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Red Dwarf #1-2
Red Dwarf
Here are the first two novels of the cult series "Red Dwarf" in one volume - "Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" and "Better Than Life" - plus the first draft of the original TV pilot script. It all begins, when Dave Lister is celebrating his twenty-fourth birthday on a Monopoly board pub crawl round London, and somehow ends up three million years from Earth, marooned in the wrong dimension of the wrong reality, and down to his last two cigarettes. Together with a dead man, a senile computer, a deranged sanitation mechanoid with an overactive guilt chip and the best-dressed entity in all six known universes, the last remaining member of the human race begins his epic journey home.
440 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
62 people are currently reading
1138 people want to read
About the author
Grant Naylor
12 books247 followersGrant Naylor was the collective name used by writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor for their collaboration, particularly the TV series, Red Dwarf. Grant and Naylor call their pseudonym a gestalt entity, something that is greater than the sum of its parts.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Na...
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Na...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
January 6, 2013
When I fell in love with Red Dwarf a few years ago my sister asked if I had read the book. "There's a book?!" I gasped. There is a book, and if you like the show then it will not disappoint.
The characters are just as strong as in the show and it provides so much more detail than was possible on the small budget of the small screen. It even provides extra back stories and further twists.
This book sits perfectly along side the series, neither has the ability to ruin the other.
The characters are just as strong as in the show and it provides so much more detail than was possible on the small budget of the small screen. It even provides extra back stories and further twists.
This book sits perfectly along side the series, neither has the ability to ruin the other.
March 18, 2020
Silly space antics which are laugh out loud funny. You don't need to have seen the show to read the books, and I think they're better and funnier.
June 10, 2014
I must firstly admit that I am a HUGE fan of the television series RED DWARF. I think it is extremely clever, terribly unique, & roll around on the ground, excruciatingly hilarious, the characters are so well played it's ridiculous..... So I'm thinking reading the book without Craig Charles & Chris Barbie already playing Lister & Rimmer in my head, may have dulled the book a little for me. There is no way I would have picked up on as much comedy reading the book without already knowing the characters.
In saying that, it is still hilarious, especially if your imagination is better than mine.
The genius of the story is the fact that the mining ship Red Dwarf has been floating around space for billions of years with one living sole survivor from earth who has recently awaken from stasis, a cat mutation, a hologram, a service droid, & a computer head with a deminished IQ. Their aim is to get back to earth to see if it really has been destroyed or if Lister can finally buy a farm & settle down in Figi. In all that distance & all the planet's they encounter, they never once run into any conceivable sign of aliens. BRILLIANT!
In saying that, it is still hilarious, especially if your imagination is better than mine.
The genius of the story is the fact that the mining ship Red Dwarf has been floating around space for billions of years with one living sole survivor from earth who has recently awaken from stasis, a cat mutation, a hologram, a service droid, & a computer head with a deminished IQ. Their aim is to get back to earth to see if it really has been destroyed or if Lister can finally buy a farm & settle down in Figi. In all that distance & all the planet's they encounter, they never once run into any conceivable sign of aliens. BRILLIANT!
August 5, 2020
Book Red Dwarf continues to outsell the TV show by a heavy margin.
I'm not sure how well this would work as a story for someone who hasn't seen the show, given the way that these books tend to cram in several different episodes of plotline and rarely find a solid follow through, but if you like Red Dwarf you'll have a whale of a time with this.
I'm not sure how well this would work as a story for someone who hasn't seen the show, given the way that these books tend to cram in several different episodes of plotline and rarely find a solid follow through, but if you like Red Dwarf you'll have a whale of a time with this.
April 9, 2023
Absolutely fantastic addition to the show. Explores aspects that they clearly did not have the budget for at the time. The character voice shines through brilliantly - especially in the audiobook version where Chris Barrie does impressions of all the characters. A must read for die hard fans like me.
August 5, 2025
a really good read n a giggle :) if you like the show i highly recommend giving it a read
January 10, 2018
Aanrader voor elke SF en vooral Red Dwarf liefhebber. De beste novell uit de reeks!
December 11, 2021
Lovely stuff!
March 19, 2024
Fantastic book. As a red dwarf mega fan this fills in so many gaps and I love the different take on better than life! Im a slow reader and I finished it so quickly! Got the other 3 books I’ll be reading asap.
February 28, 2018
Smegging brilliant!
