And Another Thing

And another thing is the sixth novel in the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series (created by the late great Douglas Adams) and has been written by the very successful author Eoin Colfer.

The Hitchhikers Guide series stands as one of the greatest science fiction series of novels ever to grace the medium of paper and the 6th novel in the trilogy shows great promise.

For those of you who have not actually read any of the hitchhikers novels (and why haven't you read them then?) The Hitchhikers story starts with the destruction of earth, with only one human escaping by the name of Arthur Dent.

Arthur is saved by his friend Ford Prefect, who is an alien journalist writing for the "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy". Throughout the series Arthur and Ford travel throughout the universe, even to the restaurant at the end.

Eoin Colfer is a big fan of the series and there really couldn't have been a better choice to write this book, Eoin is quoted as saying,

Being given the chance to write this book is like suddenly being offered the superpower of your choice. For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world

Finally launched after much anticipation, does it live up to that almost impossible standard? Incredibly, yes it does! not only is the style and humor faithful to Douglas Adams, the pace and rhythm is spot on.

Eoin manages to also inject his own brand of wit and style, which compliments nicely along with bringing some of the last 30 years of technology into the narrative.

The story itself involves Arthur and his now teenage daughter Random, an outcast Vogon with a sense of aesthetics, a few alternate earth, a plethora of new planets and the kind of plot to make your head spin, pure Adams / Coifer.

It's 30 years since the hitchhikers stories were first released into the wild and 17 years since mostly Harmless been but reading this today makes you feel like you've never been away.