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Loading... And Another Thing... (Hitchhiker's Trilogy, Book 6) (edition 2009)by Eoin Colfer
6   fyrefly98 | Oct 30, 2009 | 
I only finally picked this up when I saw it on the new books shelf of our library and thought "what the hell" -- it can't regret reading it if I didn't pay for it. And, that pretty much held true. I even enjoyed probably the first third of the book or so. But really, I had to force myself to finish reading. It wasn't so much that the book was bad, it was just clearly an attempt to copy DNA's style without much effort to create anything new or to build on it. Overall, there were some good parts, and non of it jumped out as truly atrocious, but it certainly won't be getting a second read from me. (  ) tlockney | Feb 5, 2012 | A few chuckles, not as good as his other work or the first two in the trilogy (  ) jerhogan | Jan 19, 2012 | I suppose that the first question that should form in one's brain is; Why? Why try to add a sixth part to a trilogy written by a much lamented ex-author? The cynical, and sadly, in this case, probably correct answer is,Money. Eoin Colfer makes as good an attempt at Douglas Adams style of writing as is possible. The problem is that it feels just a little forced. With Adams the non sequiturs tumble naturally onto the page but with Colfer, one suspects planning. The story is reasonably entertaining and, when one starts to accept the new style, this is a reasonable book: it does, however, have the feel of something tagged onto the other five books, for no great reason. The ending is clearly left in such a way that a seventh book could easily be tacked on to this - I hope it isn't. HH2G was a brilliant radio series, a cracking series of books, an OK TV series and an acceptable film but, as I believe that Douglas Adams would have agreed, were he still with us, there comes a time to say enough. The fact that I purchased my copy for £2 from a remaindered book shop will, hopefully, convey this truth to the publishers - and to Eoin, who has sufficient tallent to have turned out numerous books of his own, without steeling another man's idea. Thank you Arthur Dent for many hours of entertainment, now enjoy your retirement. (  ) the.ken.petersen | Dec 25, 2011 | The title of this book pretty much covers my opinion of it. It's a fun read, but it doesn't live up to the original series. At times, the author was trying too hard to be like Douglas Adams, and some of the Guide entries distracted from the story. But if you see this book not as a sequel to the original series, but as 'inspired by', it's a good read. ( ) SimoneA | Oct 2, 2011 | I really wanted to like this book. But I just can't. I love Douglas Adams and I love Eoin Colfer. It is just Colfer trying way too hard to do a bad imitation of Douglas Adams. There are way too many of Adam's-ish quips in almost every sentence. mrobinson1201 | Sep 29, 2011 | If I could give this zero stars, I would. I should grant at the outset that the avowed mission of this book is to undo the ending of Mostly Harmless, which I loved unreservedly. This was never going to be an easy sell. Still, I was willing to put that aside and see where he went from there. It's a mess. If Adams had written a sixth book in the trilogy before his untimely passing, it seems likely that he would have disposed of the previous ending in a few pages flat, if he'd bothered to address it at all before getting on with the story. (He did just that in book 5, neatly ridding himself of Book 4's baggage by having Fenchurch suddenly disappear.) Coifer doesn't. Coifer spends the entire book writing his way out of the previous ending, except for a few bits meant to set up the sequels. Furthermore, everybody is out of character. Arthur, Trillian, Random, Zaphod, Ford, Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, and even the bloody Vogons. None of them act remotely like the versions Douglas Adams wrote. I'm actually looking for something nice to say about this, but I'm coming up blank. It's not even as if he has a intricate plot set up in which everything dovetails elegantly at the end, like, say, that of Mostly Harmless itself; instead, it lurches along haphazardly, like, say, the first couple of books in the series, just (a) without the charm and wit that carried those, and (b) with the burden of having a specific problem that needed to be solved, which those largely didn't have. And to compound the issue, did I mention the bit where he's clearly angling for sequels? I suppose the one good thing I can note is that the introduction does characterize this book as a lesser work with poorer production values, which one might like if one liked the original. In keeping with that, if this had to be printed at all -- which I would, of course, contest -- it should have been billed as the first book in a new trilogy of indeterminate length, rather than the "part six of three" proudly proclaimed on