July 20, 2014
I read these two and the third "Backwards" together. So three books which are actually one story. And I don't mean connected. They really do read as one. Pay attention because numbers has a lot to do with these 'devices'. And I call them that because..... well, find out for yourselves.
By far the funniest and most mind bending* novels I have given time to. And in February 2019, 20 years after I did, I will do so again. And then re-write this thread - forwards.
* footnote - I advise all people never to use mind altering narcotics. Especially when already involved with Naylor's reality skewed essays.
By far the funniest and most mind bending* novels I have given time to. And in February 2019, 20 years after I did, I will do so again. And then re-write this thread - forwards.
* footnote - I advise all people never to use mind altering narcotics. Especially when already involved with Naylor's reality skewed essays.
March 17, 2023
This is a collection containing the first two Red Dwarf novels with a couple of scripts at the end of some early versions of the show. It was published in 1992, though the original novels were first published in 89 and 90.
This is the first book for adults that I ever read. In junior school, I was a massive fan of the TV show because my family watched it, though half the jokes sailed over my head. By senior school, I was reading the novels and hugely influenced by them at the time. Many many years later I have come back to this very dogeared book.
My main reaction is that the first novel is a lot better than the second. The first novel has a clear 3-act structure while the second just feels like a list of stuff happening. I don't think a novel has to have a clear structure to be good, but it certainly makes a difference here. I've always just read them as one big story, but now I kind of wish I had them as separate books so I could more easily enjoy and digest them on their own.
Stuck on a mining space ship in deep deep space, our main characters are Lister (probably the last human alive) and Rimmer (a hologram of his dead roommate). Rimmer seems to get a lot more character development than Lister, and in fact I find it hard to really define Lister as a character at all, which is not great after reading two novels about him. The ship's computer Holly gets some definition before almost totally dropping out of the story. The Cat (a man evolved from cats) and Kryten (a mechanoid they pick up) are not much of characters at all, and the second book introduces Talkie Toaster who if anything has more of a presence than the other two. Both Lister and Rimmer are the architects of their own downfalls, but since they both clearly suffer from mental health issues, they are very sympathetic without having to be likeable. That's interesting. I think it is a shame that there is not much character development in the second novel, and what there is kind of happens 'off screen'. For a story about two characters who hate each other but are stuck together, they sure don't actually spend much time together and never really develop in front of us. It is suggested that they do, but we don't get to experience it.
Book 1 - Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is hugely inventive and descriptive and shows great skill at setting up a science fiction world. It's so much more in depth and spectacular than the TV sitcom that inspired it and I'm kind of sad that the novels dwindled to nothing when the writing team of Grant and Naylor broke up. Part One is everything before the accident that wipes out the crew. Part Two is after the accident and does borrow heavily from the scripts, and weirdly feels like the weakest section because of it. A lot of quips here and a lot less description. Part Three is... well I guess that's too spoilery, but each of the three parts are very distinct and different from each other. (Episodes that share ideas with this novel are: The End, Future Echoes, Me2, Kryten, Better Than Life.)
Book 2 - Better Than Life starts off by dealing with how the first book ended. But the following parts don't feel like separate parts at all and are rather a series of events that each directly lead on to each other in a way that is so mixed up that it all just feels like a run-on sentence. It also either borrows more heavily from the TV show or has stuff that they later worked into the show , so it's a bit less interesting to read. (Episodes that share ideas with this novel are: Better Than Life, Backwards, Marooned, Polymorph, White Hole).
Where the first novel feels like its own entity that happens to share similarities to the sitcom, the second feels more like episodes sewn together. Weirdly the first book has much more depth than the sitcom but the sitcom seems to have more depth than the second book. Essentially I think 1 is more character-driven and two is more action-driven and the change is very noticeable.
The most annoying thing is that both books refer to events in the future that never happen. Perhaps they were supposed to happen in the next books in the series, but that never happened due to the writing split, or perhaps it was supposed to be a joke, or it was just a hint at what would happen to the characters one day and the audience doesn't have to be there for it, but I find that a very unsatisfying thing to do to your reader.
At the end of this book is a radio skit which was an early idea for Red Dwarf and the original script for the TV pilot which is awfully similar to the actual script for the first episode. Mildly interesting for fans.
Anyway, although I would be interested to read these books in isolation at some point, I think Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is a cracking read, Better Than Life is fairly entertaining, and I have no interest in reading the other books that came later which I recall being much worse in quality. An enjoyable blast from the past.
