Saturday, April 28, 2012

REVIEW: The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium Trilogy, Book 2) by Stieg Larsson

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

In this second book of the Millennium series, after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Millennium magazine is getting ready to publish a very revealing exposé on the sex trade and trafficking in Sweden. But just as the article and book are preparing to come to press, Dag Svensson, author of the book and article and friend to Mikael Blomkvist, is murdered in his home along with his wife Mia. Mikael is fairly certain that the murders have something to do with the material in Dag's book, but due to an unusual set of circumstances, Lisbeth Salander is being sought in connection with the crime instead. But now Lisbeth has gone into hiding, and while Mikael desperately searches for pieces of a really bizarre puzzle in an to attempt to prove her innocence, some of what's uncovered reaches deep into the highest levels of international security. It seems someone will do whatever it takes to keep a secret!

When I finished this book my first thought was, "Whoa, what a ride!" I'm not sure why several people told me they couldn't get past the first few chapters. I agree that like the first book in the trilogy, things may have started off a little slow, but before I was even halfway through, I was having a hard time putting this one down. Though this book could actually stand alone, it certainly adds a lot to have read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo first. For that reason, some initial character development and past story line summaries were scattered throughout the beginning of the book. Perhaps that turned some people off, I don't know.

One thing I have to mention again though, and I believe I said this in my review for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo too, I don't particularly care for the convention of calling characters by their last name. Especially with these non-American names which (to me) so many of them look or sound alike. What's nice about reading on the Kindle though is it makes it super easy to just highlight and search on the name to get a refresher, otherwise I'd probably find this a lot more burdensome than just a minor distraction. Overall, a great read and two thumbs up! I've already started on the final book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

3 comments:

Marlene said...

Hi sweety. I have only read book of this series. I am here because I got a notice you are following me on the kindle. lol. I never make public notes. (Yet!) but thank you babe.

Unknown said...

Great work you have here Cherie :)

Unknown said...

Hi! Loved "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" so it only felt natural to proceed with book 2. You are right, the beginning was kinda slow, but I chose to persevere and I was much rewarded. The action really started after the double murders. Though I am very unfamiliar with Swedish names and places, like you, I am using a Kindle, so it was very easy to simply use the "search" feature. I was in a hurry to finish the book, suspenseful and exciting! I didn't even realize that I was already starting book 3. Then I watched the very disappointing movie versions. Oh well, at least I saw the characters in the flesh. After which, I decided to go back to book 2, this time, doing a slower read and munching on the details. I'd probably re-read book 3 too!