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Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless
#5 of 6 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Mostly Harmless

By
Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
By
Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
1992 • 248 pages

Ratings44

Average rating3.6

15
Book InfoReviews4Editions33Lists18Feed7

The fifth part of the "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. 20 years on, the Guide falls into the hands of Arthur Dent's daughter, Random, whose mother, unexpectedly to all concerned, is Trillian. Random journeys to an insignificant planet, whose entry in the Guide reads "mostly harmless".

Tags

Genres

  • Science fiction
  • Adventure
  • Aliens
  • Classics
  • Fantasy

Series

Featured Series

6 primary books9 released books

#5 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a 9-book series with 6 primary works first released in 1979 with contributions by Douglas Adams, Jem Roberts, and 3 others.

Salmon of Doubt
The Frood: The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#0.5
Young Zaphod Plays It Safe (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #0.5)
#1
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#2
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
#3
Life, the Universe and Everything
#4
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
#5
Mostly Harmless
#6
And Another Thing...

Reviews

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Kavinay
Kavinay

That took a weird turn in the end...

July 27, 2021
fakelly
Fiona

Incredibly slow for the first half but eventually picks up and then finishes quite abruptly. Some funny and clever stuff but not on par with the earlier books in the trilogy, imo.

February 27, 2023
sms
Sarah Schumacher

A rather unpleasant way to end the series, particularly spoiled by the presence of the surprise daughter; the stereotypical selfish, needy tween girl (which is a solid way to ruin any form of media).

January 6, 2018
BronwynK
Bronwyn Knox

Of all the books in the Hitchhiker's series, this one seems the darkest. There is a weird cynicism presented throughout which says, yes terrible things are happening in the universe and only the main characters seem to care. In this particular case, it's the wild and crazy Ford Prefect.

I might have forgotten about this book deliberately and pretended the series ended with Life, the Universe, and Everything if only because that would wrap up things for Arthur nicely, taking him from passive tourist to active participant in saving the galaxy.

Still, I like this book. Adams can't really write a bad one; all the humor and bizarre story stuff is there. The bits with Arthur and his daughter are interesting, though I have a lot of questions about the character motivation on Trillian's part that never get resolved. Selfishly having a daughter with Arthur's DNA and without his permission, then sticking the responsibility on him seems out of character, but then we never learned much about her anyway. We get more here, with the story of her life in an alternate reality where she does not go off with Zaphod.

If you're a die hard fan, it's an entertaining book to read. If you're casually interested in the old Hitchhiker's phenomenon, this one's skippable.

July 23, 2022

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