Is The Restaurant at the End of the Universe a sequel?

Yes. It's the second book in Douglas Adams's "trilogy in five parts," continuing directly from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was first published in 1980 and follows Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian, and Marvin as they head for Milliways, the titular restaurant at the literal end of the universe.

Do I need to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy before this one?

Yes. The story picks up immediately where the first book left off, with the same crew fleeing the same immediate danger (a Vogon attack after escaping Magrathea), so it's best read as book 2 rather than on its own.

Who narrates the audiobook?

Martin Freeman, who also played Arthur Dent in the 2005 film adaptation, narrates the unabridged audiobook editions of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

By&

Humor Science Fiction

Pages: 245
Published: 1980
Language: English

Synopsis

The second book in Douglas Adams's "trilogy in five parts" picks up with Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian, and the perpetually gloomy robot Marvin still hurtling through a hostile and ridiculous universe. Hungry, hunted, and short on options, they set their sights on Milliways — the Restaurant at the End of the Universe — where diners enjoy a five-star meal while watching all of creation come to its spectacular finale.

Getting there is another matter. Between a stolen spaceship, an encounter with the man who secretly rules the galaxy, and Zaphod's tangled quest to understand his own scrambled memories, the crew stumbles from one cosmic absurdity to the next. Along the way Adams skewers bureaucracy, celebrity, marketing, and the very idea of ruling anything at all.

Sharper and even stranger than its predecessor, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is comic science fiction at its most inventive.