And Another Thing...

If you love the original five book trilogy and the genius that was Douglas Adams, don't waste your time reading this book. And if you absolutely must, then at least borrow it from a library and save your money. The way the characters are written, the dialogue, and the whole tone and feel of the thing are just off. In other words, it is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike any of the previous five stories. So unless you want to see Arthur and friends acting like whoever wrote about them has only briefly glanced at only one of the previous stories, and doing lame things, don't bother to even pick up this book. Do yourself a favor and choose something else.

Well, I just finished "and another thing", and I think many people are being much too hard on this book and on Eoin Colfer. While I love all things Adams, and while this book was clearly NOT written by Douglas Adams, it is one of the laugh-out-loud funniest books I've read in awhile. I believe Colfer walks a fine line with this book. He draws on many well-established Adams references, sure, but he also forges ahead boldly into new territory. Perhaps a dozen times during the reading of this book, Colfer took a well established Adams creation, and for the first time in a long time made me stop and say "Hmmmm, I never really looked at this from that particular angle. Interesting". Or maybe being married to an Irish woman, I'm just a pushover for creative use of the word "eejit". Unlike the last 2 Adams HHGTG novels, Colfer's book follows a tight story, and doesn't wander off the mark too often. In fact, if there is any Adams book this reminds me of the most, it is "Life, The Universe, and Everything", probably the most "complete" of the HHGTG novels. Give it a chance, people. And if you tell yourself you won't like it, you probably won't.

I have very fond memories of the original books and was quite saddened to read on that fateful day of Douglas Adams' untimely death. I also didn't care for the ending of Mostly Harmless, far too depressing. Let's face it, Adams was tired of our beloved characters and as a result we got the aforementioned Mostly Harmless. Years later, along comes Eoin Colfer, and when I read the news that he was to write a continuation, I, like others, felt betrayed. When I received the book and read the author's introduction, disappointment ensued, as I felt the introduction was just off. Then something happened. As I started into the story, I felt relieved. Characterizations were really quite good, and you could tell that Mr. Colfer enjoyed writing this book. Yes, we could have done without so many guide entries and the story drags at some points, but overall, at times this felt more like Hitchhiker's Guide did than any of the original books. The original characters in this book felt alive and full of depth (as far as their characters would allow), the old expanded favorite character felt cleverly written to me (along with a clever premise), and over all, this book is an excellent continuation of the characters and 'story' that we all loved. I hope to see more books written by Eoin Colfer continuing the series. I feel like the other negative reviews are just too harsh; yes it's not the same as Douglas Adams' entries in the series, but it's certainly better in some regards, and likely no worse.

I'm just going to get this all out on the table. Give this book a chance. It's good. Colfer was asked to do this book by Adam's widow because she wanted to introduce Adam's writing to a whole new generation of readers. Colfer is a successful authour. He could make a lot more money writing and publishing a children's book in his Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl, Book 1) series. He wrote And Another Thing out of respect for Adams and as a favour to Adam's widow. Give the guy a break. Put aside the punter politics. And Another Thing is a great read. I'm thrilled that someone as funny and imaginative as Colfer took up the challenge. I hope that his audience will use this excuse to pick up Hitchikers and the tale will stay alive for another generation. Adams did not want to write the last two books in the The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series but had to because of contractual obligations. But his true feelings of boredom with the series show in the last two novels. They are dark and forced. Characters die somewhat suddenly and with little explanation. Before Adams could get back into his characters and end the series in a way fans would enjoy, he died, suddenly, on a treadmill in California at the age of 49. And Another Thing is well written and entertaining and leaves readers left high and dry by Adams sudden death somewhat satiated. Eoin Colfer is touring with this book. He recently visited the Denver Tattered Cover and his explanations and manner quelled even the staunchest of critics. If you remain a doubter, I recommend listening to him speak and then reading And Another Thing with an open mind and heart.

