Books

Is ‘The girl with a Dragon tattoo’ series any good?

Quoted Post

Is 'The girl with a Dragon tattoo' series any good?

Just my opinion, they’re readable but massively overrated and bloated. The Swedish movie versions are better, partly because the stories are pared down somewhat.
Mind you, several million disagree. And Lisbeth is an compelling and original creation.

Its one of those things you have to read but then never again. or at least I found it that way.

You are a filthy shill.

who’s highly unlikely to give your long-awaited tome such a glowing tribute…because I’m unlikely to read the sort of tripe you enjoy.

You are a filthy shill.

Sorry, I got half way through your post and got bored.

Lol.

I got this far & laughed so hard I popped a rib…

“his efficiency and ability to paint indelible pictures with a few carefully-crafted paragraphs”

Thats so the opposite to reality.

It was probably in old old blitz when I spoke on JRR, but I read the Hobbit as a kid, & went on later to LOTR, at maybe 12 - 13?

Remembered getting into it but not finishing it.

So when the movies are coming out a mate gets it & reads it & I borrow it to do the same. I get halfway through & it all comes back to me why I didn’t finish it the 1st time. It was like deja vu.

I’d put money on it that I stopped & consigned it to the bin on exactly the same page. A more long winded, unending, unmitigated borefest I’ve not encountered.

Fantasy is hard enough, but 10 15 pages describing some hollow they camped in o/nite in a forest was beyond ridiculous. I’ve never been back to the genre in books movies or TV, life is too short to waste on such things.

Quitter.

Lightweight SFF just gives me no reason to invest in the story.
Someone recommended the hunger games books to me. “There was a girl who was poor and everything was hard then she went in a competition against people better prepared and won and all the bad guys got what was coming”. Plastic characters, no weight to anything, predictable action, conclusion. Guessed the whole story from the first chapter, and was right. Eye roll.

It’s the depth & detail that builds the attachment to characters. The craft of Tolkein (or any great fantasy writer) isn’t in the story, it’s in the back story, the world.
If you were picking up a 1200+ page book expecting to knock it off quickly, then that’s on you.

If you want an action book, pick up an action book.


And a new action book is out, State of Emergency, the follow-up to The Foundation, by Steve P Vincent.

The FEMA boss effectively becomes dictator of the US, and a mean prick too.

May have been written by a guy who’s a grog-squadder and a Blitz alumnus.

Anyone read Dennis Lehane stuff? Few of his books been turned into movies (one coming out this year too)

Almost finished The Given Day. Set in Boston (like all his stuff) after WW1. 700 pages long and is almost as much non fiction as it is fiction going by the way he.describes the U.S. political scene

Not his best book IMO but still damn good and worth a read for his fans

I’m loving Ready Player One.
When I’m done I’m gonna read it again with the eighties playlist going.

Is 'The girl with a Dragon tattoo' series any good?

Well I reckon the first one was very good and the movies made both did it proud.

The description of the rape scene in the book created great tension and was very graphic.

The other two books were good but the novelty had worn off.

Read the Harry Hole (pronounced Hoo-leh) books instead (or after) the Dragon Tattoo books. They’re written by a guy called Jo Nesbo.

Weirdly, they began translating the series with book 3, but they’ve gone back and released the first two now.

The book I’ve read recently that I highly recommend is a book called “The Paperbag Princess” which is pure awesome.

Read the Harry Hole (pronounced Hoo-leh) books instead (or after) the Dragon Tattoo books. They're written by a guy called Jo Nesbo.

Weirdly, they began translating the series with book 3, but they’ve gone back and released the first two now.

The book I’ve read recently that I highly recommend is a book called “The Paperbag Princess” which is pure awesome.

I get tired of people who know they're doing the wrong thing, but do it anyway, knowing the terrible consequences. When Harry Hole finally met a good woman, he thought he'd get himself shitfaced just because...and screwed everything up with her.

Scandinavian books are just a bit too depressing.

Anyone read Dennis Lehane stuff? Few of his books been turned into movies (one coming out this year too)

Almost finished The Given Day. Set in Boston (like all his stuff) after WW1. 700 pages long and is almost as much non fiction as it is fiction going by the way he.describes the U.S. political scene

Not his best book IMO but still damn good and worth a read for his fans

Yeah, I’ve read all the Kenzie/Gennaro books plus Mystic River and Shutter Island. Haven’t read his big sagas.

Is 'The girl with a Dragon tattoo' series any good?

Well I reckon the first one was very good and the movies made both did it proud.

The description of the rape scene in the book created great tension and was very graphic.

The other two books were good but the novelty had worn off.

There was talk that Larssen had been poisoned/assassinated by the Neo-Nazi types in Sweden, but you were certainly glad when the third one was finished. It got to be pretty hard work.

I'm loving Ready Player One. When I'm done I'm gonna read it again with the eighties playlist going.

Get excited because there’s a movie version coming…

Anyone read Dennis Lehane stuff? Few of his books been turned into movies (one coming out this year too)

Almost finished The Given Day. Set in Boston (like all his stuff) after WW1. 700 pages long and is almost as much non fiction as it is fiction going by the way he.describes the U.S. political scene

Not his best book IMO but still damn good and worth a read for his fans

Yeah, I’ve read all the Kenzie/Gennaro books plus Mystic River and Shutter Island. Haven’t read his big sagas.

Worth reading. I’ve got the third one waiting for me once I’m done
(yep, I read tthe second book first lol)

On recommendation, I have just started the first book in the Wheel of Time series. Who else has read part/all of the series?

On recommendation, I have just started the first book in the Wheel of Time series. Who else has read part/all of the series?

yeah i’ve read it all, and 1-9 about 3 times.

I read the first seven on the trot when I was marooned in the ■■■■■■■ raid for a week on what was supposed to be a camping/fishing holiday.

Not really my thing. Epic fantasy that pits a bunch of gormless villiage kids with Mysterious Destinies against a tolkien-ripoff Dark Lord has just been done Too Damn Many Times and I couldn’t find enough new, novel, or eyecatching in Jordan to stick it out after that. Especially considering how diabolically the plot started to drag around book 5…

I read the first seven on the trot when I was marooned in the ■■■■■■■ raid for a week on what was supposed to be a camping/fishing holiday.

Not really my thing. Epic fantasy that pits a bunch of gormless villiage kids with Mysterious Destinies against a tolkien-ripoff Dark Lord has just been done Too Damn Many Times and I couldn’t find enough new, novel, or eyecatching in Jordan to stick it out after that. Especially considering how diabolically the plot started to drag around book 5…

worth noting it started a lot of the clichés. which for those that read it now will find it very clichéd.

I enjoyed WoT it is a good read but you have a such a long road ahead of you.

Agree with HM that the storyline seems to go nowhere through the middle books.

Then again maybe it was just the achievement of finishing that got me through.