Reviews

The Girl in the Eagle's Talons by Karin Smirnoff

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melmmh's review

3.0

Special thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. Anticipated publication date August, 29, 2023.

I am an absolute die hard fan of the original trilogy that started the Millennium series - Stieg Larsson was an unbelievably talented writer.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a fast paced, edge of your seat psychological thriller that introduced me to a whole new genre I’d previously not explored.

After Larsson’s death in 2004, the subsequent books written by carefully chosen replacement authors all had their various flaws and highlights, and this newest release is no exception.

The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons by new (to this series) author Karin Smirnoff is described as, “A pulse-pounding thriller, The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons sees Salander and Blomkvist navigating a world of conspiracy and betrayal, old enemies and new friends, ice-bound wilderness and the global corporations that threaten to tear it apart.”

I did find it hard to follow due to it being an uncorrected version (there were no chapter breaks, multiple POVs I found hard to follow, the writing didn’t flow as smoothly as in previous Salander adventures) but I persevered through as I was interested in the conclusion of the story.

Fans of the series will enjoy this newest release as we see the return of well loved characters Lisbeth & Mikael, with the addition of Salander’s niece and ward Svala. I enjoyed it for what it was, and will definitely pick up the subsequent novels when/if they continue to be released!

2.5/5 stars rounding up to 3 for love of the series!!

mms73's review

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

iainkelly_writing's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

1.5

It's hard to tell if this book was badly written, under- or over-edited, or if something has gone awry in translation from Swedish, but the first hundred or so pages are among the worst I've read in a published book. The plot is almost incomprehensible to begin with, far too many charclacyers and strands are introduced randomly and in very unclear writing, but even individual paragraphs and sentences make little sense. The writing style - short sentences of one or two words peppered throughout - is jarring, and there is head-hopping (where the point of view of a scene jumps from one character to another) all over the place, making it difficult to follow. So much annoys - character thoughts presented in italics, the constant insertion of karate move names in fight scenes, implausible plotting and pointless digressions (what the scene in a Christmas hotel in Finland with a depressed Father Christmas who reads poetry from a girl, passes it off as his own to get published, then meets the very same girl from Sweden who has happened to turn up and visits him has to do with anything is beyond me). The much loved Lisbeth Salander and Michael Blomquivst have both changed character from the original and deserve better. Indeed Michael is almost redundant throughout the book and disappears from the finale entirely. They deserve better. The new bad guy is so ridiculous it is comical. Only avoids being a 1 star due to a marginally better 2nd half once the various plot strands pull together into something bordering on intelligible, and because of nostalgia for the original brilliant Steig Larsson books.