By: Douglas Adams
Published: 1980
Audiobook Read by: Martin Freeman
My rating: Great
OK, so I listened to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and absolutely loved it! Therefore, I just couldn't wait any longer to move on to this next book in the saga!
Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, and Trillian find themselves having a nice dinner while watching the universe come to an end all around them. (Yes, that's right, it comes to an end.) Dinner was very nice despite Arthur's aversion to eating the steak put before him since the cow it came from was so friendly and talkative. Anyway, it was fun. Now lets steal an all black robot ship and take a ride straight into the center of a sun located two million years in the past. ("Wait, does it have to be black? black is so depressing." "Yes Marvin, it doesn't come in any other colors. Besides, you're already depressed anyway!" "I know, it's just...see...well...I'm trying to limit my depression to something less than total and complete. I can handle dying in a fireball at the center of that sun but doing it in an all black ship is just too much.") Of course we all know that a teleport with no guidance system is a bad idea but hey, let's give it a whirl and see what happens. It'll be fun!
We leave Arthur and Ford to the task of teaching cavemen how to play Scrabble. ("I keep telling you, they aren't cavemen! They live in huts!" "Yes I know they live in huts, but calling them hutmen just sounds ridiculous!") Could the question to life, the universe and everything be buried in the minds of these primitive creatures? Can Arthur teach the cavemen how to total up a triple word score? Will there ever be anymore hot water for the captain's bath? Is Marvin still depressed? So many questions, so few answers! Oh well, Ford and Arthur have two million years to figure it all out before the Vogon Constructor Fleet destroys Earth all over again. Plenty of time, so let's go for a nice cup of tea while we think about it!
This wasn't quite as good as the first one but I still very much enjoyed it! I think, considering the magnificent heights of hilarity and imagination the first book attained, it would have been very hard to do any better! However, it was a lot of fun and Douglas' wild imagination was once again in full swing in this book. I absolutely love the crazy off the wall things that are constantly happening to our heroes as they continue their adventures. I will be hard put to wait very long to listen to the next book in this six volume trilogy!
I listened to the audiobook read by Martin Freeman. Martin did a great job and kept me entertained throughout. However, I felt he didn't give Marvin quite the depressed sound that he deserved but it was still a lot of fun!
Overall, you can't go wrong with these books! They are so much fun and I love the totally bent sense of humor they are written with!
