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4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Okay so, I picked this book up for 2 reasons:
1. It's a classic sci-fi, and I felt it necessary to get the proper context for the "42"-jokes
2. I saw a program about Elon Musk where he explained that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was his favorite book growing up and that it had influenced him a lot regarding his own beliefs and stance in the tech-world as we know it today.
First off, a disclaimer: I read a translated copy of this series, which I believe might have resulted in me missing out on a lot of the humor that comes with puns and crazy metaphors that Adams uses in his book, but I have also seen a lot of posts online about his very... ✨️unique✨️ way of writing metaohors specifically, and so knew what a lot of the more iconic ones were written as in the original publication.
Back to the review at large - this book is hella confusing, even for someone like me who lived through Steven Moffat's run of Doctor Who. It didn't surprise me in the slightest to learn that Adams has in fact written books under the Doctor Who "label", but as someone who loved foreshadowing and tends to pay attention to small details in the hopes that they will come back later, this book made my brain work overtime in more ways than one. There are a lot of things that are thrown in for just shits and giggles that don't lead anywhere, and after reading the last page of the book I felt like there were more loose ends than in my box of abandoned crochet projects. This book/series is definitely one of those "just tag along for the ride and don't think too much of it"-kinds of books, which is fine, but difficult to make sense of.
Now, if we go ahead and ✨️do✨️ think too much of it, like I did in regards to reason #2 I picked it up at all, the parallells to reality made me realize that whatever delulu I consider myself to be on, it is nothing in comparison to Mr. Musk. In this series we follow Arthur Dent (human) and his alien best friend/companion Ford Prefect (the most Doctor/Time Lord-esque character you can get) through their endevours in space. Ford has all the tech and knowledge about every thing in the galaxy, as well as his "Guide" and takes every chance he gets to insult Arthur's intelligence. Funnily enough, Ford is also best friends with the President of the Universe, Zhapod, whose first action on-page is to anger and annoy the media at a press conference by playing dumb, and steal a space ship, all in one go, no hesitation or shame about it.
Put 2025-Musk in the role of Ford and you'll pretty soon see why this book/series made me cringe at how Musk probably thought he was getting his Y/N moment once the election of 2024 happened.
All in all though, and realism aside, this book has its highs and lows. The whole ordeal with 42 was interesting, even though it was over much earlier than I thought it would be. The story about the Question and what happened to the Earth and the people here was also interesting. The other three books are probably best consumed as a "vibe" more than for actual plot or character development.
I might pick them up later in the original language to experience Adams writing in its true form, because, like it is said in the tumblr post about his metaphors: "I feel like that was the first time i really understood what you could do with words."
1. It's a classic sci-fi, and I felt it necessary to get the proper context for the "42"-jokes
2. I saw a program about Elon Musk where he explained that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was his favorite book growing up and that it had influenced him a lot regarding his own beliefs and stance in the tech-world as we know it today.
First off, a disclaimer: I read a translated copy of this series, which I believe might have resulted in me missing out on a lot of the humor that comes with puns and crazy metaphors that Adams uses in his book, but I have also seen a lot of posts online about his very... ✨️unique✨️ way of writing metaohors specifically, and so knew what a lot of the more iconic ones were written as in the original publication.
Back to the review at large - this book is hella confusing, even for someone like me who lived through Steven Moffat's run of Doctor Who. It didn't surprise me in the slightest to learn that Adams has in fact written books under the Doctor Who "label", but as someone who loved foreshadowing and tends to pay attention to small details in the hopes that they will come back later, this book made my brain work overtime in more ways than one. There are a lot of things that are thrown in for just shits and giggles that don't lead anywhere, and after reading the last page of the book I felt like there were more loose ends than in my box of abandoned crochet projects. This book/series is definitely one of those "just tag along for the ride and don't think too much of it"-kinds of books, which is fine, but difficult to make sense of.
Now, if we go ahead and ✨️do✨️ think too much of it, like I did in regards to reason #2 I picked it up at all, the parallells to reality made me realize that whatever delulu I consider myself to be on, it is nothing in comparison to Mr. Musk. In this series we follow Arthur Dent (human) and his alien best friend/companion Ford Prefect (the most Doctor/Time Lord-esque character you can get) through their endevours in space. Ford has all the tech and knowledge about every thing in the galaxy, as well as his "Guide" and takes every chance he gets to insult Arthur's intelligence. Funnily enough, Ford is also best friends with the President of the Universe, Zhapod, whose first action on-page is to anger and annoy the media at a press conference by playing dumb, and steal a space ship, all in one go, no hesitation or shame about it.
Put 2025-Musk in the role of Ford and you'll pretty soon see why this book/series made me cringe at how Musk probably thought he was getting his Y/N moment once the election of 2024 happened.
All in all though, and realism aside, this book has its highs and lows. The whole ordeal with 42 was interesting, even though it was over much earlier than I thought it would be. The story about the Question and what happened to the Earth and the people here was also interesting. The other three books are probably best consumed as a "vibe" more than for actual plot or character development.
I might pick them up later in the original language to experience Adams writing in its true form, because, like it is said in the tumblr post about his metaphors: "I feel like that was the first time i really understood what you could do with words."
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Whoof. It took me something like 6 years to get through this because I kept losing my place, forgetting about it, and having to re-read the first two or three books. It was most definitely worth it, though. I was definitely far more amused by the first three, but So Long and Thanks For All the Fish was strangely...dare I say sweet? I'll say sweet. I was entirely unprepared for the bleakness of Mostly Harmless.
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No