I enjoy re-reading this series, although none of the sequels have quite the same impact and entertainment value as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
The blurb for this book focuses on the restaurant and indeed this is the most memorable part of the story. A restaurant with a view of the ultimate show. However, there are significant parts of the story before and after this. The pace noticeably slows in the later chapters as the characters become separated, with Arthur Dent (who eventually gets his perfect cup of tea, at the expense of the spaceship’s computer devoting all of its power to the effort) and Ford Prefect finding themselves on a colony ship of telephone sanitisers, hairdressers and PR people, which crashes into prehistoric Earth. Meanwhile, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian have the secrets of the universe to discover and Marvin is sacrificed to an apparently fiery demise.
If you’re a fan of funny sci-fi with a bit of philosophy, then read this series; like the restaurant at the end of the universe, you don’t want to miss it.
First published in 1980.