Skip to main content

Review: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – Paranoid Android Joke, Paranoid Android Joke

Adams knows how to blend satire with Sci-fi, and this is done seamlessly in the critically acclaimed, Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy. Not only had this book introduced me to the over the top, subtly-be-damned, satire shown on a grand scale.

My favorite Dr. Who episode is like something out of The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, the main characters arrive in a future New York where thousands of people (Hundreds of thousands?) are stuck in an underground traffic jam that many of them have been stuck in for 40 or more years. It even uses a bit of Sci-fi to explain this ridiculous situation, which of course is semi-bunk. Then there are cat people and giant crabs which live in the fast lane. That’s the kind of stuff I love (The name is Gridlock, I suggest that you watch it.)

Parts of it don’t really make sense, but it is showing how situations which are ridiculous now could become even more insane in the future. And Adams revels in this feeling, in the book the Earth is destroyed (This happens early in the book so it is not really a spoiler) by a fleet of aliens known as the Vogons, but the only reason they do it is because they want to make an interstellar highway through the area.

When the people of Earth beg the Vogons to not destroy their planet, the aliens complain that it was decided at the nearest planetary hall, and if they wanted to combat the construction they should have lodged a complaint, and the place to do so was only a couple solar systems away.

The book is full of this type of humor, but that’s not all it relies on, it also utilizes plenty of interesting sci-fi concepts while relying mostly on character-based humor. And it manages to boast one of the best cast of characters that I know. There’s a clueless human named Arthur, an egomaniacal alien driven by his overwhelming need to have fun, and a personal favorite, Marvin the Paranoid Andriod, the most depressed machine in existence.

The book is fantastic and if you want to start a new series then I suggest you start with  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy and then move on to its wonderful sequels.

I’d rate it Great to Brilliant.

(For those of you who haven’t read my previous posts this is my system for rating books, Awful - Bad - Good - Great - Brilliant.) 

 Thank you for reading and have a nice day! 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Borrasca by C. K. Walker (Bourasca? Borraskwa?! ¿¿Boruscka??)

Novel: Thriller, horror. Contains violence and disturbing imagery.  Warning: This review contains minor spoilers.             Do you like tragic thrillers, bordering on horror? Stories which seem like they originate from the pits of humanity which we do not understand and do not wish to? Small towns with big secrets? Twists that you know are coming from a mile away, but find yourself too surrounded by fog to know the nature of this twist until it is footsteps are right upon you and your heart is tearing to get out of your rib cage???             If any of these apply to you (or god forbid, them all), then Borrasca may just be the book for you.             The book starts out with the old “I’m moving to a small town because of my dad/mom’s new job. Of course, in this book, the change of job is a lot more...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Leap days” by Ian Bennett and “Anya’s Ghost” by Vera Brosgol - In which I get an invisible friend to help me cheat on the review

“Leap days” by Ian Bennett and “Anya’s Ghost” by Vera Brosgol Since these two graphic novels are somewhat similar and neither is particularly long, I figured reviewing them together would make sense. Both take place in high school and they are both coming of age stories. They also both involve a high schooler befriending a supernatural force who allows them to cheat in school. LEAP DAYS We’ll start with Leap Days since it’s the relatively less emotionally charged of the two.             I was surprised by this book. When it opens, it’s pretty grim. Being more realistic, it depicts the crushing boredom of school and the frustration of a sense that you are wasting your time and not really learning anything. The protagonist’s name is Jake and he drifts through the day, unknown by everyone and uninterested in everything. The only thing that snaps him out of the malaise aside from eventually getting to go home and go to sl...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Who Could That Be At This Hour?” By Lemony Snicket, in which Lemony sneaks around at too late of an hour

BE ADVISED! Along with containing minor spoilers, this review will be less about the book itself and more about the series of All The Wrong Questions and what it accomplishes and what it fails.  When I was around twelve or thirteen I first picked up “Who could that be at this hour?” It instantly captured my imagination with its air of intrigue and fascinating, semi-surreal setting. I grew up with the previous serious in the Lemony Snicketverse, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” and I hadn’t yet discovered my love of noir films so many of the tropes at play were initially lost on me. Looking back, older and more mature, I can see the seams. Already in the first book of a series of four, I can see the moments where the story lags. Having read all four books, I can see that while Handler is a master of delivering a powerful and clever satire, he doesn’t know how to break his own routines. It’s less noticeable in the first book than it is in later entries, but we are alrea...
Post a Comment
Read more