This is a very silly book and I'm happy it exists. I will note that my five star review is probably not representative of universal opinion - I had a blast as a big fan of the cult TV show Red Dwarf. The book captures the characters really well and feels like a parallel universe version of the TV show. It steals some ideas, but is interesting enough to be engaging. 

I think it would still be remarkably good silly sci-fi a la Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy even if I'd never heard of Red Dwarf, but I can't say for sure. 

Also for my audio book heads out there, Chris Barrie (Rimmer) reads the audio book version. It is fantastic.