Mostly Harmless

Author: Douglas Adams

Reader: Martin Freeman

Short Review: A good reading of my least favorite book in the series.

Long Review: The disappearance of Fenchurch, the appearance of Random, the multiple Trillians–it’s all too much, and too dark to fit well into the series. Adams himself was open about his disappointment in the tone for this, the sort-of-ending to the series. I enjoyed hearing it, nonetheless.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Author: Douglas Adams

Reader: Martin Freeman

Short Review: Another decent reading of a book I love, which suffers by comparison to the Stephen Frye reading of The Hitchhikerâ€s Guide to the Galaxy.

Long Review: Er, fourth verse, same as the second? Thankfully, no.

I love this series, as I said in my review of The Hitchhikerâ€s Guide to the Galaxy. I think Martin Feeman is a pretty good reader, apart from that whole Zaphod thing. Thankfully, that’s not really an issue with this book. Another plus: we get the addition of Fenchurch. I’m sure some readers wish Adams had just left the musky stuff out of the series, but my sappy little heart sings when something nice finally happens to Arthur Dent.

Unfortunately, this is probably the weakest book in the original four-part trilogy (blame Adams for that misuse of trilogy, not me). This story isn’t as tight as the previous books in the series. Even so, I like reading and listening to it.

Life, the Universe and Everything

Author: Douglas Adams

Reader: Martin Freeman

Short Review: Another decent reading of a book I love, which suffers by comparison to the Stephen Frye reading of The Hitchhikerâ€s Guide to the Galaxy.

Long Review: My opinions on this audiobook are, sensibly, quite similar to my opinions on The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I love the book, and am grateful for having less of Freeman-as-Zaphod to annoy me. The silliness of the Cricket/Krikkit plot carries over nicely in the audio version.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Author: Douglas Adams

Reader: Martin Freeman

Short Review: A decent reading of a book I love, which suffers by comparison to the Stephen Frye reading of The Hitchhikerâ€s Guide to the Galaxy.

Long Review: I love this series, as I mentioned in my review of The Hitchhikerâ€s Guide to the Galaxy. I think Martin Feeman is a pretty good reader, but Stephen Frye is such a great reader that I can’t but prefer his casting.

Freeman does one particular thing as a narrator that drives me mad. He reads Zaphod Beeblebrox as a stereotypical Jewish New Yorker. That, in and of itself, would annoy me. His accent is atrocious, though, so it also seems insulting. British folks love to make fun of Americans because we’re so terrible at mimicking their accents. Well you know what? The vast majority of Brits are just as bad at mimicking us, and this is a particularly galling example.

Apart from that, it’s a pretty good rendition. But Zaphod is a huge part of these books, so reading his role poorly really harms the whole audio book.