The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz
The Girl in the Spider's Web
by David Lagercrantz
(Audio)
Not sure what to say about this book. It was not as far away from the original Millennium trilogy as the other reviews I've read state. Maybe it's because I really liked the original books but haven't read them over and over again like some people that I didn't notice any significant shift in writing or style. To me, it was a great treat to see the continuing adventures of Bloomkvist and Salander again. And I really liked the computer and mathematical elements thrown into the plot here as well as the autistic savant child (wish I could have seen his drawings, though they were described so well). And, sure, this book didn't have quite the same magic as the original, but I did enjoy it. I thought it was an okay continuation, keeping in mind that it wasn't the original author. As far as that goes, it could DEFINITELY have been worse. I was drawn into the mystery and the action. Like the other books, it took a while for both to get started (again, a nice similarity in writing). Like the others, we find more out about Lisbeth's background/past (was awesome meeting her sister). And like the others, there were developments between Mikael & Lisbeth's personal relationship. I LOVED how Mikael would do anything for her, how his voice and tone softened when he was talking to her, and how he had such respect for her (knowing she could take care of herself and wanting her to be all right/worrying about her without being overbearing and scaring her off). I don't think she was a glorified babysitter; I saw her as brave and committed and fascinated.
What drove me a little crazy was the audiobook narrator. It was Simon Vance, who narrated the first three books. His accent was marvelous. But suddenly, the character Erika Berger was being referred to as "Ricky Barrier." Sometimes Erika was used instead of Ricky (Ricki?) but Berger was always pronounced Barrier. And maybe that's a correction based on a language and culture I know little about. But it took me a minute or two to realize that was the same character. And I kept translating it to "Berger" in my head the whole time, because that's how it was for three whole books, which was a little distracting.
Seriously, though, that's my only complaint. It wasn't quite as amazing as the first three books, and certainly not the first in particular. But I didn't think it was a bad continuation of the series. I enjoyed the story and the characters and hope for more in the future.