Review: ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’ by Stieg Larsson
I just finished reading the final novel in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy (aff link), The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. The book brings to a close the events surrounding the first two novels, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Play With Fire.
If you haven’t read Larsson’s first two novels, then you might want to skip this review and read them first. On the other hand, my review is fairly vague and I don’t give away spoilers (except maybe how the novel ends). My goal with this review is not to rehash the plot, rather, I just want to share my general thoughts about how the novel is written and why or why not it was written well.
First, the big thing that disappointed me with this novel was that the plot became overly complicated. Unlike Larsson’s first book in the series, which had a simple-but-enjoyable plot, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest quickly became bogged down with so many characters that my head was spinning trying to keep track of them all. This was made worse, no doubt, by the long Swedish names that all seemed to sound the same.
The plot had a lot of twists and turns, making it hard to keep all the events straight and to connect them together. On many occasions I had to go back and refer to a specific scene so I could make sense of what was happening.
I also found that the book came to a grinding halt with long-winded narratives providing background information about specific characters or events. On a few occasions, I merely skimmed the pages so I could move on with the story.
It’s hard to say how much of this narrative was actually needed. There’s a very fine line between giving just the right amount of back-story, and giving so much that it takes away from the novel’s main focus. I think Larsson crossed that line here, if only by a little.
However, my biggest complaint was that this last novel in the Millennium trilogy didn’t focus on the two main characters enough, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Yes, the plot revolved around them, but much of the narrative focused too much on the other characters and the events surrounding Salander and Blomkvist. The most enjoyable parts of the novel were the scenes with those two characters.
In reading the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I came to love reading about Blomkvist’s erratic work habits and the way he throws himself head-first into whatever mess he has himself in. And Lisbeth Salander is such an eccentric character, that one can’t help hanging on to her every word and every move. I simply did not get my Blomkvist and Salander “fix” in the third novel.
Perhaps this novel’s one saving grace was the ending. I’m a stickler for good endings (in both books and movies). So I was pleasantly surprised how Larsson wrapped everything up and resolved the plot in an exciting way that did not feel forced or contrived. The ending vindicated Lisbeth Salander in a big way. And a last minute plot twist kept the pages turning until the very end.
Surprisingly, Larsson ended the Hornet’s Nest novel in such a way that it not only resolved the story, but he left the characters ripe for a fourth book in the series. Sadly, because of Larsson’s untimely death in 2004, I’m not sure if we’ll see a fourth novel.
At the time of Larsson’s died, he had about three quarters of a forth novel on his computer. Whether or not he left enough material behind for the novel to be finished and published remains to be seen. Larsson’s website says that he outlined a total of ten books for this series!
Now comes the big question: Would I recommend this book? The short answer is, despite all its misgivings, yes I would recommend it. The longer answer is that if you have read the first two books, then you pretty much have to read the third novel. I can’t imagine finishing the second book and not wanting to see what happens next.
If you have read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
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