And Another Thing... (2009)

This is a book that I've wanted to read for a while, but at the same time slightly worried about reading. Because, of course, this is a H2G2 book not written by the dear, departed Douglas Adams. I have a vague recollection of the announcement that the book was going to be written, mostly a question of WHY?, but also a sort of hope because the author asked to write it was Eoin Colfer.

I'll admit right off the bat that the only books of Colfer's that I've read are the Artemis Fowl books; I believe they were also going to be a trilogy once upon a time, but now fill up a good chunk of my bookshelf in their shiny jewel-coloured glory. The rest of his novels have long since lingered in the periphery, occupying that area of space and time known as 'one day'.

Colfer isn't Adams, nor does he pretend to be. Yet, there's a clear emulation of his style. The clever wordplay and phonological jokes that I love in the original H2G2 books shines through here, though to me that seems perfectly natural for Colfer, anyway. Anyone who's read Artemis Fowl will know that the word 'leprechaun' comes from a mangling of the Lower Elements Police reconnaissance unit, also known as LEPrecon. So, perhaps not quite as sophisticated as the myriad 'gin and tonic' variations in H2G2 that I adore, but lovely all the same.

The references that go back as far as the first H2G2 book were nicely done - especially references to digital watches. Because, of course,  And Another Thing... was written to celebrate the 30th anniversary. Yet there's something so timeless about the original H2G2, owed largely to the whimsical and nonsensical approach to science. AAT... doesn't quite live up to that. References to reality television shows and the like seemed jarringly out of place to me, but thinking about it, it's probably something that Adams would approve. He approved the switch from humankind's obsession with digital watches to mobile phones in the 2005 H2G2 film, so I dare say he would have loved to get his hands on the sort of material that reality TV provides.

The introduction of the character Hillman Hunter had me rolling my eyes. More the fact that he was Irish, or at least pretending to be obnoxiously Oirish, as Arthur and Random point out. But it's one way for Colfer to put his own stamp on the H2G2 universe(s).

I like to think that if there were another book, Random Dent would meet the (shh!) evolving Constant Mown. The universe would be in some serious political and bureaucratic danger then. And Arthur really might have to forbid his daughter from marrying a Vogon...