I have to admit, I'd forgotten just how depressing this book is. It doesn't feel like a "Hitchhiker's" book, and no matter that Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are in it, it is so different in tone and theme that I can't really see it as part of the series.

"Mostly Harmless" is a depressing book. It lacks the good natured, easy humor of its four predecessors. It lacks the sparkling enthusiasm for life, the boundless sense of adventure and wonder at the universe.

It also lacks the energy of the previous books, plodding along at a rather slow and convoluted pace.

So what makes it so depressing, exactly?

Well for starters, Arthur has lost Fenchurch, and not only that but he's lost the Earth as well. He wanders the universe, desperately trying to find his way back to the Earth he knows, but instead keeps hitting parallel Earths that are all grim and foul.

While in the first three books Arthur's constant bafflement in his predicament as an Earthman stranded in space was hilarious, in this book everything is treated with a real sense of grief and loss.

The "Hitchhiker's Guide" itself has been taken over by soulless corporate types (later revealed to be Vogons) who have removed all of the zany fun from the offices. Perhaps as a result of this, the Guide has ceased to function and does not give any advice, entertaining or otherwise.

Trillian perhaps has the most depressing fate of all. The book begins with Tricia MacMillan of a parallel Earth who missed her chance to run off with Zaphod Beeblebrox. She since gave up her career in astrophysics and became a TV anchor woman because she can no longer stand to look at planets and stars. She spends all of her time wondering what her life would have been like if only she'd gone with Zaphod, feeling she missed her one big chance in life and feels dead inside. But the real blow comes when we find out that the Trillian of the previous books, the one who did go with Zaphod, feels exactly the same way. She's also restless and depressed and spends all her time wishing she'd stayed back on Earth because she believes her life would have been better there. There's something so despairing about this that it's always bothered me.

Of course just because it's depressing doesn't make "Mostly Harmless" a bad book, it just doesn't feel like a "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" book, and it makes for difficult reading when one is used to a lighter, happier more life-affirming tone from Adams.

Personally, this is not one of my favorite novels, although I did like the bit about the sandwiches, and it was nice to see what really happened to the King. 3/5 stars. ( )

By far the weakest of the five book trilogy. Not horrible, but now where near the charm of the first four. Let's put it this way - I've reread the first four a dozen times, but have yet to reread this ( )

A Whole Sort of General Mish Mash. ( )

Not particually good, really killed the series, it lacks all the fun and silliness of the other four, and just seems to plod along in a slow rather dull manner. Obviously fans of the series will read it no matter how many people say it is a bad book, but it is the worst of the 5 ( )

Great series ( )