The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

If you were, like Arthur Dent, unassumingly enjoying a cup of tea in your bathrobe one day and careening through space and time the next, you would likely be comforted to have a guide such as Martin Freeman along for the ride. Freeman played Arthur Dent in the recent big screen adaptation of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, and his narration is pleasant and familiar, even when he's relating adventures with exotic entities and improbable circumstances. Everyone gets distinctive voices, even the computers, which, with the help of sound effects, sound computerized. There can't be too many versions of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's series, and this is a worthy addition to the pantheon. J.M.D. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novels are ideally suited to the ear, having been adapted from a BBC radio series. The late Douglas Adams reads his own work with an actor's grace in this version, originally released in 1991. His takes on familiar characters--including Marvin the Paranoid Android, who sounds just like the actor from the radio original. The second novel in the original trilogy, RESTAURANT resolves the quests begun in the first novel--including the search for the question of life, the universe, and everything. (The unlikely answer, fans will recall, is 42.) Fans will find this reading delightful. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine