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I just finished reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson, the third and (very sadly) last book in his Millennium trilogy.
It was an excellent book, better than the second, which was in turn better than the first. I was impressed by how carefully crafted the book was, opening up new viewpoints full of new info as the book went on, but still maintaining a wonderful balance with all the characters we were already following.
Looking back, I was somewhat surprised to see that Hornet's Nest was the only book of the three that wasn't really a mystery. We knew most of the facts beforehand, and the suspense was instead in whether our characters would be able to fend off the forces arrayed against them. There was, fortunately, considerable suspense in that regard, and it (along with the great characters) kept the book pushing forward.
One of the things I loved about the book was how it brought so many people together. When we opened with the first book, Salander was totally a loner, but here we had person after person lining up behind her. It was really ... uplifting.
As I said, the very careful construction of Hornet's Nest was one of the things that appealed to me. That's something it had in common with the writings of Gene Wolfe, who remains my favorite writer. However, if Larsson had had the time to write more books, I think he might have eclipsed Wolfe in my personal pantheon. That's because he went beyond the carefully constructed books. He wrote vivid and likable characters that far surpassed most other authors. And he did all of that with a real social conscience. It was really wonderful to see an author who wasn't afraid to put out such progressive views be so widely read.
I'm very sad now that I'm at the end of his very short completed corpus.
(But I was also happy to see that Hornet's Nest was a good stopping point.)
It was an excellent book, better than the second, which was in turn better than the first. I was impressed by how carefully crafted the book was, opening up new viewpoints full of new info as the book went on, but still maintaining a wonderful balance with all the characters we were already following.
Looking back, I was somewhat surprised to see that Hornet's Nest was the only book of the three that wasn't really a mystery. We knew most of the facts beforehand, and the suspense was instead in whether our characters would be able to fend off the forces arrayed against them. There was, fortunately, considerable suspense in that regard, and it (along with the great characters) kept the book pushing forward.
One of the things I loved about the book was how it brought so many people together. When we opened with the first book, Salander was totally a loner, but here we had person after person lining up behind her. It was really ... uplifting.
As I said, the very careful construction of Hornet's Nest was one of the things that appealed to me. That's something it had in common with the writings of Gene Wolfe, who remains my favorite writer. However, if Larsson had had the time to write more books, I think he might have eclipsed Wolfe in my personal pantheon. That's because he went beyond the carefully constructed books. He wrote vivid and likable characters that far surpassed most other authors. And he did all of that with a real social conscience. It was really wonderful to see an author who wasn't afraid to put out such progressive views be so widely read.
I'm very sad now that I'm at the end of his very short completed corpus.
(But I was also happy to see that Hornet's Nest was a good stopping point.)
