David Lagercrantz

"This fall, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return in the highly anticipated follow-up to Stieg Larsson's THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST" In this adrenaline-charged thriller, genius-hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist face a dangerous new threat and must again join forces. Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a trusted source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female super hacker-a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering. Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for "Millennium," turns to Lisbeth for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. In "The Girl in the Spider's Web," the duo who thrilled 80 million readers in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, "and" The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" meet again in an extraordinary and uniquely of-the-moment thriller.

The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisbeth Salander Novel, Continuing Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series

Geoffrey Froggatt

I was apprehensive to read this book as I’ve heard many things about the transition between the original author and this one. The writing style is significantly different from Larsson’s style and I’ve heard many people complain about this. While it definitely took awhile for me to get used to this new author, I do feel like the writing was easier to jump into than the original trilogy. That being said, the spirit of the original trilogy is watered down here. What was nice about the original trilogy was how grounded in reality it was. This book simply didn’t hold up to that level of realism. Mikael and Lisbeth are portrayed as lesser versions of themselves. Lisbeth is also barely featured in the novel until the end. Even though the writing style in this novel was easier for me to follow, I still found it unnecessarily excessive in its description. This book felt like a transition book for the new author rather than the next book in the series, that stands on its own and tells its own story. I will still be reading the next two books in the series.

Shape Mismatch

I wish Larsson would have authored it alone, but that isn't possible. Fair enough. The fourth part of the series plays with the same (if not more) number of cliches and creates a gripping plot with many characters, which carry try to carry their surreal nature from the past three books. In my opinion, this carry over isn't well executed. Some central characters feel bland and very predictable. That, amongst numerous are reasons which made me realize that the best of the series is far behind. For instance, the main reason of the assassinations ((view spoiler)[ the A.I. software  (hide spoiler)]) was used merely as a plot device and never expanded upon. Could be that this comes into focus in the next book, but it feels unlikely. 

That said, mind that inspite of all this, the plot (in an abstract sense, not so much it's implimentation) is not half bad, and can be intense and gripping and multiple places. It's what keeps you from abandoning the book half way, and it does that well.

All in all, read this book if the millennium series left you wanting more, and you don't care if the next book you read is half as gripping or two thirds as well written, you want to gorge.

Lacy W

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tw: ableist comments, use of word retard, murder, torture, suicide

I am so disappointed. Nothing is more heartbreaking when a series you have come to know and love starts to gradually slide downhill as it progresses. It’s almost worse than a beloved character death, if I am being honest. I was so excited to see what David Lagercrantz could bring to the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series or Millennium as it is actually called. I absolutely adore this series and especially my dear Lisbeth. But this book, it was nothing like the previous books and I am upset about it. 

I truly thought with topics of NSA and spying involved in the plot of this book, that I would have loved this book or at the very least, rated it 4 (four) stars, which has been the average for this series thus far. But honestly, I was so bored. I often had to force myself to pick this book up and attempt to finish it in a timely fashion. The plot was beyond dull and most of the time I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t have any feelings toward who was murdered or how Lisbeth must protect his son. I just couldn’t bring myself to care. I know that sounds so bad but it’s true. 

I also didn’t like what Lagencratz did to Lisbeth. She was boring! Where was my fighty and kick ass girl? The one that saw the world in black and white. The one who prevailed for justice when others did not? The only parts where she was even remotely exciting was when her past was being talked about. I could read a whole book about Lisbeth and her past. She’s had such a traumatic upbringing and it would be fascinating to see what happened to her as a child that shaped the way she is today. I am so devastated as the loss of the Lisbeth I know and will need ample time to grieve. 

Overall, this book just wasn’t good. The few parts where it was good did not make up for the overwhelming feeling of boredom I felt the whole time reading this book. I will continue reading the series, however, in the hopes it will get better. Not to mention, I own the next book so I want to get my money’s worth. Hopefully Lagencratz will find his feet and restore Lisbeth and the Millennium series to their former glory.

Andy Sporring

Not as brilliant as the trilogy but good enough

Julie D.

still my fav series and this was a lovely addition

John Philpin

Falls well short of Stieg’s original series.

Brian Alderman

a good follow up, and I love the characters. but generally it had me less "on the edge of my seat" than the previous two books.

Lynn Braden

The Girl in the Spider's Web is a continuation of the original Millennium series written by Stieg Larsson. The best book in the series, by far, is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Unfortunately, this book is the worst. It does include the characters from the original series, as well as some other new characters to create a story about the NSA and surveillance post 9/11. This probably would have been a better book if the focus had remained on either the original characters or on the premise of spying, but this novel was all over the place and not in a good way. Several different ideas were presented ranging from spying to child abuse, to autism, but the in depth revelations just weren't there and left me feeling as though the author didn't really know where to take this story. In addition, the original series, especially The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, had a gritty, descriptive quality that made the violence and graphic sex very intense. This book was, at best, a watered-down version made to appeal to a PG13 audience. I really wanted to enjoy this book as I had the original series, but I was left feeling as though I had been cheated out of what could have been a great story.

Rachel

3.5/5 Lots of controversy surrounding The Girl in the Spider's Web: isn't it just glorified fanfic, but it's based on Larson's outline for the series, but Larrson's partner was strongly against it. Ok, I love the Millennium series, I pretty much knew I was going to read it despite how problematic it is. David Lagercrantz does a good job at capturing what the series is about, tone, and continuing the series on. Mikael is burning out and Millennium isn't doing so well, Lisbeth has been Lisbeth and recently hacked into the NSA. Their paths meet again when a scientist who had his technology stolen and is killed in front of his autistic son. It sounds interesting and even deals with Lisbeth's background which ties into the plot. The thing is, there was too much going on, lots of characters involved in different story lines that eventually interweave. At times it was hard to follow, you want it to make sense, you know it will all come together and usually it all falls into a place and you're just like ohhh, that didn't happen with this book for me. I was left feeling like HUH, how did you get this from that? I have an idea of how it all connects, but the ending, or solution to the problem, doesn't add up to the process we were on throughout the book. It doesn't fully connect, yet we are told it does without seeing how and why. So that is my biggest issue with Spider's Web, the style is different, rather than seeing and coming to the judgement outselves that Lisbeth is a badass complex character by her actions, we are instead told that through other characters. And Lisbeth isn't even in most of the book. Mikael has more depth though. The rest of the characters are simple and easily divided into good and bad. I'm not disappointed in the book, I hope Lagercrantz continues the series, I feel he can work out the kinks, make the series continue to be great, while still making it his own.

The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisbeth Salander Novel, Continuing Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series

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