Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Reg Keeland Translator. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to try to discover what happened to her. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist recently sidelined by a libel conviction, to investigate. Blomkvist is aided by the pierced and tattooed computer prodigy Lisbeth Salander.
The Girl Who Played with Fire Mikael Blomkvist, now the crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend Lisbeth Salander.
Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Lisbeth Salander lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. With the help of Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence.
On her own, she will plot revenge—against the man who tried to kill her, and against the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life. Get A Copy. Hardcover , Box Set , pages. More Details Original Title. Stockholm Sweden. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
To ask other readers questions about The Millennium Trilogy , please sign up. Alexandra I would definitely not recommend this for teenagers. Bill It was written in Swedish. See all 7 questions about The Millennium Trilogy…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters.
Sort order. One year when I was in grad school, a fellow student in my program sent a ranty, invective-laden email to the entire department. This was notable, and sticks in my memory, because usually it was the tenured faculty who wrote these tirades.
His rant had been spurred by the announcement of a new scholarship program intended to encourage more women to pursue advanced degrees in technical disciplines. His argument as near as I a could figure out at the time, and b can remember now, since it's One year when I was in grad school, a fellow student in my program sent a ranty, invective-laden email to the entire department.
His argument as near as I a could figure out at the time, and b can remember now, since it's been a few years wasn't simply that he felt gender-based scholarships were a form of affirmative action and that he opposed this. His argument -- sent to the entire department -- was that this sort of program was part of a secret agenda directed against all men everywhere, and that by letting this kind of thing stand, the department was tacitly supporting the complete emasculation and disempowerment of males in general.
And so forth. I had a private exchange with him, because I really couldn't believe that he meant what he'd said. Because I'm naive. I pointed out that his claims were insane, and offensive, and did he realize he sounded like a kook?
The details of our entire exchange are unimportant, but suffice it to say that I didn't come away feeling differently about his kookiness. Especially after he tried to "help" me see that I'd been brainwashed about gender issues. So I disregarded him from then on. A bit of digging led me to find some of his online essays, including one gem wherein he tossed around references to our culture's "headlong flight" into "Nazi-like gendercide" which are verbatim quotes, so yes, he Godwined himself.
He also compared his "spiritual and political war against masculophobia" to the cause of Mahatma Gandhi. So, yeah, this dude had some issues. I don't know anything about the "NCFM" and can't draw opinions about its overall membership, but do I feel confident, based on several exchanges with him, that this particular guy hated women.
This past June, a news brief in the Santa Fe Reporter noted that a member of New Mexico's congressional delegation came under fire from men's rights groups for supporting the Violence Against Women Act.
According to the Reporter, this Act was proposed by Amnesty International and aims to "increase aid for women abroad and to establish State Department offices dedicated to their protection". Another Abusegate affiliate maintains lists of companies guilty of "male bashing". Such as KFC's pink bucket campaign against breast cancer. I assume Yoplait's similar "Save Lids to Save Lives" program has also landed them on the dreaded list.
Which, you know? Kinda true. I mention all this as a loooong and discursive means of pointing out that the original Swedish title of Stieg Larsson's first novel is "Men Who Hate Women. I prefer the original title, because it sets a tone for the entire trilogy. I also prefer the original title because in some places the trilogy struck me as a meditation on gender relationships. On the other hand, I think all three English titles taken together make for a better collective, at the price of perhaps overemphasizing Lisbeth Salander's role in the first book.
She's the centerpiece of the second and third novels, but not the first. That long and discursive introduction is also my way of skating around the fact that it's been a few months since I read these books, so I've already forgotten some of the plot details. Which is why I'm taking the easy way out by writing up my thoughts of the trilogy as a whole, rather than each individual book.
The thing that immediately struck me when I started "Dragon Tattoo" was that the book -- especially the first hundred pages or so -- read very much like a first draft from somebody who didn't have much previous experience writing fiction novels. I can say this because I recognize many of the same infelicities of language and technique from early drafts of my own novels. And maybe the final drafts, too.
In other words, it's clunky. Not fatally so, but a few sharp-eyed beta readers could have done wonders for ironing out these books. The style improves steadily through the trilogy, but not without hiccups.
And that's a shame, because there's a really good story here, and some terrific characters, but they're hobbled by the presentation. Larsson had important and entertaining things to say, but he just didn't say them as clearly as he might have. These books completely ignore the usual rules of thumb pertaining to the "proper" use of point of view, and blatantly disregard the standard wisdom about starting with backstory namely, don't.
The plotting particularly in "Fire" and "Hornet's Nest" relies upon coincidence more than it should. And the vast majority of the protagonists' character development is told rather than shown or demonstrated. I find that last point particularly interesting because the thing most people point to when raving about these books are the characters.
Particularly Lisbeth Salander, the emotionally borderline, supersmart, "punk pixie" computer hacker. And yeah, she's a very interesting character.
Thing of it is, Larsson spends page after page in "Dragon Tattoo" telling us how interesting she is before we ever actually see her, you know, be interesting. It nearly turned me off further reading. Which would have been a shame, because I would have missed out on a good story. I found the mystery fascinating I don't read many mysteries and I thought Larsson introduced the central mystery to absolutely terrific effect in a brief, four-page prologue.
But it takes a while to get back to what's presented in the prologue, because the next hundred or so pages wander all over the place before settling down. All three of the Millenium books are considerably longer than they needed to be. As I said, they read like first drafts. And pretty damn good first drafts, for all that, but damn how I wish they could have been tighter. On the other hand, these books are huge international megabestsellers. So what does that mean? I think it means one doesn't have to write to please other writers in order to become mind-bogglingly successful.
And in fact, when you get right down to it, who cares what other writers think? It's the readers who want to fall inside a good story, who feel connections with the characters, who'll make a writer's career. So who cares if the first half of "Dragon Tattoo" reads like Larsson couldn't settle on his PoV characters? Who cares if "Fire" and "Hornet's Nest" are hobbled by a completely unnecessary subplot that only serves to bloat the books?
And which might never have been part of the story if, in fact, the books had exhibited more control over PoV in the first place.
These are fiction novels and they did what they were supposed to do. They entertained me, and they made me think, and they made me uncomfortable in places. Once I got past my initial snobbery, I found the stories damn interesting and the characters compelling. I like Lisbeth Salander because she's smart, tough as coffin nails, and doesn't mess around. I like Mikael Blomkvist because he's dogged and determined. I like it when they team up to take down people who seriously deserve it.
And, because I'd grown attached to them, I was pulled right along when Salander dances on a frying pan in "Fire" and dives headfirst into the furnace in "Hornet's Nest". And, because I didn't start reading the trilogy until just before the third novel was published here in America, I wasn't put out by the fact that "Fire" is not a self-contained story like "Dragon Tattoo".
Also, people had warned me about this. The second Millennium book ends on a painful cliffhanger, and I'm glad I didn't have to wait for the resolution. These books made my commute considerably shorter. And if they ever do finish that fragment of the fourth Millennium book Larsson started before his death, I'll buy it. Because even if the writing isn't terrific, the story is bound to hook my interest.
View all 21 comments. Jul 13, Anthony Roberts rated it really liked it Recommends it for: people who like hard edged thrillers and crime dramas. I'm giving the Millennium Trilogy four stars with a caveat: I'm positive I would have enjoyed these books even more if I could have read the originals in Swedish, and if I had a firm grasp of Swedish politics and economic policy. That I read all three books is a testament to their overall strength and that of the story. If it wasn't interesting I wouldn't have invested the effort.
And it's not all about politics, wealth and privilege. These books are hard-boiled, crime dramas wrapped in a journa I'm giving the Millennium Trilogy four stars with a caveat: I'm positive I would have enjoyed these books even more if I could have read the originals in Swedish, and if I had a firm grasp of Swedish politics and economic policy. These books are hard-boiled, crime dramas wrapped in a journalistic wrapper. I loved the two main characters, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, the economics journalist who's made it his life's mission to expose the rich and powerful looters of the world, and Lisbeth Salander, possibly the most 'put through the meat grinder' character I've ever read.
Job had it easy compared to the Trials of Lisabeth Salander. She is victimized throughout the books, but she is no man's victim. Each torment is noted, stored away and seared into her tapestry of vengeance. No one is forgiven or forgotten. Mikael Blomkvist is a holy crusader who's more than willing to go to jail for his beliefs. He believes in a society based on equality and justice and lives to expose the hypocrisy and crimes of the privileged class.
He's also very casual about who he sleeps with and makes no excuses for his bad behavior. His feelings for Salander give him a chance at a personal redemption of sorts, not that he can win her love, but he might win her trust. Ultimately his validation must come through her and for her. Blomkvist and Salander are an improbable and an incompatible couple yet somehow they are fated to steer each other's destiny. Who is saving who is an arc that runs over the three books and keeps both characters fresh and at odds with each other.