This is the first book for adults that I ever read. In junior school, I was a massive fan of the TV show because my family watched it, though half the jokes sailed over my head. By senior school, I was reading the novels and hugely influenced by them at the time. Many many years later I have come back to this very dogeared book.
My main reaction is that the first novel is a lot better than the second. The first novel has a clear 3-act structure while the second just feels like a list of stuff happening. I don't think a novel has to have a clear structure to be good, but it certainly makes a difference here. I've always just read them as one big story, but now I kind of wish I had them as separate books so I could more easily enjoy and digest them on their own.
Stuck on a mining space ship in deep deep space, our main characters are Lister (probably the last human alive) and Rimmer (a hologram of his dead roommate). Rimmer seems to get a lot more character development than Lister, and in fact I find it hard to really define Lister as a character at all, which is not great after reading two novels about him. The ship's computer Holly gets some definition before almost totally dropping out of the story. The Cat (a man evolved from cats) and Kryten (a mechanoid they pick up) are not much of characters at all, and the second book introduces Talkie Toaster who if anything has more of a presence than the other two. Both Lister and Rimmer are the architects of their own downfalls, but since they both clearly suffer from mental health issues, they are very sympathetic without having to be likeable. That's interesting. I think it is a shame that there is not much character development in the second novel, and what there is kind of happens 'off screen'. For a story about two characters who hate each other but are stuck together, they sure don't actually spend much time together and never really develop in front of us. It is suggested that they do, but we don't get to experience it.
Book 1 - Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is hugely inventive and descriptive and shows great skill at setting up a science fiction world. It's so much more in depth and spectacular than the TV sitcom that inspired it and I'm kind of sad that the novels dwindled to nothing when the writing team of Grant and Naylor broke up. Part One is everything before the accident that wipes out the crew. Part Two is after the accident and does borrow heavily from the scripts, and weirdly feels like the weakest section because of it. A lot of quips here and a lot less description. Part Three is... well I guess that's too spoilery, but each of the three parts are very distinct and different from each other. (Episodes that share ideas with this novel are: The End, Future Echoes, Me2, Kryten, Better Than Life.)
Book 2 - Better Than Life starts off by dealing with how the first book ended. But the following parts don't feel like separate parts at all and are rather a series of events that each directly lead on to each other in a way that is so mixed up that it all just feels like a run-on sentence. It also either borrows more heavily from the TV show or has stuff that they later worked into the show , so it's a bit less interesting to read. (Episodes that share ideas with this novel are: Better Than Life, Backwards, Marooned, Polymorph, White Hole).
Where the first novel feels like its own entity that happens to share similarities to the sitcom, the second feels more like episodes sewn together. Weirdly the first book has much more depth than the sitcom but the sitcom seems to have more depth than the second book. Essentially I think 1 is more character-driven and two is more action-driven and the change is very noticeable.
The most annoying thing is that both books refer to events in the future that never happen. Perhaps they were supposed to happen in the next books in the series, but that never happened due to the writing split, or perhaps it was supposed to be a joke, or it was just a hint at what would happen to the characters one day and the audience doesn't have to be there for it, but I find that a very unsatisfying thing to do to your reader.
At the end of this book is a radio skit which was an early idea for Red Dwarf and the original script for the TV pilot which is awfully similar to the actual script for the first episode. Mildly interesting for fans.
Anyway, although I would be interested to read these books in isolation at some point, I think Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is a cracking read, Better Than Life is fairly entertaining, and I have no interest in reading the other books that came later which I recall being much worse in quality. An enjoyable blast from the past.
February 25, 2021
The book version of the popular '80s BBC scifi comedy puts together several stories in a retelling that is familiar and original with a lot of the funniest lines preserved. I first discovered the series during a public television pledge drive while sick at home for a few days, so I had the patience to get slowly drawn into the quirky British programme. A couple years later I found the novels and enjoyed them. Now almost 30 years hence I revisited the crew and enjoyed the ride in this book that combines the first two in the four book series.
March 8, 2025
I've hardly found myself audibly laughing at a book, yet I've had many times where I've sat giggling at the layers of irony this book has, and it's sort of crude humor
To be fair, im pretty easily entertained, but this book is such a funny mix of thought-provoking theories, social commentary, and crude humor that i love
If you like stuff like south park, i reckon you will like this book a lot, and i definitely recommend this unique and silly book
To be fair, im pretty easily entertained, but this book is such a funny mix of thought-provoking theories, social commentary, and crude humor that i love
If you like stuff like south park, i reckon you will like this book a lot, and i definitely recommend this unique and silly book
April 26, 2022
Oh, a pillar of British comedy and no doubt about it. Dwarf is right in there with happy memories of episodes of The Next Generation and Blake's 7 from my childhood.
