I really enjoyed the original first three books in the series and was excited to see another book released. This is the first in the series written by this author and the third author to take the reins at penning the series. I am not sure if it just doesn't translate to English well, but I didn't enjoy this as much as the first three. The writing was simple and things were written oddly. It does satisfy a craving for more Lisbeth Salander, but perhaps the series should end. This wasn't for me, but if you love Lisbeth ten you will probably enjoy this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf for a digital ARC.

Karin Smirnoff is the third writer to continue the Millennium series (after Stieg Larsson died and David Lagercrantz added three more books). But the 7th book seems forced and might well be suffering from a stilted translation (I’ve noticed that Swedish reviewers gave the book higher marks than readers of the English translation). There is still corruption at high levels, but Lisabeth Salander more or less stumbles on it rather than purposefully seeking it out for a precise planned revenge as in the past. She’s in the north of the country to take reluctant custody of her niece Svala, who’s a bit of a mini-me (Svala’s mother has mysteriously disappeared). Mikael Blomqvist, now a much sadder character, seems to have been added out of obligation. He has his own family problems as well as also gets involved in the criminality of northern Sweden. But the plot is uneven and confusing. As much as I loved Larsson’s original Salander, this wasn’t the same character anymore. Again, maybe it was the translation, but I can only give this 3 stars.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Some empty and bulging eyes, but no eye colors are described.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO The northern forests are filled with unnamed species of trees.

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf Publishing, and Karin Smirnoff for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This is number seven in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series, originally by Stieg Larsson. Since Stieg Larsson has died, this is the second author that is continuing the series. I loved Stieg Larsson's writing and was very sad to discover that he had died. Then I was very excited to find that the series was being continued by author David Lagercrantz. I enjoyed his books (#4, #5, and #6 in the series), although the style was noticeably different than Stieg Larsson's style. Recently, I was again very excited to see that the series was continuing and looking forward to reading the first installment by Karin Smirnoff. However, I stopped reading the book at 27% and will not be finishing it. Here's why.

I do not enjoy gratuitous violence in books. Certainly the first six installments in this series had a LOT of violence, but it was all necessary to the plot and handled by the authors so as to make a piercing point without getting mired in a violent scene that just keeps going. However, Karin Smirnoff's approach to the violence that moves the plot forward is to brush it on thickly and descriptively and add violence to nearly every chapter so that there is no break between difficult scenes . I had been considering not finishing the book earlier, but I finally put it down forever at about 27% during a rape scene. Instead of making me hate the rapist/bad guy, which seems to be the author's intention, it made me not want this scene to have ever been written. I do not enjoy scenes such as this.

The second reason that I didn't finish is that the author did not succeed in making me feel invested in the fate of the characters. If I didn't already know the main characters, this book would not have made me want to know them more deeply. Basically, if this wasn't in the Millenium Series I would have discontinued it sooner.

I am very sorry to see a series that I so loved end for me. I will not be continuing with it.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Lisbeth's life is changing when a relative moves in with her. She is hoping to help her with her grief and other issues she is dealing with. This book lagged at times.

Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return, with both heading to a small town in Sweden’s far north. Mikael is depressed at the end of the printed version of the Millennium magazine, which will now be a podcast. He’s going to see his estranged daughter, who is about to be married. He’s looking forward to spending time with his young grandson.

At the same time Lisbeth is also headed to the same town, unhappy to be named a guardian to Svalla, an unknown niece that she wants nothing to do with; but Lisbeth is her only living relative since Svalla’s mother has disappeared.

The thing that ties everything together is the plan to build a huge windfarm in the area. Mikael’s future son-in-law is an ambitious, somewhat shady local politician, who is under a lot of pressure. Svalla’s mother and step-father are in deep with a criminal developer who wants 90% of the project. Soon, Svalla is the target of criminals who want something from her.

I really liked Svalla, she was the most interesting character in this story. She’s 13, brilliant, and a savant when it comes to breaking into safes. I was way into the story before I became interested in Mikael and Lisbeth. Marcus Branco, the criminal mastermind, was a truly evil person. Still, it was Svalla who made the story interesting and tied everything together. Overall, I ended up enjoying the book, although I was disappointed with the characterization of Mikael and Lisbeth, they almost seemed secondary to the story.

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley; this is my honest review.

The Girl in Eagle's Talons is the seventh of ten in the Millennium series, initially crafted by Steig Larsson. The first two books of this series gripped me, but the few books to follow putzed out a little for me.