the cover. At least set the bad fanfic apart from the real books. (  ) Shmuel510 | Jul 23, 2011 | Let's state the obvious, shall we? Eoin Colfer isn't Douglas Adams. Colfer hasn't tried to be Douglas Adams, but he has tried to satisfy Douglas's supporters by writing in a very similar style. If it was not put in the context of the H2G2 trilogy, it may well have been a good book; but it wasn’t; and, in my view, it isn’t. The story raised a smile now and then and it was a nice reminder of how fresh and exciting the first few H2G2 books were. I finished it out of a sense of loyalty and a perverse need for completion - but that was it. I really enjoy Colfer’s work in his own name, especially his Artemis Fowl series; but nothing will ever stack up to Adams’ eccentric and inconsistent H2G2 brilliance. Having said that, maybe there is a way for the series to live on. Perhaps each future book from a different author - we could pretend each is being sent by Douglas from an improbable parallel universe where he continues to live on... but where his words get a bit muddled in the transition into the mind of an author here on our Earth... I’d like to nominate Terry Pratchett as the next cab off the rank. Long live the books of Douglas Adams. Long live his life (in a froody way). Oh, and I really miss Marvin. ( )2 Jawin | Jul 18, 2011 | Colfer makes a go of capturing Adams’s spirit with this book, but it’s just not the same. It’s like listening to a favourite band with a talented new lead singer; it’s ok, but it makes you miss, just a little bit more, that which you fell in love with in the first place. This left me feeling melancholy. (  ) Qorvus | Jul 12, 2011 | I was disappointed by this book. The previous Hitchhiker's books set a very high bar, and the humor in this one falls flat for me. Additionally, the seemingly constant "guide note" interjections are just plain annoying. Overall, I didn't like this one. http://www.stillhq.com/book/Eoin_Colfer/And_Another_Thing.html (  ) mikal | Jun 22, 2011 | When they announced they were going to continue the story of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, I was ecstatic. For one thing, it's my absolute favorite series and another, the ending to "Mostly Harmless" was far to bleak for my taste. I understand not every book needs a happy ending and sometimes the ending you want isn't the ending that best fits the story (i.e Stephen King's The Dark Tower) but you can't help but feel that ending was not ultimately where Mr. Adams wanted to leave it. Somehow I thought in my mind to replicate something not quite on par with Douglas but close enough that I would thoroughly enjoy it. I knew Eion Coifer has good critical reception with his "Artemis Fowl" series so I was fairly confident in the quality of the book. What I received was disappointing. Not a bad book in the least bit, it is actually pretty well written... if it wasn't a Hitchhiker's Guide book. Every character feels slightly off base, like watching your favorite characters on a television series being played a different set of actors. I have the same feeling about the plotline although I did enjoy how EIon chose to write how they escaped the destruction of the Earth. Otherwise, the story falls pretty flat for me. One of my favorite parts of the original series was the entries in the guide the transitioned to the plotline with "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy has this to say on the subject of ...." and to see the Guide entries reduced to post-it notes really took me out of the book where the original I was utterly lost in. By far though, the most disappointing aspect of the book is that it was not nearly as funny. While reading the original there were parts where I had to actually put down the book because I was laughing so hard, while this book I believe the only part I truly laughed at was a cow jumping out and yelling "Eat me!" which I can't even recall very clearly. Overall, I do not think Eion Coifer is a bad writer but I also do not believe he was the right choice to continue the series. Personally, considering their history with Douglas, I wrote much rather have seen a collaboration between Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry, and Richard Dawkins to finish the series. Sounds strange I know, but that's just one hoopy frood's opinion. ( ) ThyHoopyFrood | Jun 10, 2011 | Captures the outer style of Douglas Adams but misses his essence. It feels like Nothing happens for most of it. The ending is reasonable and the book---I can't resist---mostly harmless. Oh, unless you're really serious about religion and then you might be very offended. ( ) raizel | May 23, 2011 | No one could ever approach Adams, but Colfer comes surprisingly close. Many laughs and snickers later, I'm much happier with the current state of the 'trilogy'. ( ) jlj | May 14, 2011 | A valiant attempt, but for the die-hard Adam's fan you can tell right away it's not his writing. Amusing