The Girl Who Played With Fire

I really enjoyed Larsson's first book in the series and was happy to find out that my library had finally gotten Book #2. This time around, however, the “mystery” [such as it was:] didn't grab me and I found Lisbeth even more unlikable than before. I was more exhausted than titillated by the overwhelming dossiers on every character's sex life. I pushed on past the section that read like an IKEA catalog, but not much farther. Eventually I just couldn't summon any interest and my stack of books to read is too high to waste time slogging through one that I don't like.

This book is wrought with twists and turns almost everywhere. The ending is a major cliff-hanger, so I recommend a lot of patience or the third book nearby when you finish. It's quite interesting to see how Larsson weaves a tale of corruption with women's rights (and abuses) and how this plays out in what most people consider to be one of the most liberal, well-functioning societies in the world. I find Blomkvist and Salander to be incredibly likable characters, and despite the serious subject matter, I find them all to be interesting and at times even oddly humorous.

Lisbeth Salander is a mystery, this book is much more focused on her but the suspense doesn't decline at any time. I liked that the journalist didn't stop investigating despite the circumstances and the entire novel is very well written. Some parts were very sexual and that's what I didn't like at all, however, I applaud the rest of the story.

I wasn't as into this as I was #1, but that doesn't mean I wasn't into it. There's a lot about social injustices and happenings in Sweden, so I certainly learned a lot. Like #1, this one is fast paced, complicated, and layered. Also, I learned that Sweden is one of the countries that imports the most prostitutes per capita from Russia/Baltics. Wtf??! Guess my utopianistic view of those Nordic countries had a wake up call.

I liked this one a lot better than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The perspective is less detached and you really get involved in the characters in a good way, especially Salander. Like the last, things are extremely slow to get off the ground, nearly three hundred pages before you get to the point in the book summary, but once you're there things really take off.

That said, this book is ridiculous. Ridiculous. The bad guys are almost cartoonish, our heroine is not only a genius but suddenly has super powers, the police are complete idiots, and the misogyny and ableism is at such mouth-frothing exaggerated (dear god, I hope its exaggerated) levels that its hard to not throw the book across the room. Sometimes it feels like really really long fan fiction.

And unfortunately, my interest started wane towards the end, as suspenseful as Larsson tried to make it. A lot of the major points, like who is responsible for the murders the story surrounds, are kind of thrown out unceremoniously, pretty much exemplifying the point the focus of these books is not the solving of murders but to watch Lisbeth Salander be awesome. Which isn't so bad, but jesus after 700 pages I would've liked a little bit more of a pay off.

Excellent! It was better than the first book, however the conclusion was not nearly as satisfying and is more of a segway into book three.

My only criticism is that the world started to feel small after we discover who some of the players in the game are. I want to keep my review spoiler free, so I'll just say that I found the “big reveals” to be a bit underwhelming in the grand scheme of things.

All in all, it's been a great series so far and I'm glad I've stuck with it. On to book three!

Really had me on the edge of my seat but not as good as [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2429135 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1) Stieg Larsson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327868566l/2429135.SX50.jpg 1708725]. I know it's a thriller about “men who hate women” and some broad strokes are acceptable. I didn't take this terribly seriously, but there were some distracting elements that took me out of the story.For example, apparently in this world only women are victims of the sex trade/ trafficking. I'm pretty sure in reality there are male prostitutes who are victimized. But a character in [b:The Girl Who Played with Fire 5060378 The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2) Stieg Larsson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1351778881l/5060378.SX50.jpg 6976108] actually makes this statement about crimes against sex workers: “It's not often that a researcher can establish roles along gender lines so clearly. Girls–victims; boys perpetrators.”” There is a lack of subtlety in the supporting characters. When Lisbeth gets into trouble, every character who believes she is guilty is a homophobic misogynist per their behavior and dialogue. Since Lisbeth feels so real to me, it's a shame other characters can't have more complexity.