This omnibus edition gave me plenty of laughs and it's hard to think that I reread the individual volumes over a decade ago and haven't picked them up since. A highly entertaining way of spending a few hours without a doubt
This omnibus edition gave me plenty of laughs and it's hard to think that I reread the individual volumes over a decade ago and haven't picked them up since. A highly entertaining way of spending a few hours without a doubt
April 8, 2018
Read this more times than I’ve ever read any other book, could pick it up any day and read it. Hilarious.
August 18, 2022
This book was so chill, I love it
April 1, 2020
All the feels of the tv series in written word. The boys from the Dwarf make you laugh out loud. If you like The Hitch Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy, this is the next logical step.
January 28, 2013
As a commited Douglas Adams fan I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this book, despite enjoying the tv series (but then I'm not a fan of any adaptation of Hitchiker's Guide...) but I was actually rather surprised by how entertaining this was. It doesn't have the same subtlety as Hitchiker but the jokes are funny and do have you laughing out loud on occasion, although this may have been helped by the great portrayals of each of the characters in the tv series as I tended to picture them when reading this. This book does add a lot more background than you get in the series, which is enlightening and enjoyable and shows how Lister managed to get himself on Red Dwarf in the first place. Although this is a good story I did find it got a little repeatative at times with similiar jokes and events used with just minor changes so by the end I was beginning to get a little disenchanted by it all. But overall NAylor's writing is funny and entertaining and the characters are interesting and have a realistic quality to them that help's bring a sense of the real world to the story, as does much of the features of Red Dwarf with its gritty appearance and vending machines that don't always work properly.
November 25, 2012
I enjoy the Red Dwarf television series and picked this up, mistakenly hoping for something in the style of Douglas Adams. Aside from the nearly identical premise (unremarkable schlub escapes annihilation of humankind and as last person alive has intergalactic sci-fi exploits), the writing style is nothing like Douglas Adams. It does reproduce and expand on specific episodes and the general storyline from from the television series, which gives it a certain kind of pleasure. The Odd Couple, alone and three million years into the future! But as a written text it utterly fails at being humorous. I was quite disappointed, in fact. Hardcore fans are sure to eat it up, but I would have better spent my time simply rewatching the shows or rereading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
September 16, 2008
Let's just start off with saying, I LOVE THIS SHOW! Now, when it comes to book adaptions....well, there is no guaratee that it'll be the same.
In this case, the books improve upon the show by expanding on the characters and situations that the BBC would never ever in a gazillion years be able to do.
Still very funny, but now with some real poignancy to the story.
In this case, the books improve upon the show by expanding on the characters and situations that the BBC would never ever in a gazillion years be able to do.
Still very funny, but now with some real poignancy to the story.
July 20, 2021
8,5 I didn't think anything could rival 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe' as a humoristic SF-classic, but this novelisation of the Red Dwarf TV-series comes darn close! It's even better than the fifth, maybe even the fourth, book of the Hitchhikers-trilogy even thought they can't touch the core three books. The makers of the TV-series turn out to be quite good authors as well. This is not just the events of the series retold, but makes good use of the novelistic approach. As another reviewer said: this is 'Red Dwarf on a budget'. The TV-version had to make use of a BBC-budget, but there's no restraints in the novel. Many setpieces in the book are taking place on a grand scale, and the level of fantasies in the game 'Better Than Life' are a lot more elaborate than the TV-series could ever manage, as is the lovingly described Garbage World. I liked the heightened action and bizarre imagination on display here.
The diverse happenings are also given (pseudo) scientific explanations, like the back story of the polymorph. There are some interesting scientific topics covered here, from black holes to environmentalism. And most importantly, the inner lives and backgrounds of the characters are explored in more detail. We follow Lister and Rimmer before they enlist on the Red Dwarf and find out about their earlier lives. This makes them even more affecting. Yes, even Rimmer. As in the aforementioned trilogy of five books a lot of the humor is in the asides. There are also references to Star Trek, Doctor Who and other pop culture phenomena. I had to chuckle often and read passages out loud to my wife.