in places & it does get better, but it doesn't quite fill that hole. ( )1 plabebob | Mar 8, 2011 | I approached this book with considerable trepidation. As a long-time fan of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, I found myself lumped in with many other purists who didn't want to see that marvelous series sullied by another author trying to contribute to the legacy. It is impossible to review this book without comparing it to the five previous volumes in this famed "trilogy". And, in comparison, it certainly comes up short. However, this tale, which takes up not long after Adams' final volume, Mostly Harmless (1992) ended, has its moments. The wonderfully anarchic sense of humor and plot development that Adams employed continues here, with time-and-space traveler Arthur Dent, his alien friend Ford Prefect, and the wackjob Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox trying to escape the destruction of Earth (again), and getting pulled into a conflict between a bored immortal and a despondent Asgardian god Thor. Throw in some cheese-worshiping personal trainers and a sullen goth teenager and you've got some classic British farce. If you're looking for a light, fun read, I can recommend this book. If you're a hard-core H2G2 fan, you may want to pass on this one. My overall opinion is: Colfer tries too hard to sound like Douglas Adams and doesn't really pull it off. Originally reviewed for my local library's website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts/bookguide/srec/staffrec09-11.htm (  ) cannellfan | Jan 16, 2011 | Tämä ei ollut huono kirja. Paikoin se oli jopa hauska ja kyllä se lukemisensa ajan jaksoi viihdyttää... Mutta sen kummempi se ei mielestäni ollut. Joskus mietin pitkiä fantasiasarjoja. Harvemmin jaksan alkaa lukea mitään yli kuuteen yli 400 sivuiseen osaan käsittävää kirjaa. Se tuntuu niin loputtomalta ja turhalta hahmojen ja juonenkäänteiden venyttämiseltä ja pitkittämiseltä. Tästä tuli paikoin vähän sama tuntu. Ei mitään uutta, mutta tutut hahmot on vain saatava tekemään samoja asioita uudessa kirjassa. ( ) Dei_Enigma | Jan 10, 2011 | We listened to this in New Zealand, and I liked it more than I think I expected to. Colfer occasionally gets caught up doing Hitchhiker bits, but it's not a garish impersonation or anything. By the fourth or fifth Adams HGttG book, you have (at least to some extent) to be in it for the Hitchhiker shtick, and Colfer makes that shtick work. ( ) todd534 | Oct 28, 2010 | Eoin Colfer picked up Douglas Adams's torch to continue the HGttG series. We start with Arthur as an old man living on a beach, looking back on his long carefree life, then he wakes up. He discovers it's been a virtual life and he's still back on earth with about 30 minutes before total destruction. And the fun begins. I have to say that overall I did enjoy the book. It was very much in the vein of Douglas Adams, though I have to say at times Colfer seemed to be trying to hard to be like Adams in his writing and it got to be a bit much. I think the biggest irritant was Colfer had way too much fun writing the HG entries and making up stuff to be silly. I felt the number of articles was too many with all that exposition. However, when Eoin got going on telling the story I felt he did an excellent job and I really got caught up in it. Unless you are an Adams purist, if you enjoyed the other HG books I think this one will pass muster as well. ( )1 readafew | Oct 6, 2010 | Part Six of Three of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, now told by Eoin Colfer (Douglas Adams being unfortunately deceased), and a brilliant casting choice this was indeed. The plot is impossible to relate in a sensible way, as is only proper, but the denizens of the previous books are here, Earth is about to be blown up...again, and the storytelling style is a seamless pickup from where Douglas Adams left off. I hate to see Colfer take any time off from his "Artemis Fowl" books, but I would be most disposed toward seeing more in this "trilogy" from him. I think Douglas Adams would have approved also. ( ) burnit99 | Sep 13, 2010 | While this book adds good closure to the series, should it be the end of it, it is nowhere near the quality of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books. Adams writes like the king of random, and the rest of the series is almost like hysterical descent into madness. Colfer's writing is more like black and white compared to the vivid colors of the previous books. There are funny parts and it's readable, but in the end, it's imitation. ( ) doc_illusion | Sep 2, 2010 | In parts witty, in parts trying too hard, this is a fun romp that picks up where Douglas finished off. Runs with a lot of Douglas's themes, but sadly not a huge amount of new ideas - basically playing in Adams' sandpit with his toys without adding too much new. I found this oddly non-gripping, but am not really sure why. ( ) pauliharman | Jul 24, 