The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is a sequel to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and picks up exactly where the previous novel left off, resolving the cliffhanger. That’s one of the best ways I can think of to summarise it, because there’s really not much of a cohesive plot to this book.
Is the lack of structure a bad thing? Not at all. Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin all basically make their own way throughout time and space and get caught up in all kinds of hilarious and interesting situations. Everything kind of centers around the characters visiting the titular Restaurant at the End of the Universe, which is exactly what it sounds like and is visited via time travel.
Speaking of time travel, it’s used quite a bit in this book and I love that. Time travel nearly always makes a story more interesting for me. For me, one of the best things about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books is that they are frequently very clever while being very funny and silly at time. This book felt even cleverer than it’s prequel, which I found very satisfying. I just don’t feel I can go into too much detail, for fear of spoiling any of it.
One thing I will say is that you’ll enjoy this book a lot more if you read the first book beforehand. Also, while I didn’t think much of the first book’s ending, I felt the ending of this one was quite conclusive (even though I know there’s a sequel.) Basically, this is a perfect continuation for the series and a nice step up from the already substantial prequel.
Rating: 9.3/10
(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)
