The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #2), by Douglas Adams

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: ★★★★

Published: 1980

Publisher: Pocket Books

Pages: 250

I was first introduced to Douglas Adams's series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, last summer. I read the first book, loved it, bought the rest of the series, and promptly forgot to pick it up again until last week.

Considering I read the last book almost a year ago, I experienced little difficulty getting back into the plot or characters. There were, of course, details I had forgotten — like Zaphod's third arm — but I was grateful to slide back into was Adams's terrific sense of humor and style of writing. However, I would add that I definitely recommend reading the first book (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) before picking this one up because there is a very important subplot that Restaurant spends little to no time recapping. Good news, I would say that this book and the previous one are excellent series installations in the respect that they do not end on an obnoxiously terrible cliffhanger. (I'm looking at you Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins.)

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe picks up where The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy left off, with ex-Galactic President Zaphod, depressive robot Marvin, Betelgeusian hitchhiker Ford Prefect, and Earthlings Arthur Dent and Tricia McMillan ("Trillian") bound for space exploration on the precisely Improbable Heart of Gold spaceship.

A lot happens: time travel, rock concerts, tax evasion, and The End of the Universe, for starters. Adams reflects on the Universe (its infinite size and horrific end, to be specific), the nature of civilization (namely, what happens when a bunch of midlevel nitwits are in charge of establishing a society and "culture"), and continues to ask just what the deal with the number forty-two is.

I found this book to be immensely enjoyable. Adams's humor is a treat; his absurdity (or is it improbability?) is at the top of its game. The book's lighthearted attitude doesn't stray away from asking the serious questions (chiefly, the meaning of life, questions of civilization, etc.), which I think just adds to the "trilogy's" depth and insight. The last bit of the book was definitely more somber (or at least introspective) in tone, but I enjoyed it. I appreciated the character development that I witnessed between Arthur and Ford over the course of the book (most notably the last chapters), and am interested in seeing how they continue to change in the series's next installment (Life, the Universe, and Everything). While my first impression of this book wasn't "It changed my life! Give it five stars!" I could see my opinion changing in the near future.

If you're even remotely interested in checking out The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (based on this or any other review), I would urge you to immediately pick it up, along with the other books to the series.

When you're finished, I'll see you at Milliways.