Even so, I could not give this collection five stars, because in one respect it was hampered slightly by being an adaptation of a SF-series. I am talking about the episodic nature of the story. The TV-series was not really beholden to an internal logic, and the books try to make sense of the very different stories that followed each other in the series - expanding on some, reducing others to side notes. It's a valiant effort, but still the books don't have a very cohesive structure. Some through-lines are suggested but are never followed through, and before one question is answered another wacky adventure starts. Of course it's still great fun to read, but the overarching story is not really that strong. If you find yourself able to overlook this aspect of the books, they are great examples of comedic SF and recommended to fill the 'Hitchhikers'-shaped hole in your soul.
The diverse happenings are also given (pseudo) scientific explanations, like the back story of the polymorph. There are some interesting scientific topics covered here, from black holes to environmentalism. And most importantly, the inner lives and backgrounds of the characters are explored in more detail. We follow Lister and Rimmer before they enlist on the Red Dwarf and find out about their earlier lives. This makes them even more affecting. Yes, even Rimmer. As in the aforementioned trilogy of five books a lot of the humor is in the asides. There are also references to Star Trek, Doctor Who and other pop culture phenomena. I had to chuckle often and read passages out loud to my wife.
Even so, I could not give this collection five stars, because in one respect it was hampered slightly by being an adaptation of a SF-series. I am talking about the episodic nature of the story. The TV-series was not really beholden to an internal logic, and the books try to make sense of the very different stories that followed each other in the series - expanding on some, reducing others to side notes. It's a valiant effort, but still the books don't have a very cohesive structure. Some through-lines are suggested but are never followed through, and before one question is answered another wacky adventure starts. Of course it's still great fun to read, but the overarching story is not really that strong. If you find yourself able to overlook this aspect of the books, they are great examples of comedic SF and recommended to fill the 'Hitchhikers'-shaped hole in your soul.
June 13, 2017
(Warning, minor spoilers for the beginning of Better Than Life)
I am a big fan of the Red Dwarf television series. When I found out that the creators had written novels for it, I was super excited to read them. I got this omnibus hoping to see the show's goofy, witty jokes that I love so much.
The first chapter, a hologram's thoughts on his past life and present circumstances, is cleverly written, yet extremely depressing. The second is surprisingly graphic. This didn't detract from my liking the book, yet it was my first example of what the book had in store for me.
You know what the book made me realize? Just how sad the story really is.
Not only does it have more tragic retellings of what happened in the show, and more tragic explanations for things, but it really shows just how pitiable the whole idea is.
The last human being, a slob, is miles and years away from home, with everything he knew and loved dead and gone, and all he has for company is a person he really hates and who really hates him, a cat-being who only thinks of himself and doesn't really care about the last human, and later on, a robot who, while kind, screws up a lot. Not only that, the person he hates has a very sad backstory, with parents who never supported him and who taught him the absolute wrong way to look at life, and with brothers he could never outshine. In fact, that person's psyche is so messed up that when confronted with a video game that gives you what your subconscious mind ultimately desires, it ends up making his virtual life hell for him because he honestly believes, deep down, that he deserves punishment. It also messes up the virtual lives of his friends, who are playing the game with him, because it is so destructive.
I knew this story was sad, but damn, it is SAD. The sitcom manages to cover it up with a laugh track and wacky jokes, and most of those are still here, (sadly, my favorite jokes 'I still have that library book' and 'Poppycock! It will be happened; it shall be going to be happening; it will be was an event that could will have been taken place in the future. Simple as that.' are not present) but these novels explore the emotional depth of the stories and characters that you didn't realize were there.
All in all, I liked these books. They made me laugh, think, and feel. They had a Douglas Adams-y feel to them too, so you know they gotta be good. This is definitely worth a read even if you haven't watched the show.
I am a big fan of the Red Dwarf television series. When I found out that the creators had written novels for it, I was super excited to read them. I got this omnibus hoping to see the show's goofy, witty jokes that I love so much.
The first chapter, a hologram's thoughts on his past life and present circumstances, is cleverly written, yet extremely depressing. The second is surprisingly graphic. This didn't detract from my liking the book, yet it was my first example of what the book had in store for me.
You know what the book made me realize? Just how sad the story really is.
Not only does it have more tragic retellings of what happened in the show, and more tragic explanations for things, but it really shows just how pitiable the whole idea is.
