Following The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the origin of this novel was a Doctor Who story which was never filmed. The strangest thing about this book – among many strange things – is that I never remember anything about it. This was the third time I’d read it and nothing about it was familiar, not even the theme of cricket (or rather, krikkit) and Arthur Dent discovering he can fly.

Our favourite characters are back – Arthur, Ford Prefect, Zaphod, Trillian, Slartibartfast, even Marvin the Paranoid Android who, the last we heard of him, was on a collision course with a sun. There are plenty of madcap ideas, as can be expected, such as a bistro-powered spaceship, a reincarnated creature who Arthur keeps inadvertently killing, an army of white robots which threaten the whole universe, and an immortal alien whose sole purpose is to personally insult everyone, in alphabetical order. The plot isn’t as memorable as the first two books and it can be confusing. I’m not convinced I’ll remember it for next time! It’s always fun to dive into a Douglas Adams book when in the mood for comedy sci-fi.

First published in 1982.