• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Book 2
  • By: Douglas Adams
  • Narrated by: Martin Freeman
  • Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (13,161 ratings)

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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe  By  cover art

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

By: Douglas Adams
Narrated by: Martin Freeman
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Publisher's summary

Now celebrating the 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, soon to be a Hulu original series!

“Douglas Adams is a terrific satirist.”—
The Washington Post Book World

Facing annihilation at the hands of the warlike Vogons? Time for a cup of tea! Join the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his uncommon comrades in arms in their desperate search for a place to eat, as they hurtle across space powered by pure improbability.

Among Arthur’s motley shipmates are Ford Prefect, a longtime friend and expert contributor to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the three-armed, two-headed ex-president of the galaxy; Tricia McMillan, a fellow Earth refugee who’s gone native (her name is Trillian now); and Marvin, the moody android. Their destination? The ultimate hot spot for an evening of apocalyptic entertainment and fine dining, where the food speaks for itself (literally).

Will they make it? The answer: hard to say. But bear in mind that The Hitchhiker’s Guide deleted the term “Future Perfect” from its pages, since it was discovered not to be!

“What’s such fun is how amusing the galaxy looks through Adams’s sardonically silly eyes.”—Detroit Free Press

Listen to the rest of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy."

Want to learn more about the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie? Listen to this interview with Robbie Stamp, close friend of Douglas Adams and executive producer of the film.

©1980 Serious Productions, Ltd. (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Featured Article: 12 of the Best Sci-Fi Series in Audio


From the furthest reaches of space to the microbiology of pandemics and gene manipulation, to the future implications of technology for societies similar to our own, science fiction is a fascinating genre that offers listeners a wide variety of ways to access its themes. In looking for the best sci-fi audiobook series, it can be difficult to know where to start due to the genre's sheer number of iterations and variations. But what these series have in common is an acute devotion to telling a good story, as well as fully building out the worlds therein. The writing is enhanced by the creative and impassioned narration.

What listeners say about The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

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    3 out of 5 stars

I couldn't finish

I've read all the books and loved the first Audio book. I couldn't get past the narrator in this book. Definitely won't listen to the rest.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • J
  • 12-22-20

Why didn’t Stephen Fry Narate the Whole Series?

Stephen Fry expertly captured the feel during the first book of the series. This one, all the characters just feel off. The narrater is skilled, he just doesn’t fit the book.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Poor performance

Of all the different manifestations of this story, this was the worst. Zaphod’s accent seems like it comes from the Bronx. Seeing as the book derives from a radio play, a single narrator in multi-voice maybe entirely inadequate to the story. But this particular narrator is not up to the task.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Most annoying Zaphod characterization in existence

The story is great. Unfortunately Martin Freeman's horrible characterization of Zaphod is so bad it distracts from it. Please have someone else do the narration. barf city.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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It kills me to rate this lower than 5

I am a consummate fan of Douglas Adams and this series but have to admit that I just couldn’t get into this telling of it because of a couple characters. I am not sure if each character was an individual actor or if Martin Freeman was performing each of them but the Zaphod portrayal ground on my nerves enough that I had to shut off the audiobook. I like Martin Freeman very much as the narrator and from the film but I guess I’ll be going back to the old BBC version of this story for future listening.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Unnecessary production

I wonder if the people producing this audiobook ever had a chance to listen to it before releasing it... 90% of it is awesome.

Just when you get to the "metallic voice" of the insect (chapter 5)... the disembodied voice of Gargravarr (chapter 9) or the radio broadcast (chapter 20), the volume changes and the audio "effects" are awful... none of these are really needed.

Also, whatever pieces of music were added on (more like squeezed in) for no particular reason apparently, just don't do anything to improve the audio experience.

Other than these, the book itself, as the rest of the series, is amazing.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Does Freeman know this is a comedy book?

Freeman reads this with an utter lack of comedic timing. Why does zaphod beeblebrox sound like a want to be wise guy from the Bronx? I’d pay again and twice as much for Stephen Fry to read for this.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I loved the original Hitchhiker's Guide book, but this is more a pale imitation than a sequel. It has only a small part of the wit of the original, and even taken on its own merits is mediocre.

I normally enjoy Martin Freeman's acting but I have to call out the voice he uses for Zaphod, one of the protagonists. He speaks his lines in a high pitched voice with a horribly grating New York accent (I could not tolerate it and I am FROM New York). Zaphod talks a LOT in this book. I barely made it through.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent acting.

The narration was good, I cannot believe it was one person. The story was a bit drawn out, but still good.

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Where is the Stephen Fry audio version

the lack of consistency between the new narrator and the Stephen Fry rendition is kind of off putting on top of that this narrator does not have the same inflections as Stephen Fry which makes it a very dull and unengaging experience I am already looking for a way to refund this so I can spend my money in an appropriate way to get the Stephen Fry version

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