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Jan 09, 2012

Sandybanks rated it:

ILLUSTRATED!

What I learned from this book (in no particular order):

1. Swedish billionaires furnish their multi-million dollar apartments with IKEA --- well, at least ONE peculiar Swedish billionaire.

Poang Chair $40

2. Asperger's Syndrome may give you the idea that a T-shirt that says ‘I’M AN ALIEN’ is acceptable office wear, but also photographic memory and phenomenal mathematical ability.

3. "Sweden is one of the countries that imports t More...

62 comments like (462 people liked it)

Jun 21, 2011

notgettingenough rated it:

Much later. After such insistence on preserving my idea of my father, my memory of our last meeting, this happened a couple of Fridays ago. I opened up some photos taken by my brother and there my father is, dead in his coffin. I must confess to being quite distressed. And I still don't understand why on earth is this something to preserve? I don't get it one little bit.

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Hooked. Totally, completely, utterly hooked. I read this book yesterday during lunch even t More...

52 comments like (48 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Bernadette rated it:

The Girl Who Played With Fire starts about a year after the events in the first book in the series. Lisbeth Salandar has cut off all contact from Mikael Blomkvist for reasons he cannot fathom. While she travels the world Mikael faithfully but fruitlessly visits her apartment regularly and, at the same time, becomes something of a celebrity as everyone wants to interview him about the explosive events known as the Wennerstrom affair. As Mikael becomes somewhat jaded by the attention he's asked to More...

6 comments like (42 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2011

Meghan rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (17 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Laura rated it:

Larsson keeps up the terrific thriller and suspense work he started in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,' even though that had to be one tough act to follow! I ordered the British edition of this second novel of Larsson's Milennium trilogy from Amazon.uk. No way could I wait until September 2009 and the American release of the book for my second Lisbeth Salander, Mikael Blomkvist fix!
Here Lisbeth Salander is in another boatload of trouble (of course), though she's richer and dresses a lit More...

0 comments like (24 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2011

Manny rated it:

Unfortunately not as good as Män som Hatar Kvinnor. He has gone too far, and Lisbeth Salander is no longer a fully credible person; also, the puzzle isn't as satisfying as in the first one.

Start geek-rant: as a former mathematician, I was annoyed by his sloppiness concerning Fermat's Last Theorem. To start off with, he misquotes it several times. And the whole idea that Lisbeth is able to solve it on her own in just a few months, with no formal mathematical training, is cheap. If thi More...

17 comments like (17 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Fiona rated it:

This is the sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and it was immediately as good as the first but this time I knew this from the very first page.

The first one I felt was slightly more clumsy at the beginning and took a while to truly love it. I speak only for myself of course. This one it starts off with a bang and you know immediately from the first page it is going to be just as good if not better.

Blomkvist takes a back seat here and Salander takes the lead. She aft More...

6 comments like (31 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2011

Maria rated it:

I haven't read a book this quickly since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The sequel to The Girl with the dragon tattoo is just as good as the first one. Well written, well researched and impossible to put down. The only thing I missed was a bit of a conclusion at the end, but rumour has it that will come in the last book in the trilogy, which makes sense as this one tied up some lose threads from the first book as well. I can't wait to get my hands on the last one. More...

16 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2010

Allison (The Allure of Books) rated it:

I have this really funny picture in my head of Stieg Larsson having had a list mounted on the wall of his office, and I can just see him going down and checking off one by one as he just verbally decimates every single political idea/government corruption/way of life he despises. I know that is a very silly idea, but it doesn’t change the fact that every cause he is passionate about shows through brilliantly in his writing. He has a way of making you feel exactly as he does, it is brilliant.
More...

2 comments like (19 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Kemper rated it:

You do NOT want to get on Lisbeth Salander’s bad side…

The anti-social genius computer hacker is back in this terrific thriller that improves on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Following the events of the first book, Lisbeth has left Sweden and been traveling abroad for over a year. She’s angry with Mikeal Blomkvist and has broken off all contact with him, but he has no idea why since Salander is far too socially awkward to ever explain herself or try to mend a damaged More...

