The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy) (Paperback)

WHAT'S GOOD:
More of the same from Adams, with wonderfully twisted logic combines with the insightfully witty entries in the Guide to provide alot of clever ideas and more clever humour. As always, Arthur's slightly bemused take on the events of his life add a tone to the story that rings amusingly true for a fellow Englishman. By now we all know that the answer to the Ultimate Question About Life, The Universe And Everything is 42. In this book (in another wonderful twist of logic) we discover that though the answer is correct, the question itself is wrong. Best of all is when Arthur and Ford find themselves on a spaceship full of insufferable middlemen, beauraucrats and hair dressers, who turn out to be the founders of the human race.

WHAT'S BAD:
I found that Adams' disposal of the supporting cast was a bit casual and poorly explained. Also, the description of the Restaurant is pretty nausating (but that's probably intentional).

Nobody crams as much comedy per page as Douglas Adams. While The Restaurant at the End of the Universe isn't quite as amazing as its predecessor, this is only because its predecessor was so amazingly original and different from everything that came before it. The satire Adams employs, often quite subtle, is as brilliant as always; anyone who reads this book will laugh, but only some will realize that he/she is really laughing at himself and the absurdity of human life that Adams is playing off of. These characters are more real to me than many of the people I know in real life. Best of all, they don't change: Arthur Dent remains the rather bemused, clueless soul he has always been; Ford Prefect is just Ford, only more so; Zaphod-well, Zaphod's just this guy, you know; and poor longsuffering Marvin the Paranoid Android is still the most depressing (yet hilarious) robotically engineered life form in the galaxy. If these crazy characters and Adams' brilliantly comedic narrative don't make you laugh, you would be well advised to don a pair of Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses because you are headed smack dab into big trouble indeed.

We begin the story where the Hitchhikers Guide left off, with the Arthur and his strange new friends hurtling through space on the stolen ship, the Heart of Gold. No sooner has the book begun however, a familiar set of poetry-loving aliens reappear - the dreaded (yet hugely entertaining) Vogons. The circumstances surrounding their attack on the Heart of Gold ship is tremendously amusing in itself as all computer intelligence aboard Arthur's spacecraft is currently preoccupied with the character's request for a decent cup of tea. It takes a while, but a cup of the finest China hot drink finally appears. As the title suggests, the set of characters eventually find their way to the curious restaurant Milliways, situated - rather obviously - at the end of the Universe. Within this particular section of the story, I greatly enjoyed the wealth of description regarding the interior of the eatery. Douglas Adams takes the opportunity to let his imagination run wild, and the reader is allowed to learn of the "five tons of glitter alone" that "covered every available surface... The other surfaces were encrusted with jewels, precious seashells from Santraginus, gold leaf, mosaic tiles, lizard skins and a million unidentifiable embellishments and decorations. Arthur glanced round, half expecting to see someone making an American Express commercial."

Needless to say, Adams continues his much loved writing style and goes on to introduce a batch of brilliantly comical characters, including intergalactic rock star Hotblack Desiato, (who is spending a year dead for tax reasons) and the dim-witted Captain of an unusual aircraft, who has spent the last three years conducting meetings with his crew from the comfort of his bath. One character I missed from the first book however, was the amusingly annoying (if that's at all possible) Eddie, the ship's computer. That is not to say that he doesn't appear, but only briefly. Marvin the paranoid android is depressed as usual, and kept me entertained in his loathing of everything. I felt that the ending was rather lacking though, as some of the characters seem to just disappear and we do not get to find out what becomes of them (not until the follow up novel, 'Life, the Universe and Everything' that is).

There are plenty of unforgettably sharp lines: "Trin Tragula - for that was his name - was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher or, as his wife would have it, an idiot." The section involving the hunt for the man who rules the Universe (an idiot who lives in a shack in the middle of nowhere) is especially enjoyable, as is the usual banter between the chief characters, who are on top form. Overall, I would have no hesitation on recommending the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but do be sure to read the Hitchhikers Guide first. This truly is the stuff that cults are made of.