To put it simply, And Another Thing… by Eoin (pronounced Owen) Colfer is fantastically froody. I was skeptical when I heard that the author of the Artemis Fowl series for young adults had been given license by Douglas Adams’s estate to extend The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. As a reader, I generally think it’s a bad idea for a writer to attempt to take over another writer’s set, and Douglas Adams is a hard act to follow and an even more difficult writer to mimic.

But Colfer pulls it off. And Another Thing… is witty, and funny, and Adams-esque enough to please fans, but Colfer has a few tricks up his sleeve and claims The Hitchhiker’s Guide for himself. Where Adams’ writing regularly sidetracked into long train-of-thought jaunts, Colfer manages to interrupt the story with frequent “Guide Notes” while still moving the plot along at a reasonable speed. Colfer also does a bang-up job of working train-of-thought jaunts right into the storyline but without actually interrupting the action. We get a fantastic look into the improbable mind of Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox, while experiencing the juxtaposition of Beeblebrox’s thinking with that of plain, old sort-of hero Arthur Dent, who again finds himself lost in space and wishing for a decent cup of tea.

Of course, it is highly improbable that Arthur will get a decent cup of tea or win the girl. It also seemed highly improbable that any author would realistically realize the dream of continuing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series and actually pull it off well, but Colfer delivers, and fans can enjoy one more romp through the galaxy, Beeblebrox style. I’m hoping this revival will cause Hollywood to make movies of the rest of Adams’ books and Colfer’s as well.

I suggest enjoying this good book with a nice cup of tea. And maybe some digestive cookies.

Some TechRepublic members shared their thoughts about And Another Thing… last year; now that the book has been released, what do you think of the finished product?