The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest: The third unputdownable novel in the Dragon Tattoo series - 100 million copies sold worldwide (Millennium Trilogy, #3)

by Stieg Larsson

Martin Wenner (Narrator)

Salander is plotting her revenge - against the man who tried to kill her, and against the government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life. But it is not going to be a straightforward campaign. After taking a bullet to the head, Salander is under close supervision in Intensive Care, and is set to face trial for three murders and one attempted murder on her eventual release. With the help of journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his researchers at Millennium magazine, Salander must not only prove her innocence, but identify and denounce the corrupt politicians that have allowed the vulnerable to become victims of abuse and violence. Once a victim herself, Salander is now ready to fight back.

• ISBN10: 1906694400
• ISBN13: 9781906694401
• Publish Date: 1 October 2009
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 9 August 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Quercus Publishing
• Imprint: MacLehose Press
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 8 hours
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kim Deister]

If it was any other writer, I would say that the writing style absolutely does not work, that there is just too much of every little thing. But somehow, it absolutely does work. Instead of bogging me down with unnecessary detail, it brings me into the story in a deeper way.

This book marks the end of the original trilogy written by Stieg Larsson, each book very different than the last. The first was an odd but intriguing mash-up of a serial killer thriller and a political thriller, with some Silence of the Lambs vibes. Then book two was focused around the politics of the Swedish police and the media. And this one felt like a legal thriller. There is no doubt that the books are a statement about the existence of some rather heavy-handed misogyny. In fact, together, the three books could be seen as a bit of a manifesto on that misognyny and the resulting injustices faced by women in Swedish societies.

This installment really allowed for a broader insight into Lisbeth’s past. She is an interesting character that is somehow both the villain and the hero, often at the same time. This book really helps to explain why she is the way she is, diving deeper into the things that have happened to her.

This is not an read for the faint of heart. It’s dark, often horrifying, but it’s also deeply intense and engrossing.

[goodnghtmoonx]

I'm not too sure how I feel about this one. The story kicks off right after the ending of the second novel, but it seems to go painfully slow. Larsson's writing remains the same, for the most part, but it almost feels rushed at parts. There are plots within that don't quite get finished or not mentioned again. Her sister is still a mystery, unless I missed something. There's what I would call an unnecessary love story in the midst of it all. There were certain things that happened that I wished didn't because I would have felt it would have been more interesting. The story itself goes from dull, to highly interesting, to in between and so on. The ending didn't really feel finished to me. Over all, I did enjoy it enough to be able to finish it. So... I guess that says something? (Better review may come once I'm at a real computer.)

[bryannaleigh]

I'm not too sure how I feel about this one. The story kicks off right after the ending of the second novel, but it seems to go painfully slow. Larsson's writing remains the same, for the most part, but it almost feels rushed at parts. There are plots within that don't quite get finished or not mentioned again. Her sister is still a mystery, unless I missed something. There's what I would call an unnecessary love story in the midst of it all. There were certain things that happened that I wished didn't because I would have felt it would have been more interesting. The story itself goes from dull, to highly interesting, to in between and so on. The ending didn't really feel finished to me. Over all, I did enjoy it enough to be able to finish it. So... I guess that says something? (Better review may come once I'm at a real computer.)

[zozoreader]

Author did a wonderful job of wrapping up this trilogy.

I really enjoyed all 3 books. Even though I struggled through the beginning of them. It does take a while to get going because the author adds so many details and the names of the characters are difficult to pronounce and keep track of. This book really begins where the second one ends. It pulled it all together and I really enjoyed how it ended. I am going to miss these characters, especially Lisbeth.

[JumpingShelves]

Excellent end to the triology. This was a great series, start to finish. I look forward to the future when I read this series again.

[Amanda]

3.5

[clementine]

There was so much going on here. The scenario set up at the beginning of the book (which continued directly from the second one) seems so far from the final events at the end. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there's so much going on that it becomes very hard to wrap your head around.

Part of the issue for me is the sheer volume of characters and POVs. I can see that this is tricky, because much of the story would make no sense without the constant shifts in perspective, but all of the characters got a bit tricky to track, and the majority of them came out far from fully realized. Lisbeth is by far the strongest character to me. Mikael and Erika, being the other main protagonists, are also pretty well developed, but almost everyone else just falls flat. I suppose impressive characterization isn't the point of this series, but it took me away from the story a bit. (And, honestly, while I like Erika, I felt like her subplot was generally unnecessary and just added about 474839 pages that I could have done without! Not that it was uninteresting, it was just so unrelated to the rest of the already long and convoluted book.)

Another issue, as usual, is the excessive description and exposition through dialogue. Not gonna lie, I skipped through probably 20 or so pages because it bored me to tears. I wish this had been edited better, because we really don't need to know every tiny thing every minor character does, nor do we need long stretches of dry dialogue in place of showing us something.

I feel like I'm really hitting on the negative points here, but I didn't hate the book. I thought it was a good end to the series (although there's certainly evidence of Larsson's eventual plans to expand it) and to wrap up the numerous loose ends from the second book. It was well-plotted and considering how complex it was not very hard to follow (besides the plethora of characters, of course).

Overall, I really liked The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and feel like it would have worked best as a well-constructed standalone crime novel. It seems to me like Larsson got attached to the characters and kept writing about them, but I don't know if I think that these two books should have been published without extensive revision. I can understand the demand for them, but personally I don't feel that they complement the first very well, and although they were by no means worthless, I could have lived without reading them.

[violetpeanut]

Picks up exactly where [b:The Girl Who Played With Fire|5060378|The Girl Who Played With Fire|Stieg Larsson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327863896s/5060378.jpg|6976108]leaves off. This was another page turner and all the loose ends are tied up

[Melanie]

This book was good. I am not a huge fan of the ending, but understanding that the story was supposed to continue, it is not a bad ending. I would have loved to see what was going to happen between Mikeal and Lizabeth. My favorite book of the series is the second book. I think it just has the best story.