A review by ritchvon
Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams

3.0

Mostly Harmless is the last book in the Hitchhiker's Guide series written by Douglas Adams himself. It is very different than the previous book, So Long and Thanks For All the Fish, and very different than the first 3 books. This book feels a little like an aging rock star revisiting old songs from a different period in their life, and not having the same energy for it. There are moments where the old spark seems to come, but they never really seem to be rocking out. As always with Adams, the plotting is heavy and twisty, and things that should matter get lost in deviations and interesting asides. Adams seems to be examining some of his themes about probability, possibility, and the absurdity of life, but he is also doing what he does best, which is going to lengths for a joke. The ending of this one is bleak, without spoiling it, the bureaucrats seem to win in the end. I saw it written that Adams wrote this at a darker period of his life, and I have to think he felt a little like his life was reverse engineered to screw him much like the Guide does in this book. It had been years since I read this one, and it was the least memorable of the series. There were so many unanswered questions by the end that I found myself rereading the last chapter to make sure I hadn't missed where they had maybe wrapped up some of the hanging threads from the last 4 books. I guess my best piece of advice is to just recognize before you read this that they won't do that, and you will have a decent time hanging out with your old friends Ford and Arther, and maybe you wont be as disappointed as I was.