The last human being, a slob, is miles and years away from home, with everything he knew and loved dead and gone, and all he has for company is a person he really hates and who really hates him, a cat-being who only thinks of himself and doesn't really care about the last human, and later on, a robot who, while kind, screws up a lot. Not only that, the person he hates has a very sad backstory, with parents who never supported him and who taught him the absolute wrong way to look at life, and with brothers he could never outshine. In fact, that person's psyche is so messed up that when confronted with a video game that gives you what your subconscious mind ultimately desires, it ends up making his virtual life hell for him because he honestly believes, deep down, that he deserves punishment. It also messes up the virtual lives of his friends, who are playing the game with him, because it is so destructive.
I knew this story was sad, but damn, it is SAD. The sitcom manages to cover it up with a laugh track and wacky jokes, and most of those are still here, (sadly, my favorite jokes 'I still have that library book' and 'Poppycock! It will be happened; it shall be going to be happening; it will be was an event that could will have been taken place in the future. Simple as that.' are not present) but these novels explore the emotional depth of the stories and characters that you didn't realize were there.
All in all, I liked these books. They made me laugh, think, and feel. They had a Douglas Adams-y feel to them too, so you know they gotta be good. This is definitely worth a read even if you haven't watched the show.
January 20, 2025
somewhat mixed feelings on this one. on one hand, its written perfectly. i feel like naylor couldn't have done a better job at translating the dwarf into a novel form. it switches seamlessly from different perspectives, building up this really cool structure where different aspects of the plot gradually come together, and rimmer and lister might as well have been syphoned from the screen onto the pages. brilliant stuff
but, I don't know how i feel about the choice to just mash a bunch of episodes from the show into a book. the plot is at its best when its detached from the show, the first half is significantly better than the second because its doing its own thing in a very red dwarf way. i enjoyed seeing glimpses into rimmer and lister's lives before they got stranded on the dwarf, i didn't enjoy just regurgitating everything we've already seen after they did
i get that novel adaptations of films/tv are a thing. i get that its a similar thing to movie adaptations of books, just flipped around. but, not only do i feel like this would have been better off being original stories, i don't feel like it actually translates the plots from the show well. it feels very clunky towards the end, just harpooning an episode one after the other, overlapping them even in ways that just feel odd
fleshing out better than life, however, was something that was very engaging and i loved how naylor approached that. getting tonnes more insight into the psychology of the worst man across multiple dimensions is obviously going to be interesting and chaotic, and i enjoyed that. every other plot point from the show, however, just felt like it shouldn't be there
overall, i don't know. i loved some things, wasn't fond on others. would still recommend it to someone who loves the show, of course, but, oddly, i think people who have never watched the show fully would somehow like it better? but, then again, red dwarf fans are more than used to massive inconsistencies ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
but, I don't know how i feel about the choice to just mash a bunch of episodes from the show into a book. the plot is at its best when its detached from the show, the first half is significantly better than the second because its doing its own thing in a very red dwarf way. i enjoyed seeing glimpses into rimmer and lister's lives before they got stranded on the dwarf, i didn't enjoy just regurgitating everything we've already seen after they did
i get that novel adaptations of films/tv are a thing. i get that its a similar thing to movie adaptations of books, just flipped around. but, not only do i feel like this would have been better off being original stories, i don't feel like it actually translates the plots from the show well. it feels very clunky towards the end, just harpooning an episode one after the other, overlapping them even in ways that just feel odd
fleshing out better than life, however, was something that was very engaging and i loved how naylor approached that. getting tonnes more insight into the psychology of the worst man across multiple dimensions is obviously going to be interesting and chaotic, and i enjoyed that. every other plot point from the show, however, just felt like it shouldn't be there
overall, i don't know. i loved some things, wasn't fond on others. would still recommend it to someone who loves the show, of course, but, oddly, i think people who have never watched the show fully would somehow like it better? but, then again, red dwarf fans are more than used to massive inconsistencies ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
April 11, 2021
First of all, I have to say that I am totally new to Red Dwarf. I'd only seen one episode of the show before reading this.
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers: 4/5 stars
Overall, a solid experience. The only thing I can compare this to is the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Compared to those books, I'd say this was funnier. However, something that annoyed me is that this felt like a bunch of episodes of a show mashed together rather than a novel - I'd appreciate a more overarching story.