4 comments like (18 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Georg rated it:

The praise I gave The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo can easily be extented to the # 2 of the Millenium series. The story is in my view even better and surprising until the last page. Larsson is The Master of Suspense and it is really a challenge to put this book down only for some hours.

But the deficiencies I mentioned (accordingly to many other reviewers) are still there. Maybe after more than 1,000 pages I got even more aware of them, so I will wait for some weeks before I attack the More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Michael rated it:

As was the case with "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," this one takes about 200 or so pages to really get rolling, but once it does, it's a pretty entertaining ride all the way to the end. The big difference is that with the characters of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist firmly established from the first book, we have a quicker entry into the world of "Fire."

It's been a year since the events of "Dragon Tattoo" and in that time, the friendship betw More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Jane rated it:

I struggled through this 514-page book.

To begin with, all the homo, bi, double-partner, and heterosexual talk was a bit much. Way beyond my comfort level.

To be fair, once I got about half-way through the book - after all the characters' sexual preferences were clearly established - it did become a page-turner as I raced to find out the ending.

If you like books with lots of character sketches, this might work for you. I was tempted to get out a notepad and sk More...

0 comments like (20 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2011

Amanda rated it:

If loving the Millennium books is wrong, baby, I don't want to be right.

In scanning through the other reviews, I have to concur with many of the problems mentioned: superfluous detail (specific IKEA furniture is mentioned several times--as if I know what any of it looks like just because I have the model number provided, sandwiches are made, coffee is brewed, Billy's Pan Pizzas are consumed); there's a real dearth of poetic or stylized language; there's a cast of hundreds (maybe not More...

6 comments like (18 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Tatiana rated it:

To follow the style of the original title of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," I think this book should have been named "A Woman Who Hates Men Who Hate Women." Too convoluted? Yes, but oh so true to the story!

On the surface, "The Girl Who Played with Fire" is about sex trafficking and prostitution in Sweden and high-ranking men who abuse underage girls. But, just like the first novel, it's not quite that simple - the story gradually morphs into a tale o More...

5 comments like (14 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2010

Brad rated it:

I am confident that Stieg Larsson has a reason for this, but Lisbeth Salander is not much of a heroine. Let's list her transgressions from The Girl Who Played With Fire (and these will be deliberately out of context):

1. She forces herself on a 16 year old boy in Granada.
2. She kills a man on the beach during a hurricane.
3. She shuts out Blomkvist for a very long time for a perceived slight, giving him no explanation.
4. She fails to take or show the necessary care wi More...

12 comments like (36 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Peter rated it:

It cost me a good night's sleep. I started reading it in the evening and just couldn't stop. It's not often I read a book continuously.

1 comment like (16 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

Tanu rated it:

When I had started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I promised to myself that I would never pick up the sequel. The beginning was so slow, with unnecessary details, complicated names and this really irritating character named Lizbeth Salander. I honestly didn’t get the hype and really regretted my decision. Still I read on and somewhere towards the middle of the novel, I was so engrossed that I sacrificed my dinner and sleep. The plot was great, no doubt , the writing was all right, and More...

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Shannon rated it:

My friend Maria from Denmark got me onto these books and I'm so so glad she did. I read the first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, last year, and as soon as book two came out in paperback a couple of months ago I grabbed a copy (I did pay for it). Then she told me it has a real cliffhanger ending, and that she'd send me book 3 (which wasn't even out here at the time). I waited till it arrived and then last weekend I took this one up to the cottage. It's perfect sunny day, waterside reading More...

28 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Lisa rated it:

The first book was for the most part plot-driven. The 40-year old mystery took a while to unfold, but was interesting when it did. So was Lisbeth, although she wasn't the main focus. Enter, The Girl Who Played With Fire. The story has now turned character-driven with Lisbeth as the protagonist. But instead of having much of a plot of any character revelations about her early on, we read about her buying a new apartment, grocery shopping, and what furniture she picked out at IKEA in *great* detai More...

