Quick Take
- Narration: Simon Jones, the original Arthur Dent from the BBC radio adaptations, is an inspired casting choice that gives this continuation a genuine claim to continuity with Adams’s own vision.
- Themes: Mortality and improbability, the weight of literary legacy, what it means to continue something irreplaceable
- Mood: Affectionate and funny, with an undercurrent of elegiac melancholy
- Verdict: Eoin Colfer’s entry is warmer and more plot-driven than Adams’s original work, and fans willing to meet it on those terms will find it a genuine pleasure rather than a desecration.
I remember where I was when I first read the news that Eoin Colfer had been commissioned to write the sixth Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy novel. I was in a library in Lyon, reading an English-language newspaper three days out of date, and my reaction was approximately: please, no. Douglas Adams is untouchable. The improbability of his voice, the way his jokes worked on three registers simultaneously, the genuine philosophical weight underneath the absurdism, none of that is transferable. I held that position for years. Then I finally listened to this audiobook, and I had to reckon with being partly wrong.
And Another Thing came out in 2009, eight years after Adams’s death, with the blessing of his widow Jane Belson and the full apparatus of official continuation. Colfer, who describes himself as a Hitchhiker fan since schooldays, approached the task with what seems like genuine reverence and the wisdom not to try direct mimicry. The result is something more interesting than either a faithful imitation or a total reinvention would have been.
Our Take on And Another Thing
The crucial casting decision here is Simon Jones as narrator. Jones played Arthur Dent in the original BBC radio adaptations, he is, in a very real sense, the voice of this series for a generation of listeners. Having him read Colfer’s continuation creates a continuity that no other narrator could manufacture. When Jones delivers Arthur’s bewildered indignation or Zaphod’s spectacular self-regard, you are hearing the same voice that brought those characters to life in the first place. That connective tissue matters more than it might seem, because Colfer’s prose is different enough from Adams’s that the narration provides the tonal anchor the text alone cannot supply.
Why Listen Rather Than Read
The reviews captured here are illuminating in their diversity. One longtime Adams acquaintance argues the book is worth it if you accept it on its own terms, that no one can replicate Adams, not Terry Pratchett, not J.K. Rowling, not Colfer, and that holding the continuation to that standard is a category error. Another reviewer considers it as good as or better than the originals, citing Colfer’s success at fixing what they saw as Adams’s increasingly depressive late-series trajectory. A French reviewer is less forgiving, specifically missing the scientific and philosophical references that gave Adams’s jokes their depth and lasting resonance. All three readings are defensible, which tells you something useful: this book is genuinely contestable rather than clearly one thing or the other, and that ambiguity makes it worth the ten hours invested.
What to Watch For in Colfer’s Approach
Colfer is considerably more plot-driven than Adams. Where Adams would spend three paragraphs on a parenthetical about the nature of boredom and accidentally produce something that rewrites how you think about existence, Colfer keeps the story moving. The humor is warm and well-constructed rather than cosmically disorienting. Zaphod remains spectacular. Marvin remains bleak. Arthur remains Arthur. What is absent is the sense that the universe itself has an opinion it is barely containing. Colfer brings considerable craft; Adams brought something stranger and harder to name. Listeners who loved the originals specifically for that quality will notice the difference most acutely, and Jones’s narration makes each chapter feel like it is negotiating genuinely with the weight of what it follows, rather than simply occupying space after the original series.
Who Should Listen to And Another Thing
Fans who found Mostly Harmless too bleak, and Adams himself acknowledged that novel emerged from a difficult personal period, may find genuine comfort in Colfer’s warmer resolution. Purists who consider any continuation a philosophical offense should probably give this a wide berth, though they likely already have. Newcomers to the series should absolutely not start here: the book assumes deep familiarity with the preceding five novels. Start with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and work forward; this one will mean far more when it arrives at the end.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was Simon Jones chosen as narrator, and does that choice pay off?
Jones played Arthur Dent in the original BBC radio adaptations, making him the canonical voice of the series for an entire generation. The choice provides genuine tonal continuity between Colfer’s prose style and Adams’s original work, anchoring the continuation in the same sonic world. Most reviewers consider it one of the strongest decisions made in producing this audiobook.
Do you need to have read all five original Hitchhiker books before listening to this one?
Yes, firmly. And Another Thing picks up immediately after Mostly Harmless and assumes complete familiarity with the cast, the cosmology, and the accumulated events of the series. It is not designed as an entry point and would be genuinely confusing without prior context.
How faithful is Colfer to Douglas Adams’s style, and where does his own voice show through?
Colfer does not attempt exact mimicry, which is arguably the right call. His version is warmer, more plot-focused, and less prone to the kind of philosophical tangents that made Adams’s jokes feel like they were rewriting the universe. The characters are recognizable; the texture of the humor is slightly different. Long-time fans will notice, and whether that registers as a flaw depends entirely on what you valued most in the originals.
Does And Another Thing address the depressive ending of Mostly Harmless?
Yes. One of Colfer’s stated aims was to provide a warmer conclusion than Adams’s final novel, which he and many readers found uncommonly bleak. Some reviewers consider the tonal correction a genuine service to the series; others find the uplift incongruous with where Adams left things intentionally.