Better than Life: 3/5 stars
This one was weaker than the first book. My main issue is that about a third of this book takes place in a game called Better than Life and the characters try to figure out how to escape it. This would have been fine, if this weren't recycled from the last book - the last quarter of the first book already deals with Better than Life and the characters almost escape it. The only reason we continued with Better than Life in this book is because the authors added 7 sentences at the end of the first book which caused our characters to stay in Better than Life. The rest of the book was all-right, even though it sometimes got a bit too absurdist for my taste.
Extra material in this Omnibus edition
It's nice that they've added extra material, but it's definitely not "unmissable" as the cover claims. It contains a scan of a beer mat with some ideas scribbled on it, a short scrip for a radio show the authors wrote, and a first draft of the script for the pilot episode of Red Dwarf.
The radio show scrip was quite funny, but since it's only three pages long, it really is more of a bonus. The Red Dwarf pilot episode script is also nice to have, but the first book already contains the same events, so there really isn't much point in having it.
November 30, 2018
Someone said that if I liked the Hitchhikers Guide, I would also like this.
There are in fact some similarities: The last living human, a very ordinary character, is hurtling through space.
The rest is different. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but definitely another kind of read entirely. The non-human protagonists are the ship's computer, a mechanoid cleaning robot, the holographic computer simulation of a dead man and a humanoid being evolved from cats.
That said, I enjoyed the book very much and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Here is a quote I find typical for Naylor's writing style:
"'My grandmother tried to explain. She said he'd gone away, and he wasn't coming back. So I wanted to know where, and she told me he was very happy, and he'd gone to the same place as my goldfish ' Lister toyed absently with his plaited locks 'I thought they'd flushed him down the bog. I used to stand with my head down the loo, and talk to him. I thought he was just round the U-bend. In the end, they had to take me to a child psychologist, because they found me with my head down the pan, reading him the football scores."
And:
"Watching Lister thinking always reminded Rimmer of a huge, old, rusty tractor trying to plough furrows in a concrete field."
There are in fact some similarities: The last living human, a very ordinary character, is hurtling through space.
The rest is different. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but definitely another kind of read entirely. The non-human protagonists are the ship's computer, a mechanoid cleaning robot, the holographic computer simulation of a dead man and a humanoid being evolved from cats.
That said, I enjoyed the book very much and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Here is a quote I find typical for Naylor's writing style:
"'My grandmother tried to explain. She said he'd gone away, and he wasn't coming back. So I wanted to know where, and she told me he was very happy, and he'd gone to the same place as my goldfish ' Lister toyed absently with his plaited locks 'I thought they'd flushed him down the bog. I used to stand with my head down the loo, and talk to him. I thought he was just round the U-bend. In the end, they had to take me to a child psychologist, because they found me with my head down the pan, reading him the football scores."
And:
"Watching Lister thinking always reminded Rimmer of a huge, old, rusty tractor trying to plough furrows in a concrete field."
January 28, 2022
I've never laughed out loud while reading a book this much...
And they were explosive laughs, like....it's 3am and I have no business staying up reading this late and my housemates are sleeping soundly...and I can't control my hilarity hiccups.
The bouts of giggles would invade other empty spaces at unforeseen moments, such as when I'm washing dishes, or running on the treadmill and nearly stumbling off of it, or in mid-sentence talking with a friend.
Laughter just explodes from my face.
When I apologize and try to explain why; to recite the triggering passage from memory, I only laugh 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓. I then collapse onto the floor in a puddle of my own gleeful tears, eventually giving up trying to describe the text, in favor of heaving air back into myself and continuing to live.
I can see Grant Naylor being best friends with Douglas Adams....at the very least, they would be strolling down the street and almost pass each other but at the last second, they'd perform an elaborate secret handshake involving backhand springs in unison and an exchange of towels and toast, before casually moving on, no words necessary.
This is 2 books in one volume and the entire thing is a RIOT. Just don't get me started XD.
And they were explosive laughs, like....it's 3am and I have no business staying up reading this late and my housemates are sleeping soundly...and I can't control my hilarity hiccups.
The bouts of giggles would invade other empty spaces at unforeseen moments, such as when I'm washing dishes, or running on the treadmill and nearly stumbling off of it, or in mid-sentence talking with a friend.
Laughter just explodes from my face.
When I apologize and try to explain why; to recite the triggering passage from memory, I only laugh 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓. I then collapse onto the floor in a puddle of my own gleeful tears, eventually giving up trying to describe the text, in favor of heaving air back into myself and continuing to live.
