In volume three of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Douglas Adams' unparalleled writing style pushes on with the tidbits of information and random facts I mentioned in my previous book review of "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe." I wouldn't say that this book is better than the second one, nor the first. It is just as good.
From a caveman-like existence to reuniting with an old acquaintance, and a run in with a reincarnated creature with ill intentions, along with a flying party house, Arthur Dent is put through the wringer in this book. You'll want to look away but you probably won't. I didn't. The pages will keep turning until your questions have been answered with remarkable and astonishing detail.
Douglas Adams' disdain for animal cruelty is a bit more tenuous in this third installation of the Hitchhiker's Guide. We got a taste of it in the previous book when a cow walked from table to table advertising itself as dinner, rendering poor Arthur ill at the site of the cooked animal only a page or two later. In a more subtle tone, this book gives us a glimpse at how the smallest of gestures can have a lasting impact on the world...universe around us.
In conclusion, this book is a must-read for those who have read the first two volumes, especially if the end of the second book left you wondering what happens next. Whatever you do, though, don't read these books out of order. They won't make any sense on their own. That's the best part about a series of books, isn't it--the way they are uniquely tied together, each blending into the other?
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