At page 50…

So far it’s like going round to see your long lost best mate. You haven’t seen him for ages and you can’t wait to hang out again, but when you ring the doorbell a complete stranger wearing your friend’s clothes answers and invites you in.

Confused, you accept, and as you’re walking round the house you see that everything is just how you remember; all the furniture, ornaments, decor, right down to the same books on the shelves.

This stranger invites you to sit down, and you start playing computer games, just like you did with your old friend. And, despite not really wanting to, you enjoy yourself.

And the more you play, the more you get to know this stranger, and the more you realise that actually, he’s quite a cool guy. Sure he’s not your old friend, but maybe he might as well be?

And then something happens. A little thing he says or does, and it jars you, makes you realise that even though he’s somehow got all the memories and mannerisms of your old friend, he’s still a stranger. And, even though you like him, maybe he shouldn’t be living in your old friend’s house, playing computer games with you?

Hmm.

At page 100…

Too. Many. Clumsy. References. Can’t. Enjoy. Story.

At page 167…

It’s settled down and is really quite fun. I’m having a nice time.

At page 214…

Very absorbed in the story – almost as much as during the best bits of Life, the Universe and Everything.  Glad I stuck with it.

At page 309…

Racing along now.

At page 340…

That’s it?  That’s the end?!  How abrupt.

Overall

So, given that I was biased against even the concept of this book (someone else write a Hitchhiker’s book? Outrageous!), and that reading The Salmon of Doubt left me cold (rifling through a dead man’s computer and publishing what you find? Ghoulish!), I wasn’t expecting to enjoy anything post-2001 associated with Douglas Adams (the film was average, despite the lovely Zooey + excellent Martin).

In fact, I only started reading And Another Thing… to look for reasons to hate it.  I wanted it to be so awkward and poorly written that I could safely file it as far away as possible from the ‘Adams’ section on my bookshelf (est. 1997).

And, after the first 50 pages, I was pretty sure I was right.  Lots of clumsy references (not everything has to be froody), characters not behaving quite right (calm down, Ford) and the funny asides not quite ringing true (no need to tell us more about Squornshellous Zeta).  But I still kept reading.

Not to give away any plot, but after the main characters got away from locations Adams had written about at length in other books, and were meeting new characters in new situations, the whole shebang suddenly got much better.

It almost felt like Eoin Colfer was struggling to write himself out from Adams’ shadow and the plot threads left hanging from (the admittedly far-too-dark) Mostly Harmless.  Once he’d done so, his prose relaxed, and so did I, racing through the last half of the book barely pausing for breath.

He’s a brilliant writer and tells a blimmin’ entertaining story and I’d love to give this book **** (yes, that’s right, I’m giving out star ratings – what of it?), but I can’t quite get over the it’s-almost-but-not-quite-Hitchhiker’s-and-maybe-shouldn’t-exist-at-all factor.

DEFINITELY worth a read for everyone but the most evangelical DNA fan. And, given the ridiculously large shoes he had to fill, I think Eoin Colfer did the best job anyone could have under the circumstances.

***
(sorry Eoin)

Similar things I also like:

The first five books by Douglas Adams

Anything by Malcolm Pryce

Nick Nielsen

Mark Gatiss

Jasper Fforde

Grant Naylor + Rob Grant, sometimes