I can see Grant Naylor being best friends with Douglas Adams....at the very least, they would be strolling down the street and almost pass each other but at the last second, they'd perform an elaborate secret handshake involving backhand springs in unison and an exchange of towels and toast, before casually moving on, no words necessary.
This is 2 books in one volume and the entire thing is a RIOT. Just don't get me started XD.
November 19, 2017
Dear Rob Grant and Doug Naylor,
I have currently been reading your book Red Dwarf Omnibus: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers & Better Than Life. I feel that the book has many cons like the great characters you created but lacks some detail in certain areas for example when at the start of the book when Dave Lister is on Mimas the reader doesn't get much backstory about how he got there. If you provided this, I feel the reader would get a better understanding of what Dave Lister was like back on earth. The book has many cons; the fabulous comedy that isn’t forced comes naturally, the choice of characters and the imaginative choice of plots.
Other than that, I congratulate you on creating the fantastic story that has made an excellent BBC TV show we all know and love. I personally love the TV show but I like the book even more. Also, congratulations on the recent success of the newest season of Red Dwarf. I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends
Best regards Oliver Bradfield
I have currently been reading your book Red Dwarf Omnibus: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers & Better Than Life. I feel that the book has many cons like the great characters you created but lacks some detail in certain areas for example when at the start of the book when Dave Lister is on Mimas the reader doesn't get much backstory about how he got there. If you provided this, I feel the reader would get a better understanding of what Dave Lister was like back on earth. The book has many cons; the fabulous comedy that isn’t forced comes naturally, the choice of characters and the imaginative choice of plots.
Other than that, I congratulate you on creating the fantastic story that has made an excellent BBC TV show we all know and love. I personally love the TV show but I like the book even more. Also, congratulations on the recent success of the newest season of Red Dwarf. I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends
Best regards Oliver Bradfield
January 23, 2021
I'm a long-time fan of the series. I love it. However, I think it possible I love these two books just a little bit more. Many of the brilliant moments and lines and ideas from the series are present, deftly woven into an overarching plot that, while still feeling a little, perhaps unavoidably, episodic at times, is still thoroughly engrossing and keeps a nice momentum throughout.
Quirks and oversights from the show are adroitly addressed, a number of things are markedly improved - Lister and Kochanski's brief relationship, most notably - and the characterisations are, if anything, even richer. True, not every beat lands, and there is an arguable overuse of the single-line-in-a-paragraph-for-emphasis technique, and a saddening lack of Holly in Better Than Life, but these are minor things.
All in all, a smegging brilliant blend of smart sci-fi and clever, frequently absurd humour with more than a little emotional weight. *full Rimmer salute*
Quirks and oversights from the show are adroitly addressed, a number of things are markedly improved - Lister and Kochanski's brief relationship, most notably - and the characterisations are, if anything, even richer. True, not every beat lands, and there is an arguable overuse of the single-line-in-a-paragraph-for-emphasis technique, and a saddening lack of Holly in Better Than Life, but these are minor things.
All in all, a smegging brilliant blend of smart sci-fi and clever, frequently absurd humour with more than a little emotional weight. *full Rimmer salute*
November 3, 2021
I really enjoyed this omnibus. Doug Naylor and Rob Grant write it perfectly and add lots and lots of new stuff to the lore of the brilliant show.
However, both books use a lot of series 1 and 2 material, but remove the budget constraints of the TV show and make the concepts bigger. One thing I really liked was how they connected each of the episodes used together.
I preferred better than life, but I really enjoyed the beginning of infinity welcomes careful drivers. It's a very funny book, perfect reading after watching the show and having a clear idea of the performances of Chris, Craig, Danny and Robert.
They're not long books and are split into parts, some parts being very long and others being very short.
I think the sci fi is better in these books then the comedy, which I would say is the opposite for the TV series in my opinion.
A must read for any red dwarf fans, if you haven't read it already!
However, both books use a lot of series 1 and 2 material, but remove the budget constraints of the TV show and make the concepts bigger. One thing I really liked was how they connected each of the episodes used together.
I preferred better than life, but I really enjoyed the beginning of infinity welcomes careful drivers. It's a very funny book, perfect reading after watching the show and having a clear idea of the performances of Chris, Craig, Danny and Robert.
They're not long books and are split into parts, some parts being very long and others being very short.
I think the sci fi is better in these books then the comedy, which I would say is the opposite for the TV series in my opinion.
A must read for any red dwarf fans, if you haven't read it already!
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