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chxska's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It is really hard for me to read books this long, and I’m not sure if I only read it this fast because I was motivated by the new year. It was exciting though, and the switching between perspectives kept things interesting.
It was also soooo intense and messed up. An extremely dark book, but it did make me realize that I enjoyed thriller.
That said, the reward of the ending wasn’t satisfying enough to make up for the fact that it’s so long (for me). I’m also not super interested with reading the rest of the series; the book wrapped everything up really well so I’m not sure how the world building(?) would work after the first book. It was still enjoyable though!
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment
momopup420's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Antisemitism
zmdh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
dizzypanda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
clemthecat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
I understand the text is translated from Swedish, but I find the writing very bland... It isn't great writing in my opinion. A lot of info dumps on unnecessary/uninteresting backstory. The characters feel two dimensional, and in dialogue they all sound the same. Blomkvist was a boring man that slept with lots of women and went for runs and made lots of coffee. Cool. Salander was supposed to be "not like the other girls" but I just found her to be this stereotypical "goth girl" "hacker" persona and it was a bit cringey. I felt the author could have fleshed out the characters further. I just couldn't sympathise or relate to anyone.
The plot wasn't that enticing to me. Perhaps it's just not my thing, but I wasn't quite drawn into the mystery, and I was not shocked by any of the revelations. I feel there was far too much narration and not enough actual ACTION. I think that could have made the story much richer.
Not a very satisfying read for me. It's easy reading, finished in only a few days, but just wasn't my cup of tea. I don't think I'll read the sequel, just because I wasn't impressed with this one.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Dementia, and Murder
ashleymullin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, Murder, and Sexual harassment
solaceinliterature's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Dysphoria
maiahhtratchh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Incest
Minor: Pedophilia
beabookish's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Eating disorder, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
_gabrielle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
- The violence men act against women doesn’t come from nowhere. It isn’t the result of insane psychopaths who are nazis and rape their children and have sex dungeons that they kidnap and kill women in. It’s the result of a culture that tells ALL men women are the “safety valves for everything that goes wrong in their lives”. Women’s bodies and experiences are sexualized to the point of normalization. To the point that it looks like nature and not culture are the root of our sexuality.
- Constantly talking about breasts
- Salander is written as bisexual only to fetishize her. She “much prefers men” …it’s only to make her cool and interesting and hot to the reader
- Every male character is attracted/fantasizes about salander even the “good ones” all of whom are old enough to be her father
- There is no female character with dialogue (beside briefly Isabella) who is not described sexually and wants to sleep/does sleep with Blomvquist
- Salander throwing herself at Blom and him accepting…. The book is about the sexual violence men enact against women. Even the “good guy” looks at this CHILD who is clearly fucked up and thinks yeah i should fuck her. I’m not taking advantage of this broken girl in any way. He even mentions he’s old enough to be her father and salander tells him he’s one of the good ones. THE GOOD ONES DONT FUCK BROKEN 24 YEAR OLDS MORE THAN HALF THEIR AGE.
- Author clearly sees himself as Blom
- You can’t write a book trying to bring to light the sexual violence enacted against women while simultaneously reinforcing the culture that creates and enables this violence. Women do not exist to be the providers of men’s sexual satisfaction. By writing a book that portrays every single female character in a sexual light; By writing salander in a way that is “strangely” irresistible to every man that comes across her; the author calls out the symptom of the problem while writing a book that reproduces the root of the problem. It’s a display of liberal male privilege that he gets to call out the “bad guys” and make himself the “good guy”. But both are participating in the same behaviour only to different extremes.
Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Ableism