And Another Thing (Hitchhiker's Guide Book Six)

I personally thought the book was quite an achievement. My only problems were that the Hillman Hunter chapters were a bit long, there was not nearly enough Arthur, and they didn't really visit any planets other than Nano. Other than that, I definitely consider it a fine addition to the non-trilogy. And as outrageous as this may be for some, I hope there's more in the future.

hmmmm... I haven't read it yet. I'm hoping to soon. I loved the Artemis Fowl series, and I also loved HHGTTG. I was really sad about Arthur's hopes constantly being destroyed more brutally and destructively than the last as Douglas Adams' life became more and more tragic and more and more depressing. I think that his writing was really just reflecting how he felt inside, and maybe he didn't really believe that there could be a happy ending at the time. Maybe this book will prove him wrong. I don't know. I haven't read it yet.

Just finished it, I love it, and I want to see more. Especially more Random Dent.

Interesting. I recently found out she was a Scrappy, you know, even though I always thought she was a fairly interesting character. In any case, someone has Perverse Sexual Lust... ;)

Well, I just finished it, and I can say I'm impressed. I've always liked Colfer (even though he certainly wasn't my first choice for writing the book- that would have been either Brian Clevinger or Neil Gaiman), but I was still cautious at first. In the end, though, I consider the book to be a worthy continuation of Adams' saga. While not as good as Adams in his prime (I consider Life, the Universe, and Everything to be the funniest out of the original five novels), it was definitely a more Hitchhiker-like story than the fourth and fifth books. That's not to say that 4 and 5 were bad- by no means- but they didn't really have the same kind of chaotic energy that the first three had, and I think that this book captured that kind of feel perfectly. While And Another Thing would certainly have been better had it been written by Adams himself, I think Colfer did a wonderful job with it. This is saying something, coming from me, since Hitchhiker's is something very near to my heart (reading them for the first time was part of a personal Enlightenment that I went through at age thirteen that was honestly the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience).

Two quibbles, however, both of which are plot threads left hanging from Mostly Harmless:

• Fenchurch. I wanted to know what happened to her. I know she disappeared and all, but I want to know where she disappeared to.

• The Vann Harl subplot was never resolved. I was pleased to see in this latest book that Zarniwoop and Vann Harl were conflated into the same character (which I believe happened in the radio adaptation), but I wanted to know what was going to happen to the Guide in-universe.

I hope there is more too. People said that the book is definatly done but it was a pretty open ended finish to me.

Plus "end of the middles?" WTF????

I thought Eoin got Ford pretty well actually and I read the sixth book around a week after reading the others. Zaphod was pretty dumbed down but with good reasons for this and he was still completly awesome and also a Karma Houdini. Plus, most of the Constant Mown sections were Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming to me.

even though he certainly wasn't my first choice for writing the book- that would have been either Brian Clevinger or Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is good, but I don't think his style bears much similarity to Adams'. Now that you bring him up though, I think Brian Clevinger does have more in common with Adams than most authors. He's not exactly well known offline though, so it's not as if he was ever in the running.

I still think Jasper Fforde would have written the best possible Hitchhiker sequel.

I think Daniel Handler could do it. He has a great sense of Absurdism, ASOUE reminded me of HHGTTG at times.

I didn't read much of Handler Snicket, but honestly, the only similarity I can think of between him and Ad Bop is that they both set up overwrought, wonky sentences for laughs.