[The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the] sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy—and again the sf parody here is deranged, deadpan, satirical, hyperbolic, wildly erratic … but with rather less of a British accent than its predecessor…. [The heroes encounter] Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe (where dinner walks up to introduce itself, and the entertainment is, literally, doomsday); Hotblack Desiato, leader of the galaxy's loudest rock band (he's spending a year dead for tax purposes); a colony of joggers, hairdressers, and PR men (they'd like to invent the wheel, but can't decide what color it should be); and the man who rules the universe (he's not at all sure that he or the universe really exists). Sometimes lame, limp, or just plain silly—but, at its best, very funny indeed.

A review of "The Restaurant at the End of...