The girl writing this review looked up over to her bookshelf, and sighed at the size of Hornet's nest.
I wanted to love this book. I started this book hoping I would end up giving this a 4 or 5. Most reviews promised it to be better than the Dragon Tattoo, but sadly I don't feel so.
This continues about 1 year after the events of the first book. And this time it is Blomkvist's turn to help Salander out of a pickle. Since it's Salander, you can imagine how that would go.
I tried to write what I felt about what I was reading, while reading, since the book was too long and I had so little time to read and could not make it to more than 20-30 pages a day. It's a good thing I did that, because this book feels different at different parts. There are parts where I felt like reading without missing one word; pages I read multiple times and lingered on every word. There are parts when I felt like throwing the book, right out the window.
Blomkvist is a dry character. Considering how major a character he is in the book, he is surprisingly one-dimensional. I don't suppose the author put much effort into him - or purposefully made him dry, so that his masterpiece would stand out.

But she wished she had the guts to go up to him and say hello or possible break his legs, she wasn't sure which

She had stared at him for a whole minute and decided that she did not have a grain of feeling left, because it would have been the same as bleeding to death. Fuck you

She loved having company that left her alone

I skipped lots near the beginning, and found myself editing sentences (never a good sign), but I was well hooked about a 1/3 in, and I enjoyed the ride to the non-end, albeit with some eye rolling along the way. If Kindle had allowed me to download the 3rd book while in Mexico (it didn't for some odd reason), I'd have moved on to it quite happily.

Book 2 in the “Millennium” series. This one again mixes personal history with international intrigue, but this time the goal is to learn more about Lisbeth Salander, who was something of an enigma in the first book.

Larsson does this by having her accused of murder, after which she goes into hiding. Mikael Blomvkist is determined that she's not guilty, so he starts his own investigation separate from the police one, which requires delving into Lisbeth's personal history and unlocking some huge secrets. It's an interesting way of telling the story, and one that allows everyone to stay in character while allowing Larsson to continue to present Blomkvist as the hero of the story, even though he seems to recognize that Lisbeth is the most interesting character.

Larsson's mysteries work well because there's some elements in them that are obvious, so you feel smart for guessing them before the characters do, but other elements that you (or at least I) don't seem coming so you stay surprised and hooked throughout the story.

One minor thing that bugged me while reading this was Larsson's tendency to use brand names and product details to create verisimilitude. It's enough for me to know that Salander used her laptop to hack into someone's computer; I don't need to know that it's an iBook with a 15.6” screen, or the exact amounts of RAM and hard drive space that it has.

I enjoyed this book very much. Once again, I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Saul Reichlin. He does a brilliant job with the Swedish names and voices for characters. His high-pitched voice for the blond giant was great!

And so to the book. I don't know why I left a gap of years between the first and second books of the trilogy. But enough of the first tale was related to in the second that it wasn't long before I had the plot of the first back in my head again. I suppose that's a job that the author has to see for those such as I with poor memories. I don't intend to leave a gap between two and three though, mainly because two doesn't really end as such. It wraps up the whodunnit nicely but leaves it wide open for the third book. It reminded me of Empire Strikes Back, of which, incidentally, it also reminded fellow goodreader, Steve Betz!

The timeline and pace of the book are just right. We get Salander's visiting Svensson and Johannson's flat* and then she's not in the book for ages after that while the tale of her suspected guilt is built up. Brilliant!

It reads like a book written by a master of his craft. It reminded me a little of the early Jason Bourne books in the suspense and twists and turns. It made me want to walk the dogs more than usual and delete a few podcasts from my queue, so it certainly deserves four stars for that reason.

In terms of literary weight, I'd mark it down to three, so I guess overall it should get 7/10. Four seems a little too high and three a little too low.

*Forgive my spelling if it's not quite right; I had the audiobook!

The book was fine but it made me realize this is not the series for me.
In both the first and second book we have been reading stories in which women are attacked, harassed, raped, discriminated, and belittled in every way possible. I understand that the author is trying to make a point, but I still don't want to keep reading about this.

Better than I had expected. Rather hamfisted, and the main character is totally a Mary Sue... but I found myself enjoying the story and the characters. Larsson had a strong sense of justice and moral outrage, and dammit it's just fun to watch some übercompetent good guys fight and win (spoiler alert: yeah, like there's ever any doubt) against bullies.