Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams

"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 at ease with himself" last human survivor Arthur Dent living the simple life of a sandwich maker on a planet not dissimilar to his own Earth which was destroyed by the Vogons surprisingly early in the first book. Similar to the way he last book was handled, a device which I was not fond of in either book, the different characters' experiences are told in seperate chapters before their meeting later on. One of my favourite aspects of the earlier ...  Read the complete review

This, the final, enticing instalments of Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series stands very much apart from the earlier books. Whilst it retains Adams' sharp wit and intelligent story telling, it is lacking some of the friendly "togetherness" feel of, particularly, the first three books of the series. Perhaps it's because Arthur Dent is, at last, forced to make it on his own in the Universe. Perhaps it's because The Guide (Hitch-hiker's Guide of course) has been taken over by the mysterious (and comically named) "Infinnidim Enterprises". Trillion too, or more frequently, Trisha McMillan, has her own, independent ...  Read the complete review

I read in the paper that before his untimely death Douglas Adams had been struggling for 11 years on and off to write the 6th and as it proved final book in the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy. On his PC were numerous unfinished drafts none of which he was happy with – and I believe that a version of these, still unfinished, will be published with other of his works in the near future. Possibly the reasons for this massive example of writer’s 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 ...  Read the complete review

Mostly Harmless is the fifth and final book in the "Hitchhiker" series.Although not as thin on laughs as its predecessor, "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish," this book doesn't have the nonstop hilarity that made Adams a bestselling author. My favorite gag in the book centered on the Grebulons, a group of aliens that illustrates the evils of excessive television viewing. Still, I felt that the book mostly limped along, finally reaching a dreary end. I would have expected a series that has given readers so many laughs over the years to have either a funny or a poignant conclusion, but this tale has neither. It felt as though Adams was too tired ...  Read the complete review

'The Hitch Hiker's Guide' - amazing. 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' - excellent. 'Life, the Universe and Everything' - incredible. 'So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish' - superb. 'Mostly Harmless' - well, that about sums it up. Harmless. All of a sudden it doesn't matter that I've run out of synonyms of 'good.' Don't get me wrong, it was amusing - in fact, it's probably the funniest yet - but somehow it just didn't live up to expectations. The volume seems to spend the whole of its duration building up to an amazing climax...then just stops. I tried, I really ...  Read the complete review