Book info

• Title The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
• Author Douglas Adams
• Year 1980
• Genre Science Fiction

If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the end of the Universe? Which is exactly what Arthur Dent and the crew of the Heart of Gold plan to do. There's just the small matter of escaping the Vogons, avoiding being taken to the most totally evil world in the Galaxy and teaching a space ship how to make a proper cup of tea. And did anyone actually make a reservation?

Thoughts

When I read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, there was a feeling of relief because so many people like it, and I had liked it too! Once that was out the way, many said I had to read on to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe because it was even better. Thus the pressure was right back on again.

Thankfully, I enjoyed the whole restaurant business just as much as the first. It felt a lot easier to read, presumably because the characters are all embedded in my mind now, and finding a two-headed being as one of the main protagonists is no longer a surprise. I think I also liked that the Guide itself played less of a role in this one and was even discarded at the end. That may be sacrilege given it’s the concept for the books in the first place, but it was fun to get through the story without having to refer to the encyclopaedia every step of the way.

Events twist and turn as much as in the first book, but it’s always the little things that are the best: Teaching not-quite-cavepeople to play Scrabble. The cow that is offended by the idea of a salad. Breaking the computer by asking for a cup of tea. It’s all pure genius and totally wonderful, if a little bamboozling at times.

Rating: 5 / 5