Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic

What would you expect from the author of THGTTU? Meets expectations well.

I love Douglas Adam's stories (Hitchhiker's Guide, Dirk Gently etc) and thought this would be a good read, which it is, but quite short. It won't take more than one or two evenings to complete.

The Hitchhikers books were, of course, based on prior radio plays, which I think added to their richness. And this book is by the same author, but this time based on a computer game, which I think cramped the scope a little (really I think it should have been the other way around maybe). But it's a fun plot about the insurance scam of all time - the scuppering of the starship Titanic. Overall it's a nice story for sci-fi fans who like the more offbeat humourous stories. But I think it's not a patch on the Hitchhikers, or even Dirk Gently, books in terms of story volume and humorous content. So less stars from me I'm afraid, although I hope that doesn't put you off what is still a good read, especially for diehard Douglas Adams fans.

This is a great book in the style of Douglas Adams it has a slow and steady progression building to a quick but flowing pace. A must read for any Douglas Adams fan.

This is written by Terry Jones not Douglas Adams. Adams was working on the game at the time. I'm reading it ATM. It's OK. Adamsesque but not the great man himself.

Fantastic story by one genius author inspired by another. I didn’t think it could be done but now stand, with a fish paste canapé in my hand, firmly and absolutely corrected. Hilarious characters imbued with weird passions which mirror the absurdities of the events that transpire in this satirical romp into the galactic core and back.

A good read, funny and entertaining.

Full disclosure to start with, I’m a huge fan of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide series and I had the Starship Titanic computer game back in the 1990s. This of course isn’t written by Adams, as he was busy with developing the game at the time, but by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, of whom I’m also a fan.It pains me to say therefore that this book isn’t very good. There are some nice comic touches – the intelligent bomb that’s easily distracted and loses its place in the countdown is a particular highlight. There’s too much filler between the laughs, however, and it lacks Adams’ carefully honed prose, in particular the deliciously memorable absurdities like, ‘...hung in the sky in exactly the same way that bricks don’t’.All of which is a shame because there’s a lot of potential in the idea. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that this would have been much better if Adams had written in himself. Sadly, short of finding a way to some parallel universe, we’ll never get to find out.

You either love British humor or you hate it. Those who love it should find much to enjoy here - after all, it was written by one of the members of Monty Python! It embodies the spirit of Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker series so perfectly. One wishes Mr. Jones had taken up the quill to carry on the Hitchhiker novels after Mr. Adams’ passing, as opposed to Eoin Colfer. Regardless, we have this gem of a story!

Exactly as described/expected

Love Douglas Adams.Prezzo fantastico per un libro difficile da reperire

This was typical of a Douglas Adams novel even though it is written by Terry Jones . Full of irrelevance and impractical information making it a great read full of back handed humour.

I originally bought the game, found it beautiful to browse through and daunting to play, so I put it aside. Years later on a binge of "books on tape" buying I bought a used copy of the audio version. Then I read the bad reviews and never even tried to start it. A month ago I bought a nice used car with a cassette player in it and needed something to test the player, so I popped in "Titanic". I've just now finished listening to it, and I'm awfully sorry I waited. Certainly it's not on a par with the first three "Hitchhiker's" books, mostly because it's not that densely funny. And yes, there are echoes of "Hitchhiker's" concepts and story construction in this book. But it's pretty clever and engrossing all on it's own terms, and to my mind, it's better than some of Douglass' other books, say, the fifth Hitchhiker's novel. There's something else that's different, there's a fair amount of sex and profanity. It's all still comic and cheerful, and frankly, a welcome change. If I have any complaint, it's that there's probably too much complaining by the main characters about their relationship problems, and (as mentioned by another reviewer) far too little of the parrot. As to the charge leveled at this book that's it's just an advertisement for the game, actually, it's a nice way of learning how to approach the game. The irony is that, unless you're an old technology geek, you're not going to be able to play the game, as it's written for outdated computers, and has not been (and sadly will probably never be) updated for the newest operating systems. Finally, I must mention how surprised I was at the high level of Terry Jones' narration. He manages to do a fair number of distinct voices, including a couple of women, and his normal speaking voice is much more light and pleasant than the voice he assumes when acting. It's a very nice read, and may be the best way to enjoy the piece. Dig out your old cassette players and buy a copy!