Recommended for Carbon Based Life Forms Everywhere.
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The third and my favourite Hitch Hikers novel reunites Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Marvin the Paranoid Android, Trillian and Zaphod Beeblebrox with Slartibartfast and finally explains why the galaxy allowed the Earth to be destroyed. It turned out that although allot of people had a vested interest in the destruction of the Earth it was our glorification of the Krikket wars by creating a game as insensitive as Cricket that no-one could stomach.
This would be fine except eddies in the space time continuum have allowed the Krikket robot warriors to free the Krikket Masters and allow them to wage war on the remainder of the Universe.
Can this collection of misfits struggling with lifestyle and personality issues save Life, the Universe and Everything? The evidence of two further books in the worlds most inappropriately named trilogy would suggest so but as with hyperdrives it's about the journey and not the destination. Recommended for carbon based life forms everywhere.
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Pointless
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The third instalment of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series but this one disappointed me. I thought it would be as good as the other books but I didn't enjoy it at all. It dragged on too much and I got so bored with reading it, it took me ages to read it. I do not see the point of the Krikkit wars or anything to do with in that book.
Read it as part of the series but don't expect too much
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Flying : How to Throw Yourself at the Ground and Miss
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Written by Douglas Adams, "Life, the Universe and Everything" was first published in 1982 and is the third instalment of his legendary five-part "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" trilogy. It opens around five years after "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" finished, but follows up on what has happened in the previous books - as a result, it's the wrong place to start !! The series started life as a radio show, before becoming a book, a television series, a play and a bath towel. Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge in 1952 and died in May 2001.
Recent years haven't been kind to Arthur Dent. Having seen his home flattened by bulldozers, he barely escaped with his life when the Earth was demolished by the Vogons - officially to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur was rescued by Ford Prefect, a roving reporter for "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The pair were later picked up by an old school-friend of Fords, Zaphod Beeblebrox - the two-headed, three-armed, renegade ex-President of the Galaxy and owner of the most powerful and unpredictable ship in the universe. Having met Slartibartfast, the man who designed Norway, and eaten at the restaurant at the end of the universe, an unprogrammed teleport sees Arthur and Ford landing on...a prehistoric Earth.
As the book opens, Arthur has been living alone in a cold, damp, smelly cave for five years. Living alone in what would become Islington roughly two million years later, he hasn't had any company since the surviving Golgafrinchans went on holiday about three years previously. Ford, having spent the last three years in prehistoric Africa, is now responsible for the giraffe and returns just in time to save Arthur from madness. He has detected eddies in the space - time continuum, which he suspects may provide the pair with an escape route. His suspicions are proved correct : the pair catch an over-active Chesterfield sofa which carries them forward through time and deposits them at Lords Cricket Ground - just two days before the Vogons are due to demolish Earth. The arrive just in time to see England defeat Australia in a very important cricket match, a spaceship containing robotic 'cricketers' arriving to kill people and steal the Ashes (the 'trophy' being played for) and Slartibartfast trying to stop them. Slartibartfast kindly agrees to give the duo a lift, meaning they won't have to hitch a ride with the Vogons again. However, he seems to expect them to help him save the universe - a task that involves them discovering that cricket is actually derived from Krikket and that robotic cricketers are generally best avoided. Ford, on the other hand, aims to be exceedingly drunk and would rather visit Eccentrica Gallumbits - a very capable lady of negotiable affections.
This is an extremely silly and very easily read book - though it probably does assume a certain awareness of cricket. Hugely enjoyable and definitely recommended - though only after having read the previous two instalments !
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Strained but enjoyable sequel
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With the publication of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Douglas Adams had completed his novelisations of the two Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio series, and the story had effectively reached it's natural conclusion, with the wrapping up of all the major plot-threads concerning the quest for the Ultimate Question, the destruction of planet Earth, and Zaphod's theft of the Heart of Gold. The series popularity though resulted in Adams bringing out a third Hitchhiker's book, with the main storyline being recycled from an unused Doctor Who storyline he had written called Doctor Who And The Krikkitmen. As such this novel feels a little strained at times in bringing all the original Hitchhiker's cast back for a third outing, with Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect's idyllic prehistoric life at the end of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe transformed into a nightmare they can be rescued from, and Marvin having his death in the previous book undone. By far the biggest change though is Slartifartbast, who has changed from an eccentric planet designer into the main plot-driver of the book, essentially taking over the Doctor's role as would be saviour of the universe and guardian of the timelines, with his new background in the Campaign For Real Time replacing the role of Doctor Who's Time Lords. However, the odd strained moments are more than offset but the typically brilliant concepts on display - including the Hitchhiker's art of flying by throwing oneself at the ground and missing, Slartifartbast's Bistromathematical spaceship, and the re-acquaintance of the sentient bowl of petunias from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that results in Arthur Dent glimpsing his own future. Not quite up to the standard of the first two books in the series, Life, the Universe and Everything is nevertheless clever enough and funny enough to be essential for fans of the earlier novels.
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Sore thumbs
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This is my third hitchhiking trip, and although my thumb is getting sore, I have no choice but to keep on truckin'. Coming from the larger part of the world, where "krikkit" is a national obsession, I found this one particularly clever, even though the aficionados will shudder at the abuse of the hallowed ashes. Always willing to throw a stinging barb here and there, I also loved the immortal Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, who is on a quest to personally insult every individual being in the Universe - in alphabetical order. Add in the flying lessons, the many-times-reincarnated Agrajag (not an Arthur Dent fan by any means), and of course my favorite robot Marvin, and you have an easy reading fun hike across the galaxy, with less of the sci-fi stuff, and more of the humor. There's less Zaphod Beeblebrox than usual, but as he spends most of this story in a drunken stupor while Trillian flirts with the God of Thunder, we won't bother him at this particular time. Sticking my sore thumb out now for the next adventure in hitchhiking - see you there! Amanda Richards
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