As improbable as it seems, seventeen years after Mostly Harmless and eight years after Douglas Adams’ untimely death, a new Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book is upon us once again. Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer bravely steps into a rather large pair of shoes to bring us And Another Thing…, the sixth episode of the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s trilogy. I wasn’t sure about this on several levels, Hitchhiker’s has such a loyal following and had been a huge influence on my life from an early age so for someone else to carry it on seemed a bit like sacrilege and just cashing in on its success. I didn’t think anyone could continue in anything like a similar style either. I’d never heard of Eoin Colfer before but he is obviously a well known and liked author (albeit of children’s books) and Douglas Adams’ widow Jane and his daughter had approved of his continuation of the H2G2 legacy so that was something positive to hang onto.
Having just finished it I am pleased to say that it is a much better than I expected, Douglas Adams it is not but Eoin Colfer has managed to take a lot of his style and successfully make it his own without trying to mimic it completely. The original characters seem authentic and there are lots of references for aficionados to pick up on, even if some seem a little crowbarred in at times, and on the whole the story isn’t bad. My biggest criticism would be that the “guide notes” sometimes seemed awkwardly placed, breaking the flow of the story and often weren’t good enough to justify the interruption. It’s not got the depth of irony or humour that the originals had either but Douglas had a unique writing style and, certainly in the early days, was renowned for his way of rewriting and rewriting, reducing what might have originally been enough for a chapter or more down to a few powerful lines of dialogue.
So while it might not be as good as Douglas at his best I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It can’t be easy trying to write in someone else’s style so all credit to Eoin Colfer for what I think is a worthy addition to the world of The Guide, he’s one froody dude and it was great to have the guys back again. All Hitchhiker’s fans should give it a go.
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