# Hardcover: 288 pages
# Publisher: Hyperion
# Publication Date: October 12, 2009
# ISBN-10: 1401323588
# ISBN-13: 978-1401323585
# Author Website: Eoin Colfer
# Book Website: www.6of3.com
Finding a worthy successor to Douglas Adams must have been a difficult job. Adams defined comedic science fiction, and his books are some of the most popular genre stories ever. When the name Eoin Colfer was announced as the writer of the sixth book of Adam’s trilogy, many adult readers asked, who, exactly? But Colfer was already a New York Times bestselling author with his Artemis Fowl tales for youngsters, and in truth, who better to build on Adams sophomoric, ridiculous, and fast-paced humor than a writer whose primary audience is between the ages of 8 and 13?
And Colfer delivers. And Another Thing… reads, feels and satirizes like an Adams novel. Colfer continues the fast-paced tale, and reboots the story in such a way that he comes to own The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy mythos as his own. All of characters are here, from morose Arthur Dent, Trillian the capable, to overconfident Zaphod Beeblebrox and happy-go-lucky Ford Prefect.
In this story, all that has come before is something of a dream, and Colfer brings the reader back to the moment when, for the second time, Earth is about to be bulldozed for a new galactic highway. Saved in the nick of time, Zaphod and crew find themselves beholden to Wowbagger the immortal alien. What ensues is an attempt by Zaphod to live up to a promise to Wowbagger in exchange for his help. It is impossible to know just where the story goes from there as reviewers were only provided with half of the book as a review copy. But if that half is anything to go by, the remainder of the story is going to be a real roller coaster ride of comedic fun.
Each character has changed not at all under a new writer’s pen. If anything has changed, it is that Colfer has actually made the story a bit easier to read. Adams original tales could get so ludicrous and convoluted that they could be hard to follow, but Colfer keeps his story cleanly plotted and easy to follow. It is still full of the ridiculous and the insane, but reading And Another Thing… is much easier on the brain.
Especially enjoyable is the way that Colfer uses “guide notes” from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to explain the various terminologies with typical British wit. Colfer also continues the tradition of poking fun at modern culture. Colfer has even kept the writing style of Adams intact, using verbal surprises and odd character reactions to keep the tempo up and the flood of zaniness coming.
And Another Thing… is a most worthy successor to the work of Douglas Adams. While maintaining the best of Adams, it charts some new territory, allowing Colfer to put his own stamp on the universe without compromising what made The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy such great reading in the first place. I highly recommend this novel to everyone, without reservation.
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Irish wit, you moron.
He may be Irish, but the “wit” type he is using in this book is British in flavor. Irish wit tends to be darker in my experience.
“Reading And Another Thing… is much easier on the brain” sounds to me suspiciously like saying “And Another Thing is dumbed down”.
Wells- it is not dumbed down. I think it is more coherently written. Adams tended to write in a hurry and haphazardly (any bio of him will teach you this fact) and Colfer was more careful and focused more in narrative than Adams did. This is not “dumbed down” just a more fluid and accessible narrative.
Re: “Adams tended to write in a hurry and haphazardly (any bio of him will teach you this fact)…”
Um….Every single biographical account I’ve seen teaches me precisely the opposite. Adams labored long and hard. Every interview of Adams I’ve seen teaches me that he was extremely self-critical.
Re: “…and Colfer was more careful and focused more in narrative than Adams did. This is not ‘dumbed down’ just a more fluid and accessible narrative.”
I think you mean “dumbed-down”. In any case, this literary prostitute can be as “accessible” as he likes with his OWN books.
Okay Wells, you’ve identified yourself as one of those who are an Adams purist. This is your right. I am not, nor would I have thought Adams would be either. Read Neil Gaiman’s biography of Adams. But your position is one that allows no discussion or differing viewpoints, so there is no real point in discussion with you.
Wonderful review, highly enjoyed it and agreed with you on every point. Some people love to argue, just for the sake of argurment.
Wells, I heard you like mudkips.
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I’m under the impression the Author fleshed out the plot, and filled in the details… and when he presented his draft, the publisher said “give us more words”… so he went back and littered the whole thing with useless trivia and circular dialogue.
Easier to read? Better Flow?
I could not disagree more.
If I read one more ‘explanation’ to a joke… I’m going to put the book down for good.
You have a point peebs, the explaining of jokes could be a little wearing, though I don’t think he overdid that so much as define terms, which would create another joke.
As to flow, I think it does flow better than Adams, it has more continuity of story overall than Adams did. This may be a bad thing, as it is not true to the true Adams style, but it s something I liked and appreciated.
Gosh isn’t it awful.
It _is_ sort of like Adams – but the Adams of the last book – which was hopelessly entangled and completely unfunny – rather than the first two books.
[...] fram denne serien, men syns at resultatet blei ganske bra. Mange er einige med meg, men ikkje alle: Grasping for the Wind, The Independent, Techland, The Guardian, i09 og [...]
[...] the last book of the series, but I quite liked the result. Some agree with me, other don’t: Grasping for the Wind, The Independent, Techland, The Guardian, i09 og [...]