Good, but a bit of a let down aftyer Hitchhikers guide. ( )

Life, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I read the first two book in the series and totally loved them, so I was looking forward to get to the next one. I pick up these books when I need something light and fun to read, and I had high expectations for the book to be entertaining.

The book starts with Arthur and Ford Prefect being stuck in prehistoric earth for a number of years, when they are saved by a Chesterfield sofa that transports them to the future. The two of them end up in England in the middle of a cricket game, just a day before the Earth is destroyed by the Vogons. There they meet Slartibartfast and Arthur and Ford find themselves embarking on a mission to save the Universe. During their journey, planet Krikkit is introduced and the characters delve into Krikkit's history to learn how the Krikkiters became xenophobic and their plan to destroy the entire Universe. Ages ago planet Krikkit was imprisoned in a slo-time envelope, however there is a force behind all this and it wants to set Krikkit free.

The beginning was was quite vague, but this is normal for these books and I thought it would start to make sense soon. I am disappointed though that this book never really cut it, it is silly to the point that it started to annoy me. The jumping from one thing to another lost me, sometimes it went on and on about something that doesn't have anything to do with the story until it picked up where it left off. There is not much action going on in this book, and it did seem to drag for a while. I am also not happy that my favorite character, Zaphod Beeblebrox, has been pushed to the side and is turned into a sad, much less interesting character. Having said that, the story still has its funny moments, but nowhere as amusing as the previous books. Oh, and good job Marvin is still there to save the day.

I am not sure what Adams was thinking when he wrote this book, the first two books were so much fun but this one just doesn't have the edge. It feels like he ran out of ideas when he wrote this one. Nonetheless I will continue to read this series, and hope that the next book will be better! ( )

You have to admire a book that answers the question of life, the universe and everything.

Of course it can't _also_ give you the question, because if both the ultimate question and the ultimate answer were to exist in the same reality, they would cancel each other out and take the universe with them.

_Life, the Universe and Everything_ is another delightful joy-ride through the galaxy, full of the same zany exploits and laugh-out-loud humor as the first two books in the series, the _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ and _Restaurant at the End of the Universe_.

It opens with Arthur Dent screaming - but not to worry, it's just his everyday first-thing-in-the-morning screaming which he does every time he wakes up and remembers where he is - stranded on prehistoric Earth, living in a cave. He kills a rabbit and makes it's skin into a pouch to carry interesting stones in, and then finally decides he's had enough of this sort of life and resolves to go mad. Just then Ford Prefect, his alien friend who can never seem to desert Arthur for long, shows up, with a plan to get them back to their own time via eddies in the time stream.

"Oh, he is, is he?" asks Arthur, on whom the entire concept is completely lost.

Nevertheless, after chasing a Chesterfield sofa through a meadow, Ford and Arthur manage to travel through time and wind up at a cricket game on present day Earth (or Earth a few days before it's destruction at the opening of _Hitchhiker's Guide_.)

Arthur is overjoyed at finally being home again, but it doesn't last long as lethal white robots from the planet Krikkit attack them.

It turns out the planet Krikkit has been waging a bloody war against the rest of the universe, trying to kill everyone, and that the game cricket is really the result of a sort of genetic memory past down through the human race (which the rest of the galaxy believes to be in very bad taste.) Arthur and Ford are reunited with Slartibartfast and reluctantly join him on a quest to save the universe from the planet Krikkit and its vendetta against all of creation.

Trillian, Zaphod and Marvin all return to take part in the adventure. As well, _Life_ introduces a series of hilarious new concepts, such as Slartibartfast's space ship which runs on "Bistromathic Drive" - on the premise that math used in a restaurant is so wildly different from any other kind of math used anywhere else in reality that when harnessed, it is, in fact, capable of powering and directing a space ship.

There is also an immortal alien who has made it his mission to personally insult every living being in the galaxy in alphabetical order, and another alien with a very big grudge against Arthur Dent. Remember the bowl of petunias from _Hitchhiker's Guide_? Remember the poor rabbit Arthur skinned to make a pouch for collecting interesting stones in? There's a problem with the whole reincarnation thing, and this is it.

As with all of Adam's books the writing is cheerful and fun, full of hilarious turns of phrase and analogies and moments of clever insight. This book is a fantastic conclusion to the story started in _Hitchhiker's Guide_, and the next book in the series, _So Long and Thanks for All the Fish_, is the perfect coda (but more on that later.) One of my all-time favorites, 5/5 stars. ( )

The continuing saga of the Hitchhikers trilogy. Here is another laugh riot volume of space travel lunacy from the master of sci-fi humor, Douglas Adams. What more can be said of his work that hasn't already been said. If you haven't read the series, it is time you did. ( )

Throw yourself at the ground and miss. If you can't, don't whine about it.

Unfortunately the third Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book is nowhere near as entertaining as the first two installments. The tone of it changes considerably to somewhat this side of maudlin, apart from the odd entertaining piece like the flying, and insulting the galaxy in order, or a bit of Clockwork Orange inspired cricket.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/07... ( )