I am a huge fan of the original trilogy. I had some misgivings about the series continuing after Larsson's death, especially since it didn't seem like it was being done in a manner consistent with the author's wishes. However, I read the next three books in the series and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed them. You could tell that the writing wasn't the same as the original books, but there was a sharpness to them that made them enjoyable on their own.

Continuing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series with a third author seems strange. The newest author has a disjointed writing style with an over abundance of new characters, not to mention plot lines (some that were never resolved) Lisbeth Salander, while mentioned, does not appear until the last 25% and immediately is able to connect some dots that are just too unbelievable. A thriller, yes, but it certainly does not live up to the original books and it’s probably time to retire the series! Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I first met Lisbeth Salander in 2008 when The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was translated into English. This series of books can be somewhat shocking. I always recommend them to anyone looking for a next read but always give the warning.....they are graphic. The characters are well developed and their actions remain true to the first volume in the series. Karin Smirnoff may be the 3rd author of THE GIRL series, but she has retained the original characters and the communities that form their background. Each book could be read as a stand alone, but to read them in order lends a back ground to them that makes them better.
The book synopsis gives a broad outline of the story lines. Both Lisbeth and Mikael find themselves racing to protect their loved ones while still trying to keep the world around them in better shape than they found it. This series is some VERY GOOD books. They are not easy to read, again the violence is graphic, but you will find yourself pulled into the story and holding your breath until the last page is turned.

Consistent in tone with previous volumes in the series, very dark, suspenseful and sometimes gory. I would expect this to be enjoyed by those who enjoyed the originals. Fans may miss the presence of Lizbeth, as she doesn’t drive the action of this novel.

Lisbeth Solander is back in her seventh story of the Millennium series. The story has a different flavor for me than previous stories in the series. In this story there is a depth of development of the relationship between Lisbeth and Svala which both seem reluctant to allow. These two women, if you can call a 13-year-old a woman, are very much alike yet very different.
When a conspiracy develops around the development of resources in the northern part of Sweden, Lizbeth and Salva have joined forces to determine what is going on, and why people have died. Mikael Blomvist returns in his role as an investigative reporter and intersects in new and different ways with Lizbeth. Mikael’s visit to the north is compounded in many ways: His relationship with his daughter (whom he is visiting is strained), his employer, the Millennium magazine is going digital only, and his daughter’s fiancé is under suspicion of abusing his position.

This suspense is ratchet it up as things progress in the north and it’s a mystery as to why and how things are happening. How will Lizbeth and Salva aid Mikeal in protecting his family from the suspicions which have come to light? This is an excellent addition to the series, and I can’t wait to read the next adventures of these characters. I hope Svala will lead us on many new adventures, with or without Lizbeth, and proves to be a wonderful addition in future versions of this book.

Note: I wish I could have rated this book as 3 1/2 stars.

In the 7th in the series, we find Lisbeth taking temporary care of her niece. Meanwhile, her niece also cannot feel pain and can crack safes by sound. Her mother has disappeared but she is convinced she is still alive. Mikael is visiting his soon to be married daughter and starts investigating the small town and the wind farm they’re trying to set up.
This is a rather hard review to write because I believe myself and most readers come back to this series for Lisbeth and Mikael and both were rather unimportant for the plot as a whole. They fall short of their former characters. There will be spoilers going forward from here. First, Lisbeth doesn’t do much except roam around the country and sort of date a police woman. Her hacking and investigation is near non existent other than a few messages to Plague. It’s disappointing that a female author has basically reduced Lisbeth to this shell of her former self. I’m really thinking if her and Mikael weren’t in it would it have made a difference? First, Lukas is kidnapped and then rescued by Henry Salo who happens to be the brother of the man holding the boy. There’s a weird bit where an abused girl sort of takes down part of the bad guys. But Lisbeth and Svala bust in at the last minute and rescue Marta…. Only for her to die. So what did Lisbeth even contribute here? Mikael seems like he’s interviewing and investigating but is he really? Nothing he does seems to really impact much either. And he seems so old. He’s basically an old retired guy mentoring small town journalists and pining after Lisbeth.
The plot itself isn’t terrible if it wasn’t continuing an established story. Although it’s a bit all over the place and I don’t think I’ll continue with the series. I want more investigation and suspense.

