~~WARNING: SPOILERS~~
We left off our four (six if you include the ship and the melancholy robot) protagonists leaving to go towards Milliways, the namesake of the book. In several mixed up situations, they're at the mercy of an unhappy Vogon aiming to destroy their ship with them on board and their ship is incapable of defending them or even running away because of Arthur's impatient whimsy. As a result, Zaphod conjures the spirit of his Great Grandfather. After ensuing shenanigans, Zaphod and Marvin arrive at the headquarters of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy whilst the others are still on the ship but in a dark, dark place unknown to all of them. After more hilarious hijinks, the four actually do end up at the fabled restaurant that has been their goal since, well I don't know since time isn't quite a big factor in the story. Anyway, they get introduced to their meal (and yes, I said introduced) and Ford sees an old friend of his, Hotback Desiato. They end up back with Marvin and a new limo-ship. Unfortunately, this is where they leave the ship and also one of this bloggers' favorite characters for good. Ford and Arthur end up separated from Trillian and Zaphod on another spaceship. This ship is filled with "frozen" people, to be revived when the time was right. As is such, their ship crash lands onto a lovely little blue-green planet. Ford and Arthur get to know the land and its inhabitants and stumble across the image of your favorite fictional fjord former (and mine!) carved in a glacier which gives them the approximate place and time they arrived at. Eventually the ULTIMATE QUESTION is realized and is just as profound as they originally thought it was going to be in the first book. Meanwhile, Zaphod and Trillian are transported back to "Heart of Gold" by Zarniwoop, president of the company that owns Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so that they all may journey and meet the man who rules the universe. I rather liked this scene with this man who rules the universe and what happens to Zarniwoop.
I personally enjoyed this book a lot more than I did Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Perhaps it was because I had already had awhile of getting used to the particular happenings and people so it wasn't as off-putting/surprising to me anymore. I have decided that the man who rules the universe (who doesn't have a name by the way so I'll just shorten it to MWRtU) is perhaps my favorite character introduces so far and I really hope he appears in the rest of the series. Also I am jealous that he has a cat. While this book was longer than the first, it was a lot easier to read through and I felt like I connected to the characters and their situations better. It is rare that a sequel surpasses the level at which the first was, let alone pass it, but in my humble opinion, I feel that The Restaurant at the End of the Universe did just that. I wish I could say more but I really don't want to ruin any details for anyone and I cannot find a way around that as of yet.
Wyrm's Recommendation: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment