I read the first volume translated into English, and the other two in their French versions. I actually gave up during the third book.
The first starts off very slowly, a lot of set up, 150 pages worth. Pleasant enough just not quite as gripping as I would have liked. Once it gets rolling it turns out to be a fairly classic locked room mystery. Certainly the only character I cared for was Lisbeth Salander. But the book was good enough for me to keep on with the second. It followed a similar pattern, lots of set up. One annoying thing Larsson did was to follow one character up to a cliff-hanger moment then change to a different character for 50 pages. Yes, good suspense I suppose, but when there is only one character you really care about...
I started the third book but ultimately gave up when the style seemed to be veering off towards a political pot-boiler, with far too many secret government organizations and players for my taste. Larsson really mixed things up style-wise; locked room mystery to thriller. That's a positive element.
I would definitely say give them a try, this is just one man's opinion, after all.
best, Keith Logan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 05 Jan 2010 EST