Adams, I knew I had to put this book on my list of works to read. Overall, I would say it was OK. Colfer gives it a good shot, trying to stay true to the tone of the original series. However, the story does not flow as smoothly as it did in Adams's hands. And the clever naming schemes that characterize Adams's works are not there. I do give Colfer much credit for taking on such an onerous task as living up to the quality of the Hitchhiker series. For that alone, I a ...more

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Oct 05, 2009 Sammie rated it really liked it

If you want to read Douglas Adams, read Douglas Adams. Eoin Colfer is not Douglas Adams, because DA was unique and special and sadly taken away from us before he could finish the story the way he wanted to.

If you want to read a talented author's take on what *may* have happened to DAs characters after Mostly Harmless, read this book. It is amusing, interesting and faithful to the world DA created (as much as you can be faithful to a story that has so many different formats and contradictions). ...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Anuradha rated it really liked it

Shelves: funny

I actually read this before reading any of Douglas Adams' books so I really liked it because I didnt have to compare it with the originals.. ...more

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Nov 09, 2009 Cynthiaj rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

While I cannot slam this like a couple of the other DA fans I have noted, I cannot give it a whole hearted endorsement either. It was pleasurable to read and brought back a number of fond memories from my original reading of the HG2G. But a number of the "Guide" entries seemed a bit contrived. And the ending was very contrived. ...more

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