2010 | Eoin Colfer does a reasonably good job of approximating the satire and style of Douglas Adams without parodying it. While not exactly inspired, this was a fun read, and I recommend it to other Hitchhiker's fans, unless you're one of those fans vehemently opposed to Colfer's having written and published this. In that case, don't read it. [ full review ] ( ) markflanagan | Jul 21, 2010 | Nice idea to have a sequel to the HHGTTG, but it didn't work for me as the mimicry of Adam's style was too heavy and too artificial for me. It was disappointing as I was looking forward to the original joy of reading. Nice try, which doesn't work out really. ( ) loflu | Jul 19, 2010 | I agree with the vast majority of reviewers who've said that although Colfer isn't Douglas Adams, this is nonetheless fun and satisfying--more worth reading, perhaps, than Adams' own last, unfinished work, The Salmon of Doubt. ( ) jholcomb | Jun 27, 2010 | Colfer manages to copy Adam's style quite well. Which is probably why the book bored me and I never got around to finishing it... Adam's was a great writer for radio and a poor writer of novels. ( ) JudithProctor | Jun 4, 2010 | Here is the sixth, and latest, installment in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy," created by Douglas Adams. It was also published with the approval of Adams’ widow. Arthur Dent has made his way back to Earth, but it isn’t "his" Earth. The Vogons, with the extremely bad poetry, are working on destroying all possible versions of Earth, so Arthur must take off, again. Ford Prefect, writer for the Guide, and Zaphod Beeblebrox, former president of the Galaxy, are still around. Tricia McMillan is a former TV reporter who ran away with Zaphod, just before the Earth was destroyed. She changed her name to Trillian, and used some of Arthur’s DNA to have Random, a daughter. Random is very smart, and has taken teenage surliness to new levels. A small remnant of humanity has made its way to a planet called Nano, run by an Irish property developer named Hunter Hillman. He feels that the humans need a god to worship. The Norse God Thor is one of the applicants. A being named Wowbagger travels around the galaxy handing out insults on various planets. What follows is a titanic battle involving Wowbagger, Thor and a cheese-based deity. For die-hard fans of the series, concerned that no one could do it like Adams, relax. Colfer is a veteran author who knows what he is doing, and it shows here. For those new to the series, read one or two of the early books first, and then read this. It’s really worth reading. ( ) plappen | May 25, 2010 | |
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RatingAverage: (3.32)
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Review: When presented with And Another Thing..., the obvious first question is "Can you really have a Hitchhiker's book without Douglas Adams?" And the answer, I'm happy to report, is "on the 'mostly' end of 'sort of'."
That waffly statement is a result of the patchy nature of the book. There were individual scenes that are funny enough to compete with Adams at his best, and then there were bits that just didn't work for me at all. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the parts that worked best were the parts where Colfer took Adams's characters and ran with them in his own direction, and the parts that felt the most labored were the parts where Colfer was trying to match his humor exactly to Adams's style, and to cram in as much continuity as possible. For example, in the asides (here set off as "Guide Notes" and in different font), Colfer seemed determined to bring back every random (not Random) alien species Adams ever mentioned, without realizing that the reason those bits were so funny was because they were thoroughly unexpected and unconnected one-offs.
On the other hand, I absolutely laughed out loud more than once, was giggling constantly, and at one point in the middle I caught myself thinking "Man, I like Adams's books so much better when they involve the Norse Gods."... before it dawned on me that And Another Thing... was not actually written by the same man who wrote The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. That's pretty high praise. Colfer undeniably had some huge shoes to fill, and while they don't quite fit him perfectly (...yet; he did seem to get more comfortable inhabiting Adams's universe as the book went on), neither did he trip over them and fall down the stairs. Besides, any book that starts with quotes from Douglas Adams and Tenacious D, and uses the word "sarcastigating" in a sentence gets a thumbs up from me.
But, sadly: No Marvin. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: If you go into this book expecting a Douglas Adams book, you're probably going to be disappointed. But if you go in expecting an Eoin Colfer book written in the Hitchhiker's universe, then it's a fun, enjoyable, and mostly harmless read. (Heh.) (