THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST by STIEG LARSSON

070112. sunday.

the last book in the trilogy of Stieg Larsson.

the moment i finished reading The Girl Who Played with Fire, i opened The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest right away. there was no stopping or else i’d be left hanging. they are so connected that i actually consider the two books as one. HAHA.

this book gave a clearer view of who really were involved in the many events of the story – who did what, who murdered who, who conspired with whom, who helped who. HAHA.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is a game of outwitting each other. one must be one step ahead from the other. as Blomkvist and Salander unravels the truth, the Section tries to prevent the truth from coming out. what really made the story more exciting is the fact that there are also other parties who intervene in the turn of events. each party has to decide which side they’re taking, Lisbeth’s or the Section’s. this is not just about Lisbeth and Zalachenko anymore. HAHAHA.

but the coolest thing about it, as for me, is the HACKING skills of Lisbeth. i’m amazed! (or am i just not really that good in computers that’s why i feel this way? hahaha!) it is so easy for her to dig into the computers of other people. thanks to her friends who are just as great in hacking. hahaha! i love it when she contacts her colleagues from the Hacker Republic and asks them for help to access/copy/destroy data in someone’s computer. what’s even more fascinating is the fact that they, at Hacker Republic, don’t know each other personally but they can count on every one when they need a hand. HAHA. suspension of disbelief – can a group with such great hacking skills exist and can hacking really be that powerful and easy for these people? HAHA.

tactics and resources, that’s what the characters used to play with in the story. the Section and Lisbeth made use of all the possible ways to win, even doing things they never thought they’d do, up to their last resorts. HAHA.

the real battle begins at the trial. this is the time when Lisbeth’s side starts firing their evidences and counterstatements. they (particularly Lisbeth) have been silent for quite a while. just when the prosecution thought they’d nail it, they screwed up like hell! they underestimated the power of the defense. HAHA.

i just can’t help but notice, Blomkvist really has a thing for women. he just can’t seem to resist them and vice versa. HAHA. in the three books i read, he’s had issues with Berger, Lisbeth, Cecilia, Harriet, and Figuerola. HAHA. you playful thing. HAHA.

i always find the relationship of Lisbeth and Blomkvist cute. HAHA. in this book, they don’t really get to see each other. their correspondence was only through the net but they always had the understanding. he always gets what she wants to say. she doesn’t say much most of the time but he got used to her and started to see right through her. HAHA.

thumbs up for the trilogy! HAHA. no regrets in exerting effort to finish the books! HAHAHAHA!

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by STIEG LARSSON

061612. saturday.

another book i couldn’t seem to drop the moment i got a hold of everything that’s inside it - The Girl Who Played with Fire.

it’s the second book of the trilogy, following The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

i love how everything looks as if nothing’s wrong, like everything goes according to plan and all of a sudden something shocking happens to bring chaos. HAHA. well, there’s where everything gets exciting i assume. thriller, right? HAHA.

this time the story mainly revolves around the interesting character and past of Lisbeth Salander. she had been subjected to a lot of injustices and wrong accusations. this fact is what makes it distinct from the first book. the first book dealt with a wholly different story. in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, she could be considered an outsider to the case had she not been contacted by Blomkvist. i so love Lisbeth Salander. HAHA.

here, Blomkvist and his colleagues only wanted to expose those who were involved in Sweden’s sex trafficking business. Bjurman wanted to get rid of Salander so he could be free again. then, Salander got caught in between. she became a suspect. her past was dug up. all her efforts to be unnoticed for all of her life had flown away. Blomkvist came to her rescue. (that’s the only gentle part. HAHA. there’s a love story but a love story that is far from the flicks we know. HAHA. cute in its own sense.)

the chapters narrated the never-ending hunt – Lisbeth hunting Zalachenko, Zalachenko hunting Lisbeth, the police hunting Lisbeth, Blomkvist hunting Lisbeth and Zalachenko.

on a more serious note, i was so affected while i was reading. i don’t know. maybe because of Lisbeth, maybe because she’s a woman, maybe because she has suffered from injustice in the most cruel way. i know none of this is real but what the hell? i know in the outskirts of wherever there’s a Salander in so many women, those who suffered and were not treated. seems like the story’s totally gotten into my nerves, huh? HAHA. look who’s talking? who am i? i talk like i’m a women’s rights advocate. hehe. no, i just care. i’m a girl, too. would you believe? HAHA.

another thing, i know this is already a cliché but it is what it is. the book also tells us that no matter how hard we try to keep a secret, it will always find its way out, doesn’t matter if it’s for the good or bad. and that it will put itself where it should be so that things would start to fit the situation. in the book, this fact lead to the discovery of a lot of things about Lisbeth’s life and a secret agency’s operation.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by STIEG LARSSON

051812. friday.

when i first tried to read the book, i thought i wouldn't understand so i just closed it. but i badly wanna read this so i opened it the second time and seriously run through the pages. 

i love it! stieg larsson didn't disappoint me! (like i'm someone great who he didn't wish to disappoint? hahaha!) i enjoyed it even if it was a long read.

yes, it's a thriller. what made me like it more is the fact that the story revolved around a chaotic family's mystery (the crime and the murder). how Blomkvist dug into the family members' secrets and history added to the excitement of it. other novels would usually deal with a murderer who kills people with a pattern (at least with those that i've read). the same goes with this only that it's within a family which makes it a more intimate matter(though there are a few outsiders involved as well). that fact spiced up the story! HAHA.

"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is actually a story where one  event becomes linked  to another event. Vanger used Blomkvist's weakness to make him work for Vanger's agenda. it's a story where two problems need to be solved - Blomkvist's unfinished expose and the disappearance of a Vanger. 

i love the character of Lisbeth Salander, that anorexic antisocial who happens to hate knowing that she has a photographic memory (wish i'm the one who got it)! HAHA! i like how physically she wouldn't look as if she's capable of doing anything genius. she just doesn't care about anything and she's the boss of her own life. she works only when she wants to, she's not after the money. investigating other people's dirty lives is just a hobby to her. she's doing it to satisfy her call to solve it. i like how that girl with the dragon tattoo becomes vulnerable all of a sudden when it comes to Blomkvist. Salander has feelings too. HAHA. 

it wasn't so hard for me to picture out the lead characters since there is already a motion picture for this novel. every time the scenes play in my head i'd just have to think of Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara's faces. HAHA. 

now i can't wait to see the movie. i wanna see how they played with the novel and how they put the details in the film. usually, people feel bad 'coz the books are way, way better than the movie. let's see if the same goes with this one. i hope not. :)