10 comments like (44 people liked it)

Sep 01, 2011

Nancy rated it:

This book is the second of three in Larsson's series featuring Lisbeth Salander, the young woman who has her own sense of morality and acts on it accordingly. As this book opens, we find young Lisbeth in the Caribbean after the events of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Meanwhile, the erstwhile reporter Kalle Blomkvist and the team at Millennium are sitting on top of a goldmine of a story. With the help of a woman who is finishing her PhD thesis and that of her husband, who is writing a book More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Vicky rated it:

I had a great time reading the 2nd book of the Millennium Trilogy. This book takes you in and does not let you go till the last page. I don’t know if I liked the “Girl with the dragon tattoo” more than the second one, but they are both fantastic. You can read these books as an antidepressant, because, all the problems will disappear, while you are reading it.. I can not even say that it is a good translation, or the language is very good, but the main character compensates for all the bad edit More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Genya rated it:

More fully realized than Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I enjoyed having Lisbeth as the main character, she seems a more interesting character. It was a better read than the first one, however, the ending felt labored and artificial - the tone of the climax was different somehow than the rest of the book. I'm looking forward to the next one though.

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Aug 07, 2009

Roxanne rated it:

This is my kind of thriller. Woman protagonist who can do it all, tatooed, armed and dangerous. Also, did I say brilliant computer hacker? She is my hero. Rebels against the good old boys and wins. We need more characters like her.

Stieg Larsson's second of three in a series. His first, "The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo" was every bit as riveting. Read this first if you can. His third and final novel has yet to be published. Sadly, he died in 2004 just after submitting his th More...

4 comments like (11 people liked it)

May 29, 2011

Dennis rated it:

I think I understand what all the hype is about. Or do I? I can't be so sure.

Lisbeth Salander's story is interesting in the sense that it's unusual and at times gripping. She's a brilliant, fearless, introverted heroine with an unconventional life story and an axe to grind with contemporary Swedish society. Framed for the murder of two authors set to publish an expose on the illicit sex trade in Sweden, the tiny, dark, pierced and tattooed Lisbeth by day, blonde Norwegian alter e More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 10, 2011

Kim rated it:

I just finished Stieg Larsson's book The Girl Who Played With Fire and loved it! I liked it so much that I immediately posted this review.

This book is the second in a series. The first book in the series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, introduces Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Lisbeth is a strange character and in the book we learn that she most likely has Asberger's syndrome (a form of autism). This makes her an especially interesting heroine! Mikael Blomkvist is a j More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 20, 2009

Boof rated it:

The second in the Millenium trology and every bit as good as the first. This is on-the-edge-of-your-seet fiction; pege-turning at its best. I cursed having to go to bed, hell even having to prize myself off the sofa to make a coffee, such was my desire to keep reading.

In this book, Salander is hiding from the authorities after becoming the prime suspect in a tripple murder investigation. Blomkvist doesn't think she did it and goes about setting up his own investigation to prove her More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2012

Gary rated it:

I decided to read this after seeing the wonderful film made of the first in the series. The first half is a dull, plodding record of Lisbeth's homecoming. An entire chapter describes a day of shopping at IKEA. I thought maybe it was some kind of product placement deal and I was thinking about quitting. I'm glad I stayed with it. Once the murder investigation got under way, I was hooked. Despite some initial difficulty keeping all the characters' names straight, I started to see what all the fuss More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2011

Thomas rated it:

The middle book of the Millennium series, The Girl Who Played with Fire breaks away from the mystery genre of its predecessor and turns into a thriller of dramatic proportions - all while setting the stage for what is sure to be a climatic ending of the series, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Salandar is the most salient aspect of these books, and there is no doubt that she deserves the spotlight. Sometimes when she was not the main focus I was waiting impatiently for her persp More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2010

Rise rated it:

Funny how a 700-page book can be a fast read but this was one. I don't understand some things about the popularity of this series. The procedural aspect is oddly amateurish. All the reliance on specific models and brands gets clunky over time. Sometimes Larsson seems clumsy in how he sets up the people in the scenes: here's someone conservative reacting badly to or again underestimating this radically attired, tattooed young woman who metes out her own justice as she sees fit, a one-woman vigila More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)