When I read The Girl in the Spider’s Web, it gave me satisfaction that the wonderful characters left behind by Stieg Larsson would be left in good hands. That book might not have been perfect, but it did its job in progressing both Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist as characters. It left die-hard fans with hope for a promising future. But after reading The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, that hope may be fractured.
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye is the fifth installment in the Millennium series, and the second to be written by Swedish biographer and novelist, David Lagercrantz. Thanks to the success of The Girl in the Spider’s Web, expectations were high for this book in 2017.
On paper, this book has some juicy plot threads. Who wouldn’t like to see Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist uncover a secret project involving the same children’s psychiatric clinic that dealt with Lisbeth in the past? This time, one of the clinic’s secret experiments involving two twin brothers is blown wide open. In addition to this, is a storyline that involves two Islamic extremists forcing their sister into a profitable marriage that she rejects for her love of another man.
The stories themselves look interesting as a summary, and no doubt they looked even better as a book outline. But what lets this book down for me is that David Lagercrantz leaned more on his biographer skills than his novelist ones. I felt like I was being told the plot instead of living in the experience. I was cheated out of the escapism I was looking for. I longed for Lisbeth and Mikael’s realities to become my own because by now they are long-lost friends of mine. Instead, I was a fly on the wall throughout the story, having no chance to share in Lisbeth’s internal pain and suffering, even as she loses someone key to her past.
I felt like I read a long summary of a story with spoilers, instead of actually reading the fifth installment of the Millennium series. This is what happens when a series so dependent on characterization falls flat.
What went wrong with The Girl who Takes an Eye for an Eye?
Maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on David Lagercrantz. The original Millennium books written by Stieg Larsson were heavy on exposition and often featured chunky passages of telling.
The difference is that Larsson’s works had variety. Even with the pages full of telling, we were often treated to segments where the characters spoke to us through their actions. The key moments I remember from the first three books were when Lisbeth and Mikael did things. Every action they took evoked emotion within them. But in The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, these emotional responses are lost.
But Lagercrantz has shown that he can hone the correct formula, as he struck a satisfying balance in The Girl in the Spider’s Web. I believe with a few more rounds of editing, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye would have been a stronger book. Perhaps the editing team could have pushed Lagercrantz more for the extra sauce.
We spend such little time with Salander in this installment that the end resolution is not convincing. We have no idea of her motivations or any indication that she cares enough about her ex-inmate to take a severe injury on her behalf. The two story arcs in this book also failed to connect in any meaningful way.
The sixth piece
There is one more addition to the Millennium series written by Lagercrantz. The Girl Who Lived Twice is his third (and final) piece in this series. Reading The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye didn’t do anything to get me excited for what’s to come next.
The fourth book teased that the next book would feature Lisbeth’s sister—and she even appears on-screen during the movie version, but we have yet to witness her presence in book form. I was disappointed to find out that Camilla doesn’t actually appear in the fifth book, but I at least went into the book excited, thanks to all the prior teasing on her behalf.
The fifth book leaves nothing to wonder about. There are no lingering threads to hold on to. There is nothing more that I’m excited to learn about this world. I refuse to even let myself be hopeful that Camilla will have a huge role in the next installment because I had already believed this when walking into Spider’s Web and Eye for an Eye.
At this point, I am still committed to reading this series. I am in love with its characters and its conspiracies. For that reason, I will continue to read whatever book comes regardless of how lacking in excitement I am. Because I see Lisbeth Salander in the same light as James Bond. A character that can be honed by many authors or actresses. We have reached the point where there are now cycles of the Millennium series.
The Millennium series will be continued by Karin Smirnoff
Swedish author, Karin Smirnoff, will breathe new life into the Millennium series when she becomes the first woman writer to pen Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. She has signed on to write books 7-9 in the series, putting her own novels to the side to jump on the opportunity.
Karin said the following after accepting the opportunity: “The Millennium books are classics in their genre, where the combination of unforgettable characters and the strong political and societal engagement still fascinates readers. I will continue to build on Stieg Larsson’s core themes, such as violence, abuse of power, and contemporary political currents.“
Polaris Publishing has also gained publishing rights for the series.
Please share your thoughts on The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye or the Millennium series in the comment section below!
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