I really wanted to like this! I loved the original books written by Stieg Larson, and unfortunately Karin Smirnoff's take fell flat for me. The main story was about corporate and government corruption. Overall, I found the writing and the story to be confusing and difficult to follow. The writing was disjointed and left too much to the imagination. It was vague, when all I really wanted was answers. Overall disappointing, and ended on a cliffhanger. I'd be okay with it if the storytelling was good, but I can't say I'll be reading the next installment.

I have grown up reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series and have always loved all of the books. I was so excited to see that there was a new addition to the series and that the new book was written by a woman. The book itself was good and I enjoyed the story very much. I felt like the author kept true to the characters of Lisbeth and Blomkvist. As much as I enjoyed the story and the return to the characters, throughout the book the transitions from points of view and flashbacks felt very disjointed and the ending of the story felt a little bit rushed. Overall the book was good and I look forward to more of this author's contributions to the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series.

After several attempts to read this, I got to about 35% by finally, I determined this book wasn't really for me and I DNFed. Appreciate the opportunity.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for providing me with an eARC of The Girl in the Eagle's Talons in exchange for my honest review!

Having read the first two books in the Millennium series (as well as seen the David Fincher adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), I was intrigued by what The Girl in the Eagle's Talon could bring. Yes, I certainly held onto some skepticism toward the choice to keep this series running after Stieg Larsson's passing, but I was also trying to keep an open mind, especially since this is the first Millennium book to feature a woman writing it. All that being said, I think this is just okay. It isn't horrible, but it isn't outstanding, either. It's simply another entry in the series that boasts some gritty thrills and is particularly compelling whenever Lisbeth Salander (who's grown to become a favorite fictional character of mine) is on the page. While Svala does feel like a miniature Lisbeth in a derivative way, I still enjoyed the dynamic that grows between them.

But at the end of the day, this book doesn't seem all that necessary. It comes off as the publisher doing everything they can to keep this series chugging along in spite of the fact that it just doesn't have that much fresh spirit after the loss of Larsson. Now, it's not as if his writing was completely flawless (I especially think his characterization of Lisbeth could get clunky to the point where you can really tell it's a man trying to write a woman into life here), but he had a pretty damn good grasp of his series that made it riveting to read. Too bad we're not getting that here, even as Smirnoff is doing her best to revitalize the series. In addition, I found the villains to be one-dimensional, and it made me appreciate the more well-written and menacing baddies in the first two books. Oh, and why, why, why does this series keep having to fall back on using depictions of rape and pedophilia to show how monstrous the villains can be? I'm just so over it by now. Come on, be more creative. There are other ways, smarter ways, to display the evil that these scoundrels can commit.

Overall, I'm officially rating The Girl in the Eagle's Talons 2.75 out of five stars, which I'm rounding up to three stars. I'm not planning on ever rereading it, but I'm still glad I checked it out. When the next Millennium entry comes out, I might pick it up.

This is a continuation of the Millennium/Lisbeth Salander series, written by a different author than the original series. I enjoyed the original series like many so was curious to read this installment. I found the plot a bit hard to follow with multiple points of view being used throughout the book, and the different characters. The writing was OK, I'd say serviceable to decent, but not great. As others mentioned there may be some translation issues. I will say my preference would be to focus more on the original characters, Lisbeth especially. It's certainly true to the original books but the sexual violence/violence against women just gets to be too much- even in the beginning of the book, which makes it a bit off putting. I think there is some promise with the series continuation but it just needs some refinement.

I read this as a stand alone book, I have not read any of the previous books in this series. As a stand alone I think this book is good. It was entertaining and has plenty of action to keep you engaged.

