Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams' Hitch-Hiker's Guide 'trilogy' entertained and inspired me, and I was wary to read this final instalment due to reviews on the internet which suggested it was of poor quality and may hunder my enjoyment of the series. The fifth and final book chronicling the experiences of Arthur Dent and his less human comrades does seem much less original and enjoyable than the previous books, and although this was my opinion of the fourth book "So ...
...the way that book's style was taken in a different direction. This book seems to be a mix between the fast-paced comedy adventures of the first three books and the reflective, stationary nature of the fourth, and it doesn't fit together too well. "Mostly Harmless," once again taking the title from a memorable concept in the first book, occurs an unspecified several years after the events of the last book and sees the "thirty-ish, tall and never quite ...

gunmenoftheapocalypse 10.12.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams

...block can be seen in Mostly Harmless the 5th book in the trilogy. Mostly Harmless as well as being the title of the book seems to be his attitude whilst writing the book. It has a feeling of being written at a publisher’s request whilst Adams looks as if he is using it as a way to end the series for good – probably why book 6 was proving so hard. The plot ignores the previous book – So Long and Thanks for all the Fish (the best ...
...Fenchurch and reduce the plot to its basic characters Ford, Arthur and Trillian. The basic idea is then to think of a way to kill everyone off once and for all – solved by the ingenious means of getting the Vogans to destroy the Earth and all of its inhabitants in every parallel universe. The 4 main characters (there are 2 Trillians) have separate stories which interweave until they all neatly combine as the 4 meet up in a night club in New ...

brownp1 26.11.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams

"Mostly Harmless" is the last book (so far) in the "Hitch-Hiker's" sequence, and is easily the best. By taking time off to write the Dirk Gently novels, where he wasn't burdened with the accompanying baggage from his previous books, Adams had finally learnt how to put a story together coherently, and the result is the best book from the series. Adams takes his plot from one episode in the previous books, and brings it to a sensible conclusion. In ...
...description or witty turn of phrase. He cheats slightly by introducing a parallel universe from the ones he has previously described, in which Trillian is a journalist called Tricia McMullen, as she failed to get on Zaphod's spaceship in time, but this is the beginning of a plot that works itself out like clockwork. However, I cannot help hoping that Adams leaves the series here and finds something new to exercise his talents. ...

NeilHudson 29.09.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams

This is, after all, a Douglas Adams. It is characterised by Adams' usual, dry wit and outlandish characters and situations, but not, I believe, one of his best. As a continuation of The Hitchhikers Trilogy in four parts, this book reads much like the rest of the series. Do not misunderstand me, i do not see this as a bad thing! Essentially this book can be summarised by Arthur et al's continuing exploration of the universe. I feel the ending is ...
...rushed attempt to sever an end to the story. A shame really. On the other hand, stylistically all five books are much the same and by this point, the humour is becoming a little thin, although still funny. Typically for Adams, the plot is predictably unpredicatble (i wont give it all away!) although the very ending seems a little rushed and contrived, and did not strike me as a fitting conclusion to Adams' five part work of genius. Essentially this ...

Tishmortimer 13.11.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams

In my opinion this book should not exsist, the last book finishes the story off quite well with a few lose strings but not enough to anoy. This book ties everything up (like the place arthur will visit before he dies) but has an ending that just makes you want to scream. It has all of Adams usually wit and humour and countless new ideas until the last chapter but you get the feeling that he wants to get rid of the characters in a way that they can ...

dom00 18.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams