And Another Thing ... - Eoin Colfer

Mostly Harmless

Yes, yes, yes, I KNOW I’ve been incredibly absent over the last few months. I apologise and all that. Real life seems to have gotten in the way of Internet Life. Not all of it has been bad, practicing for Burlesque Shows (yep) and acquiring a boyfriend (double yep) are certainly more fun than they are a burden. It just means you lovely onliners don’t get my full devoted and loving attention all the time now. Try not to cry, we will all get through it I promise.

So, after telling you I have had no spare time, I’m going to tell you that I managed, somehow, to fit in reading a book! (Ahh the dirty lies I spread to satiate the hoards of onliners vying for my attention) Let me start off with a little history!

One, Three, Five, What? I’ve lost count

Once upon a time there was a fantastic man. This man’s name was Douglas Adams. Beginning his career in radio, Adams writings quickly moved to Television, Films, Books and eventually a Pan-Dimensional, omnipresent Guide. This guide was known as “the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy” HHGTTG for short(ish). Sadly, Adams died in 2002 leaving the world hanging over the edge of a rather futuristic cliff, laser beams at the ready.

For those of you who have not read the books, let me expand a tiny bit. Over the course of many years, Adams’ character Arthur Dent, incredibly British, stupendously unlucky, travelled the length and breadth of the Galaxy on a complete random non-mission with no real point apart from staying alive. Don’t let me belittle the books; they are amazing. Hell, they have a cult following (and if they don’t, they should). For more detail on the first five books, go treat yourself to my other review of them all. Right bloody now. You’ll not have a CLUE what I’m talking about otherwise! Alternativley, go to www.6of3.com for lots of extra info on the whole trilogy.

What’s the point? 42??

It’s coming, I promise. Recently, a fairly well known author (Eoin Colfer, which, if like me, your brain took a seizure trying to pronounce, is pronounced Owen, (how silly do you feel now?) is the author of the rather popular Artemis Fowl children’s books) took on the incredibly heavy, unstable and ever changing works of Adams’ and continued where he left off. Why did he do this? Because it was the 30th anniversary of the first instalments release! Good enough reason as any I suppose!

“And Another Thing” (which takes its name from a line in one of the previous books: “The storm had now definitely abated, and what thunder there was now grumbled over more distant hills, like a man saying “AND ANOTHER THING” twenty minutes after admitting he’s lost the argument”) is difficult to really tell you anything about without ruining the story, so if you don’t want it ruined even in the slightest, look away NOW.

For those of stronger stomach, here goes nothing! This instalment picks up on a planet far, far away, with an android serving a certain gentleman some tea. This Gentleman is Arthur Dent. He is old, worn and a tad forgetful. Thankfully, all of that changeds pretty soon and through a twist of fate, all the characters end up right back at the exact moment the previous book left off. To be more precise, the destruction of the planet earth is once again looming above them all. Through out this instalment we follow the journeys of new and old characters, all brought together with a heavy helping of complete and utter randomness. Seriously, you try and describe a HHGTTG book to ANYONE and see how much you can really tell them.

Don’t Panic

The one issue that I CAN address here is the following: Did Eoin Colfer rape and murder a series of books that was not his to rape and murder? Did he get the incredibly weird sense of humour that Adams’ littered his books with down to a T? What about the characters? Has he changed them? Has he altered anything? Has he SCREWED IT UP!?!??! Well, I can safely say that the answer is No, Yes, No, Yes, No. In other words, Colfer has actually done a bloody spot on job of emulating Adams’ style. His characters continued as the people / two headed aliens that they were previously with the only changes happening naturally through the course of the story. In short, he’s made an enjoyable addition to the trilogy (now in 6 parts).

You could, however, argue that because Adams’ changed everything so much between each instalment that it wouldn’t have mattered a monkeys if Colfer got it completely wrong (assuming he had a good explanation). I would have to disagree though. Colfer got the feel of the book just right. He made the ridiculous seem plausible and the plausible seem ridiculous till it all spiralled down in a giant paradoxical loop and imploded on its self. (In the case of HHGTTG that’s a very good thing)

Life, the Universe and Hardbacks

So, that’s all I’m hinting at in regards to the story, now let’s go on about how pretty this book is. The front is adorned with a giant neon sign reading “and another thing…” attached to a Viking ship with wings floating through space. Seems perfectly normal to me. The graphics are rather pretty and will make more sense once you read the book. Right now you can only get this in Hardback which is a bit of a pain in the arse if you prefer your books to be a bit more pliable like, say, paperback perhaps?

Price wise, I will make no apologies for telling you that I nearly done a little poo in my pants when I saw the price of this book and that it wasn’t the happy kind of poo. This instalment at its most expensive will set you back a whopping £18.99 for all 339 pages. I was quite lucky in that Waterstones had it on a half price promotion at the time, bringing it down to £9.49. I’d still say that was a tad on the expensive side mind you. Maybe this is why people wait for stuff to come out on paperback? Who knew hardback was this expensive?!

So long and Thanks for all the fish!

And we come to the end of my pointless ramblings. To recap: The book is a very worthy expansion of the Hitch Hiker universe. Colfer, in my humble opinion, did the late Adams proud with this celebratory addition. The only downside is the price, but I can imagine that will be battled by paperback releases and special offers that kick around book shops. If your bookshelf has the first five of the trilogy living in its nooks and crannies, I suggest you be nice to it and buy it something new to show off!