Lisbeth Salander is brought to Sweden after learning she is the next of kin to a 13 year old girl, Svala Hirek. Only after taking on Svala, does she discover that the girl is her brother’s daughter, the brother that was out to kill Lisbeth. Svala’ mother is presumed to be dead, but Svala believes differently and sets her sites on finding her mother. While in Sweden Mikael Blomkvisit shows up in Lisbeth’s life again. Little do they know they are both on the same mission to take out Marcus Branco. Marcus wants to bring wind farms to remote areas, but one home steadier stands in his way. Women go missing and Mikael Blomkvisit’s grandson is kidnapped leading to a exciting end.

I struggled through this story. I hadn’t read the series previously, but loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie. I don’t know if the translation was part of the hinderance, but it never caught my attention. I read it to finish it, not necessarily because I was enjoying the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Knoph, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor, and Karin Smirnoff for the eARC.

This is one of those books that you just need to end. From a Christmas explosion in summer, to wind farms, to men with no legs, to horrific and graphic rape scenes, to an orphan, to a kidnapping, to a wedding, to a child lock picking expert, to everything in between, this book was...weird.

I was really excited to see Lisbeth Salander back but this didn't read like the originals that I loved so much and it just never clicked for me. I listened to the audio which was fine but at times quite hard to understand and some of it was overacted.

I really wanted more Salander too, she didn't even show up until at least a third into the novel and generally felt like a peripheral character.

The wind farm aspect interested me and some scenes were excellently crafted, but overall, I was uninterested and bored. There were a lot of characters and storylines and it took too long to get back around to the ones I was interested in.

Overall, this one wasn't for me and I'll probably be skipping any additional offshoots of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Thank you to Knopf, PRH Audio, and NetGalley for the copy.

I really enjoy the original Dragon Tattoo series, but unfortunately this book didn’t have the same appeal for me. I wanted to love it, but I found it slow and kind of boring. I struggled to get through the beginning and it never got much better. It’s a shame to see a well loved series decline so much.

While I have enjoyed reading this series, I could not finish this installment. It was too disjointed. The writing was not the best. Maybe it had to do with the translation. I guess it is time to move onto another series.

The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons by Karen Smirnoff
Memorable Lisbeth Salander swoops in for a second act in Karen Smirnoff’s The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons. Remaining remarkably consistent with Steig Larson’s series while delivering an explosive new tale, Smirnoff opens with intense new characters and swift action.
Marcus Branco wants to change the north by bringing wind farms to remote areas. Because the Branco Group will see enormous profits from the endeavor, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make this project happen. He has the means and the militia and anyone who gets in his way will disappear or die. Someone has already vanished, Svala Hirek’s mother, Marta.
Streetwise Svala is extremely brilliant for a thirteen-year-old. But more than that, she’s inherited her father’s unique trait; she feels no pain. Her father was murdered years ago and now that her mother is gone, Social Services reaches out to Svala’s nearest kin, her aunt Lisbeth Salander.
Lisbeth has no idea that Ronald Neiderman, her insane half-brother—who she killed –has a child. The last thing Lisbeth wants is to take care of a kid. However, when she meets Svala, there’s a distinct connection, and she decides to help out. Though Svala enjoys the lavish attention her aunt pays her—expensive hotels, new clothes, and shoes to replace her worn bedraggled high tops—she is on a mission to find her mother. She knows that her disappearance has something to do with the Branco Group, the company installing those wind farms.
It's a given that Mikael Blomkvist will cross Lisbeth’s path again. His daughter Pernillo is about to marry Henry Salo, who is caught between working for the Branco group and fighting to start a life with Pernillo and her son. When the wedding turns red and someone abducts Mikael’s grandson, Mikael calls the one person he can count on, Lisbeth Salander.
The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons delivers white-knuckle tension and adrenaline. Smirnoff’s follow up to the Lisbeth Salander series will leave you wondering what’s coming next for these beloved characters.
By Tracey S. Phillips, author of Best Kept Secrets

Thank you to #Netgalley for the ARC copy of this book.

I don't know why I keep reading these. after the initial 3 books written by Larsson, they are not worth reading. I think I liked 1-3 so much that I'm hoping to get that initial love for Lisbeth back.

This one didn't even feel like Lisbeth. She has always been a strong, badass woman, and she felt soft.

Unfortunately, this didn't hit the mark like the original trilogy did for me, and it's a DNF at 20%.