Book Review: Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

I would say my sentiments at the international popularity of this book series would best be described as shock.

Not because they're not good books, because the trilogy is really quite fine (the first two books especially, the third less so - but we'll get to that in a bit), but because it's a series with such ardent feminist and anti-establishment viewpoints.  Moreover, the violence and abuse portrayed in these books is very, very ugly.  Those aren't usually the types of books that sell very well.

And yet, these posthumously published works keep racking up the sales.

I was a little late to the bandwagon, purchasing the first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in early March of this year.  And, to be honest, the first hundred pages were a hard read - too plodding and boring.  (The film adaptation, which I recommend immensely, was far better in this regard - perhaps even better than the book altogether.)  But eventually, I got the hook in the gut and devoured both it and its sequel, and waited with bated breath for the unintentional end of the story.

Thankfully, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest passes on the four chapters of starting plod that the first two had, beginning right where The Girl Who Played With Fire left off - our heroine, Lisbeth Salander, has just been found clinging to life by our erstwhile protagonist, Mikael Blomkvist.  Regrettably, the antagonists also lived through the harried end of the second volume, and the action ramps up from the get-go.

I won't go further into the plot for fear that someone might read this and have it spoiled, but let me say this: despite the fact that it didn't have the slow buildup, this last book just seems to lose steam in the end.  There's too much talking, and not enough action.  Moreover, Hornet's Nest seems the most loosely edited of the three novels - it peters off in the end, and it's impatience that kept me turning pages, rather than genuine suspense.

Some of the subplots are good, like Berger's harassment at the daily paper she's left Millenium for - but then they ended too easily and too quickly.  However, many of the new characters are faceless, personality-less interchangeable bit parts, with none of the depth of the characters we already know.  And one more thing - does Mikael HAVE to bed every woman he meets?  It's getting ridiculous.

Simply put, it feels like a middle novel, not a series ender - and it would have been, had Larsson stayed in the land of the living.  But it was not to be, and regrettably, a great series ended on just a good note.

Final verdict: Explore it (just because you'll want some resolution after the crazy ending of The Girl Who Played with Fire)