A new book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, titled ‘And Another Thing…’, was recently released. Eoin Colfer (the Artemis Fowl series) was commissioned to write it in lieu of Douglas Adams’s passing in 2001.
I just finished reading it. Overall I think Colfer did a good job in capturing the style of the original books. He’s not Douglas Adams, but he’s not that bad a replacement either, all things considered.
With how ‘Mostly Harmless’ ended, it might be hard to think of how a new book could pick up from there what with everyone being exploded with the Earth and all, but he pulls it off and while the book has a rocky start it flows really well once it gets going.
Biggest complaint I can think of is that Colfer relies too much on reminding the reader of the original books. For the first four chapters or so he’s constantly throwing references at you. The Bugblatter Beast of Traal and the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster are probably mentioned in ‘And Another Thing…’ more than they are in the original five books combined. Once the fifth chapter rolls around, though, he stops relying so much on the familiar.
The most important thing to remember is that this wasn’t written by Adams. To some hardcore fans of the original series this book could never be enough. But if you can get over the fact that it wasn’t written by the original author, then it is indeed a funny and entertaining book. It’s not overly long, so if you’re only kind of interested then maybe wait for the paperback.
Colfer leaves a few story threads dangling, obviously in the event that he be commissioned to write another. It may or may not happen, and it at least ends on a better note than Mostly Harmless did if it IS the last book. If he writes another, I’d get it.