These books are violent. The treatment of women is ghastly to the point of misogynistic. I'd be tempted to call Larsson on it, but is the world so different from the horrors he portrays? No, it's not. Terrible things happen to women all the time, but here the author makes you look at them and understand that justice is not about what's right or wrong but who holds the power.
By the end of the last book I wished that these characters actually existed. The world is in dire need of more Blomkvist and Salander's. Some things must be put to right. Aug 12, Traci Slatton rated it it was amazing. I finished the last book with a sharp pang: I had read them all. There were no more to read. I felt a sense of loss. Stieg Larrson simply wrote three of the most compulsively readable, engaging books I've read in decades. The characters were fantastic, complex and multi-dimensional and intriguing, flawed but heroic.
I cared about Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. I liked them and I was rooting for them. When I discussed the books with my mother, who reads continually, she said, "When Lisbeth I finished the last book with a sharp pang: I had read them all.
When I discussed the books with my mother, who reads continually, she said, "When Lisbeth got her revenge, I stood up and cheered!
It's that kind of novel. It moves you to your feet. The books are suspenseful: the engine of the plot works robustly. The costumes and makeup alone! I had a long lunch with them yesterday, and they were scouting to shoot a bit in Stockholm and Berlin and Prague as well.
I think that was important for them, because they really want — and I think we really need — a hero like Lisbeth Salander that will go on in a franchise. Yes, it will. It was just pure passion. I felt I had to do it. So I think three is good. Now I have a good story for the third one. Do you have an idea in your mind of how you want the series to end? Yes, I certainly will. I can tell the you what we do know, and what Stieg Larsson invented, is that Lisbeth Salander has an evil twin sister.
So we will see that. I think we live in a time when we need good journalists more than ever, with all the fake news and misinformation, and the president of the United States calling journalists the enemy of the people. I think Lisbeth Salander and Blomkvist are the heroes that we need.
We need hackers, and we certainly need good investigative journalists nowadays. We have to make them heroes again, as they were when I grew up — the Woodward and Bernstein era. I agree! Because journalists are actually revealing the injustice, the corruption, the lies. Their role is similar to a parole officer but they have complete control and can send them back to a mental institution at will. On the other hand, she felt uncomfortable with this new guardian. His predecessor, Advokat Holger Palmgren, had been of an entirely different ilk: courteous and kind.
Previously, Palmgren had allowed Lisbeth to manage her own finances and served as more of a support system, but Bjurman wants complete control over Salander's life. At the time Bjurman had no idea he was dealing with Zalachenko's daughter. Bjurman had dealt with Zalanchenko in the past. Their first few meetings are copacetic, without problems, but when Lisbeth's laptop is destroyed she is forced to go to Bjurman to ask for her money.
He uses the opportunity to teach Salander how their guardianship will go, forcing her to perform oral sex. Salander, not being the sort to go to the police on any matter comes up with her own plan to take care of the situation. She sets up a hidden camera in her bag, hoping to catch Bjurman in the act. She visited his home to receive money for food; only to be tied down and raped by Bjurman. However, she captures the assault on camera.
Salander comes up with another plan, she asks for more money to pay her rent and is able to subdue Bjurman by tasering him. She then strips him naked except for his socks, ties him to the floor and demands he give her access to her money; she uses the recording of him assaulting her to blackmail him and also tortures him.
When Bjurman agrees, Salander releases him, though not before tattooing the words "I am a sadistic pig, a pervert, and a rapist.
Not long after her return to Sweden, Salander is falsely implicated in the murder of three people — Bjurman and two of Blomkvist's colleagues. Zalachenko had his son, Salander's half-brother Ronald Neidermann, kill both of Blomkvist's colleagues investigating Zalachenko's prostitution business, and also Bjurman, intentionally implicating Salander. The Section hides its complicity in the concealment of Zalachenko's crimes by falsely incriminating Salander as well. Blomkvist tries to help Salander, even though she wants nothing to do with him.
By the end of the novel, Blomkvist follows her to Zalachenko's farm, where he finds her seriously injured after a confrontation with both Zalachenko and Neidermann.
Blomkvist calls an ambulance, saving her life by having her air-lifted to a hospital. The novel also expands upon Salander's childhood. She is portrayed as having been an extremely bright but anti-social child, violently lashing out at anyone who threatened or bullied her.
This was in large part the result of an abusive and troubled home life: repeatedly abusing her mother, Zalachenko escaped punishment because the Section perceived his value to the Swedish State as being more important than her mother's civil rights.
Zalanchenko was also responsible for destroying Salander's relationship with her younger sister, Camilla, who, having repressed her own memories of their abuse, perceived her father as gentle and loving.
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