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No, I'm not kidding. Publishers aren't stupid, they're going to put their best foot forward on the front & back covers.

For example, for scifi, the following lines on the back cover are cause for putting it back on the shelf:

1. journey to the end of the universe

2. journey to the end of time

3. the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance

Those novels always turn out to be bad :-/



Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy does all of those and is worth a read. Mostly you want to read each story template roughly once, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is pretty unique and touches on a lot of story templates so is efficient.


The back cover of that book begins:

> Seconds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

The second paragraph back there does start "Together, this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by...", but IMO the Hitchhiker's Guide doesn't really fit the proposed pattern very well: There's a lot more to it than just the bland stock phrases.


HHG is satire, which is judged differently.


But I do think that simple stories are also worth a read if you haven't read those kinds yet. There is a reason for kids to read simple stories, if you didn't read them before it might be worth to read them even as an adult to fill a hole. So basically if it looks like you have already read the story then there is no need to read it again.

Btw, I didn't downvote you, I never up/downvote people. I do like responding to downvoted people though.




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