Looking for books like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Don’t panic! Here is some recommended reading for Douglas Adams fans.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of the most beloved science fiction books of all time. Douglas Adams’s humor and the characters’ wild space opera adventures make for addictive reading and leave fans wanting more. If you can’t get enough of funny space opera novels, check out the books below.
More Fun Books Like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
- Phule’s Company series – Robert Asprin – A comic military science fiction series featuring alien enemies and a company of reject soldiers. Six books.
- Bobiverse series – Dennis E. Taylor – A dead engineer is turned into a Von Neumann probe and sent out to explore the universe. AI, intelligent space probes, intergalactic war. Four (five?) books.
- Bill the Galactic Hero – Harry Harrison – Space war with giant lizards, and a hero who doesn’t know what he’s doing. Terry Pratchett called it the funniest science fiction novel ever written.
- Stainless Steel Rat series – Harry Harrison – The adventures of an interstellar thief and con artist. As a kid, Heinlein’s “Have Spacesuit – Will Travel” got me interested in science fiction. The Stainless Steel Rat series turned that interest into an obsession. Eleven books.
- Dimension of Miracles – Robert Sheckley – A civil servant wins the galactic lottery, but ends up on the run and bouncing from Earth to Earth. Even Adams himself thought was similar to Hitchhiker’s Guide.
- The Cyberiad – Stanislaw Lem – A collection of short stories, not all space-hopping. It has a bit of a “science fiction fables” feel to it, and some rather Adamsy absurdist humor.
- Jacques McKeown series – Yahtzee Croshaw – An unemployed galactic pilot looking for work in these “not quite epic” space adventures. Three books.
- Expeditionary Force – Craig Alanson – Created as a humorous subversion of the typical “soldiers battling an alien invasion” trope. Sixteen books.
- Retief series – Keith Laumer – The satirical adventures of Jame Retief, a planet-hopping space diplomat. Twenty-six books.
- Year Zero – Rob Reid – Aliens are obsessed with Earth music, and the resulting copyright violations have bankrupted the entire universe.
- Space Team series – Barry J Hutchison – The adventures of small-time conman Cal Carver. Reviewers often compare the series to Douglas Adams. Fifteen books.
- The Audacity series – Carmen Loup (Also listed as Laura Carmen Loup and Laura Loup) – A waitress is abducted by aliens, makes friends with an alien obsessed with “I Love Lucy”, and becomes a rocket racer. Four books and some short stories. Great, fun stuff!
- Dim Stars – Brian P Rubin – A young girl signs up for a two-week tour as a cadet on the ship of her idol, but finds out that our heroes aren’t always as heroic as we thought. Technically YA, but this is one of those YA books that adults will enjoy as well. The captain’s struggles with his failures and not living up to his potential are something that any adult can relate to.
- Galaxy Quest: A Novel – Terry Bisson – If the cult film is one of your favorites, you will love this parody of Star Trek and other space opera adventures.
- The Road to Mars – Eric Idle – Douglas Adams had a long association with Monty Python, having written a sketch for Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and for Monty Python and the Holy Grail. If you love Adams and Python, you’re sure to enjoy this tale of a comedy team on an interplanetary vaudeville circuit.
- May Contain Space Pirates – M F Alfrey – A human named Fifty-Eight bounces around the galaxy, running from aliens who want to eat him. Incredibly funny, with some fantastic space pirates and unique aliens that aren’t just “humans with funny foreheads.”
- The Space Opera series – Catherynne M. Valente – A space opera with actual singing! Humanity takes part in a galactic song contest. Often compared to Hitchhiker’s Guide. Two books.
- The Space Junk Series – Andrew Bixler – The author describes this metaphysical space opera series as a mix of Hitchhiker’s Guide, Cowboy Bebop, and The Fifth Element. What an awesome combo!
- The Cosmic Turkey – Laura Ruth Loomis – Janet, the reluctant captain of the starship S.S. Turkey, finds life in a sci-fi novel is easier to survive with the help of a book called The Space-Faring Moron’s Guide to Common Science Fiction Plot Devices. How can you not love that? Hilarious stuff.
- Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers – Grant Naylor – Hitchhiker’s Guide fans are sure to love this series of novels by the show’s original creators. All the fun of Red Dwarf, without the annoying laugh track!
- Miles Vorsokigan Saga – Lois McMaster Bujold – While not as lighthearted as Hitchhiker’s Guide, this funny series is a favorite of humorous space opera fans.
- The Chained Space Series by D.N. Schmidt – Can a space junk salvage crew save the galaxy? All Jay Jordan wants out of life is to make enough cash to keep his ship flying, but the universe has other plans. The crew battles gangsters, rescues kidnapped college professors, and does good all over the galaxy, even when they don’t get paid. These selfless stunts and heroic handouts get them tangled up with the Griff government. Like a starving man in a bathtub full of pudding, they soon find themselves in over their heads.
Honorable mentions:
- While not space opera, Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson is another hilarious science fiction novel that Hitchhiker’s Guide fans may enjoy.
- Outside of science fiction, the Discworld series of fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett is universally considered the closest to Douglas Adams’s humor.
Know of any other books like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or other hilarious space opera novels I should add? Leave a suggestion in the comments below!
Want more sci-fi adventures? Check out my recommendations for the best science fiction books of all time here!
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