Reviewer's note: Please read this review in the Hitchhiker's spirit is in intended. Having been a rather large Hitchhiker's fan (Large as indicating the level of interest in the series, not my personal girth) I was, of course, surprised to see another installment of the series hit the shelf. I never thought that I would see another book in the line, seeing as how Mr. Adams' has passed away. Usually the death of an author not only ruins his own day, but it also tends to put a stop to any future works. Seeing a new installment of course had given rise to many mixed reactions. I have never read any of Eoin Colfer's books before. One reason is I am 40 years old and I think his usual target audience is a bit younger than that. Another reason is the series he's written has the word fowl in the title. Looking at that I assume the book is about a chicken, and, other than lightly breading and deep frying, I have little use for chickens. But I digress... I picked up the book with trepidation and flipped open the jacket to read the introduction. Seemed interesting, so I indulged in a few pages. After being satisfied that this would be at least a good toilet read, I purchased to book. Mr. Colfer (I refer to him as that as I have no idea how to pronounce Eoin.) has a good feel for the characters. The personalities of them are held true to what Mr. Adams established in his books. It is nice to have the journal entries in again as well, and the ebb and flow seem natural, without being a parody of what has come before. The longest chapter in the book was also the most boring, however. Chapter eight! It added little to the actual story and just seemed to be page fillers! Almost every page I would flip to the end of the chapter and see how many were left until chapter nine. Reading that chapter was like sucking cold gruel through a cocktail straw, just to take a laxative and start the process all over again! However, once I got past that, chapter nine immediately picked back up and re-aroused my interest. So, what began as trepidation has turned into satisfaction, and the reading of this book has been transferred to my recliner and a cup of tea! Your own individual results may vary, but you will at least get your monies worth from this book!

I've been reading Eoin Colfer's book 'And Another Thing' and I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that I happen to like it. That's a biggie, really unexpected, as I'm one of those people who can't accept the possibility that anyone could measure up to Douglas Adams in his own (reflection of this) universe. Let's state the obvious, shall we? Eoin Colfer isn't Douglas Adams. If he'd tried to clone Douglas's work, this book wouldn't have floated. Eoin (I think I can call him that, having shaken his hand) hasn't tried to be Douglas Adams, but he has tried to satisfy Douglas's supporters by writing in a very similar style. It reads well without sounding like a cheesy attempt to mimick the original. I don't want to be hyper-critical (oh, gwaaan, gwaaan), but these are notes on Douglas's style and what's remained the same or changed: 1. Douglas might have been writing about aliens, but he was really talking about us. The Vogons are human bureaucrats, planning officers, for example. Douglas criticised, but never attacked his targets too hard, never losing hearts and minds. Eoin has understood this and does it very well. From an Irish writer, just following the EU's capture of Ireland, this line is Douglas at his cutting best: 'If we win, then you will join our happy group; if you win, then we keep coming back until we win.' 2. Douglas was a script writer and he specialised in dialogue. In the first two books, the proportion of quotes is very high, compared to description. In a novel, the use of witty script makes it read like a fast television show. Eoin does use speech, clearly, but the proportion has moved, i.e. more toward description. 3. The first HHG book used footnotes from 'The Book' at regular intervals and readers loved them. As with Shakespeare, the prologue became a character in its own right. The second book used fewer notes from The Guide and then the rest of the series dropped them. If you ask the fans which books they prefer, you will generally find that they like the books in direct proportion to the number of Guide footnotes they include. Eoin has probably spotted this (or at least enjoys the footnotes) as he's dropped in lots of them. The difference is... Douglas would write a footnote which was imaginative, surreal and then made a huge arching observation about the nature of the Universe, our perception of life itself or a cutting critique of human nature. He'd ask us to look at the thing from a new perspective, to open our eyes and shine a light in our minds, then he'd follow that with a silly twist at the end (the comedy pay-off). Eoin's footnotes are surreal, imaginative, they even use planet names, species and locations from the original books, but... the guru-like thinking, the great idea, the divine revelation isn't there. the footnote is funny, it's true, but Douglas had more insight into the human condition. 4. Imagination and escapism: Douglas wrote 'alternative world fiction', also called 'alternative reality' or 'what