And Another Thing...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Book 6

By: Eoin Colfer

Narrated by: Simon Jones

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Life, the universe, and everything: listen to the rest of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and related titles.

©2009 Eoin Colfer and Completely Unexpected Productions Ltd. (P)2009 Hyperion

A Fitting Continuation of the Hitchhiker Series

If you could sum up And Another Thing... in three words, what would they be?

Mostly Harmless.

Any additional comments?

When somebody attempts to continue in the footsteps of a deceased author, there are often challenges to either stay too close to the original, or to take the series to places that don't fit the original spirit. Thankfully Eoin Colfer has found a great mix of old and new premises re-capture the essence of Douglas Adams's classic trilogy (in 5 parts).

While some of the writing style is clearly different, it's not distracting enough to seem out of place. Colfer has his own voice, and his own sense of humor so his take on Hitchhiker is refreshing.

I'm a huge fan of the series, so I look forward to seeing the series continue.

I loved it.

Along with another reviewer here, I also had the impression that Colfer channeled Douglas Adams (maybe the universe has cooked up a bit of irony and given Mr. Adams another incarnation, maybe not). I've read and listened to Adams' originals many times and have also enjoyed some of Colfer's earlier books quite a bit, but he really did something different from his own stuff here that is very consistent with the original style of the Hitchhikers series. Sounds like Adams was considering reviving the characters for a less depressing round with the Earth slightly less blown up, and I think he would have approved. What fan wouldn't have wanted Adams to have been able to write forever, but this is such a loved series it's nice to see it reach a little further into immortality.

Better than Adams, himself

All silliophiles need to purchase this audiobook. Non-silliophiles should also listen to it, if only to hear Simon Jones' perfect narration. Why haven't I heard of this actor before? He has, arguably, the largest range of voices and accents of any audiobook reader I have listened to. I will definitely be looking for other audiobooks he has narrated. As to this book, itself, "And Another Thing" definitely continues the delightful silliness of the previous Hitch-hiker series. Colfer picks up and runs with Douglas Adams' literary voice, imagination, and characters. Who'da thunk that Trillian and Boweric Wowbagger would .... But no, I'd better not -- that would spoil the surprise. Suffice it to say that "And Another Thing" continues the Infinite Improbability of the previous episodes. I have docked a star from my rating of this audiobook, only because Colfer also continued -- albeit out of necessity -- the alcoholism theme that Adams incorporated into the previous five installments (mostly in the form of Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters). As one who has seen many cases of alcoholism's tragedies, its silliness-inducing characteristics just don't make me laugh the way Adams intended. Otherwise, I recommend "And Another Thing" to all fans of Douglas Adams' brilliance.

Meh

It’s nice to close off the series in a better way than where “Mostly Harmless” left it. However, I felt this book could have been half the length. The jokes became incredibly formulaic and really interrupted the flow of the story. Eg: Arthur was feeling *X idiom*. Long explanation of *X idiom* actually being literal on some other planet. I felt the other hitchhiker books were thought provoking, funny and endearing. This one tried to include all that but with much more limited success.

Almost perfect

The style was pretty much indistinguishable from the Adams books, which is high praise for Colfer. The book was about two minutes from being perfect, and I won't spoil the ending, but I was under the impression that the main reason this book was written was that Adams wasn't happy with how depressingly he ended the 5th book, but unfortunately died before he could write a 6th. Why then bait and switch the reader with another depressing ending?

A competent book

The narrator was generally good, but pacing and voices seemed inconsistent at times.

The book is a valiant attempt to complete the stories started in the first five books, but misses some of the conciseness of the other books. The humor also feels forced and falls somewhat flat at times, though some of this might be a combination of the writing and the narrator.

I still recommend reading this book, but keep your expectations within reason.

Over All, Well Done.

My first experience with Hitchhiker's Guide came from the movie they made starring Martin Freeman. I thought it was an enjoyable enough thing, but it almost didn't sell me on more...almost.

It was through audible I listened to the novels in the series and you can now consider me a fan through and through. I understand the radio dramas are the original source material for books 1 through 5 so I'll check those out too one day.

I was ecstatic to learn there was a sixth book considering Douglas Adam's died. Some may consider this book fan fiction but the estate of DA approved this and his notes were used to inspire the end product.

Overall, this a well done novel. Eoin Coffer matches the style of the previous books, albeit a little too well. Sometimes there seems to be too many guide notes...none of the previous books seemed to have as many. But a possible reason for this is described in the forward if I recall.

There are also a few narrative decisions I don't agree with and I'd spoil it for you if you keep reading so please read the book first. Last warning. Ok...

Arthur's fate is mostly ambiguous and not at all definitive. Although his ending is in spirit with the way his whole journey has gone, he deserved a little happiness for the way he was treated in the other books. He should have found Fenchurch and been able to settle down with her. It is the final book so I feel it would have been appropriate. To strand him on a planet all alone with more Vogon trouble just seems cruel to me. His ultimate fate is left to the listener. The final book should be final for him, not ambiguous.

One other problem is Zaphod feels like more of a douchbag than usual and that's saying something. He basically seems more in it for himself than before which is a character development in the wrong direction for a final book. I liked him a bit less in this because of it.

Wowbagger and Trillian seemed out of left field to me as a couple and I wonder if this is in DA notes or not. Maybe it is because it seems so odd and kind of in his style.

Other than the narrative nitpicks the performance of Simon Jones is really good. It seemed fitting if your couldn't get Martin Freeman you'd get the original Dent. He sounds like the Guide to me so much when he narrates.

So in conclusion if you are a Hitchhiker fan you may like this novel and the performance. You are going to need to be alright with the above though or you may dislike it more than I do. I'm generally forgiving though so I rather liked it overall. 4/5.

Honestly pretty good

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Being a devoted reader of the series I was thrilled but slightly concerned to hear that a 6th book would be written by a different author. To some degree my concerns were validated. This book does try, I feel, too hard to woo fans with constant shoehorned references to original Hichhiker's stories. The story is very engaging and Adams-esque, funny and insightful.

Quiet

Recording was really quiet compared with others. My phone didn't have enough volume for this book in noisy areas.

poor download

many portions got mixed for 5-6 seconds making parts not understandable. will try to download on my tablet later.