Review: The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book #2 in the Millennium series.
Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Simon Vance.

Characters: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 7.1/10
Writing: 8.9/10
Plot: 6.7/10
Intrigue: 6.5/10
Logic: 7.6/10
Enjoyment: 8.3/10

Points: 52.6/70
True 4 Stars

Okay. In listening to this, I want to get out of the way the fact that Simon Vance is an amazing narrator. Obviously, Lisbeth Salander is a slight young woman and I imagine that she has a lighter and higher toned voice, and Mikael Blomkvist has a deeper voice, and finding a male narrator who can effectively handle a multi-gendered cast can be often difficult... But Vance will always be the narrator for me for this series. Mind you that I have not seen any of the movies and tv movies, and I don't know that I care to, but that's just me.

Everyone always said "Lisbeth, Lisbeth, Lisbeth. MC, MC, MC" and could never tell me any of the other characters' names. After reading the first book, I didn't see how they said that Lisbeth was the MC of the series. After reading Book 2, I'm still pretty certain I do not agree that she is the MC.

I'm more inclined to believe that Mikael is the MC: he's putting the pieces together, he's doing research, working with the police and the magazine, making sure that true justice is done. If anything, Lisbeth is constantly making that harder for him.

Oh, sure, I get it. She doesn't trust him. With her past, she doesn't have a lot of reason TO trust anyone. And this book? Her own father trying to kill her? Okay, Lisbeth Salander had a shite life. She deserved better.

Oh, and the cliffhanger ending? Be prepared to immediately pick up Book 3 to find out how it ends. (If you haven't already spoiled the story with the movies, not that I know how accurate to the source material they are.)

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