In this rendition, Lisbeth Sanders is back; this time, her character takes on a new role as an aunt to her sister's daughter, Svala. Since other family members have also passed, Sanders is the next in line to be her caretaker. She struggles to accept a teenager into her life, but Svala shows signs of being brilliant. Though she is in danger, she is an intelligent girl able to use her resourcefulness to her advantage.

This series started as a great one for me, though I wish the plot line were more in-depth, like the first book. When comparing book one to book seven, though written by different authors, you can tell they are vastly different. This book was, sadly, not my favorite read.

I enjoyed the first 3 books in this series but did not read the next three by the second author. I was really looking forward to trying The Girl in the Eagle's Talons to see how the third writer would handle the series.
I think I was missing something in the translation from Swedish. I found it difficult to follow and had to go back and read to see if I had skipped something. I kept circling back but never could really get into the story or relate to the characters.
If you enjoy this series, I would say definitely give The Girl in the Eagle's Talons a try because it may have just been a difficult read for me.
I received and ARC of this book but this is my honest, voluntary opinion.

Lisbeth Salander is active again, but this time she’s an aunt trying to decide if she wants to take on the responsibility of a teenage girl. Lisbeth has been dark but still this is her sister’s daughter, and she eliminated the girl’s father. Mikael Blomkvist is involved as well, and his grandson is taken at his daughter’s wedding. Which causes him to take on issues as we usually does as a journalist.
The book looks at many environmental issues, but the number of characters and going by different names make the story confusing. As well Lisbeth doesn’t seem to be the usual strong persona who takes a head-on approach to matters. She seems indecisive, unsure, hesitant.

The Girl in the Eagle's Talons is the latest Millennium book, this written by Karin Smirnoff, the third author to take her hands at penning the eclectic suspense novels. Lisbeth has been named guardian to her niece, Svala. Lisbeth has no interest in caring for a child, but Svala is different. She’s brilliant and she’s in danger. Her grandmother has died and her mother has disappeared, so Lisbeth is next in line to be Svala’s guardian. Henry Salo, head of the municipality in Gasskas, is working to get a wind farm installed on acreage that is owned by others. #NETGALLEY #THEGIRLINTHEEAGLE"STALONS

Thanks to net galley providing me with this ARC. Lisbeth Salander returns to gather up her thirteen year old niece, whose mother is missing. Lisbeth is the only family left even though she has never met the girl and has no interest in being a child minder. Svala turns out to be a bright resourceful girl who knows what’s going on and has great survival skills. Mikael Blomquist also comes to the town, following a story about the impact of a large windmill farm on this remote quiet community. The characters lack of edginess of Stieg Larssen’s depiction, but there’s non stop action. .

Unlike most of the previous books about the character Lisbeth Salander, this one seems to focus most of the story on a new character, Lisbeth’s niece, Svala, daughter of the man Lisbeth killed earlier, who could not feel pain but loved administering it. Svala, who also cannot feel physical pain, and who happens to be genius with special skills at opening safes, joins forces with Lisbeth to put things right in this typically complex story of criminal intrigue and underestimation of key characters by the bad guys, to their ultimate displeasure.
Woven into the story is a detailed tale of one criminal’s fascination with sea eagles and his care and feeding of them during his self-imposed isolation deep in the woods of Scandinavia, from which he plies his craft of problem and people elimination.
The story wraps up very quickly after a long and twisting reveal of the motives driving the main characters, including Mikael Blomqvist’s daughter and her fiancée, the main character in the plot to turn forest land into money. A new evil mastermind is also introduced, who’s extreme evil and depravity made this reader cringe.
Not as well presented as the originals by Stieg Larsson, but still very entertaining with good character portrayal and development.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I really enjoyed this addition to Lisbeth's story, however I agree with the other reviewers that a second look should be given to the translation into English. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. The Girl in the Eagles Talon is the continued story of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist and the first book of a new trilogy, from a brand new author, in this world. This is a thriller with the converging stories/paths of Lisbeth and Mikael, involving large corporations, advantageous/untapped wealth in natural resources, and a tangled web of familial connections throughout all of it. I think it’s best to jump in without much more information, since it’s so easy to fall back into this world.

This was a solid continuation of the Millennium series. I was initially hesitant with a new author coming into play and I think the style was definitely a bit different but, it was still enjoyable to read. I do think it took a while to get into the story and there was a fair amount of backstories and discussion on other characters that I just couldn’t wait to just get to see more of Lisbeth/Mikael. I tried to just push through to get to those parts of the story, which was a little tough, but once the story got really involved, I could finish it out.

I do think the settings and descriptions in this book really helped put the reader into this world and I thought that was a plus in this book. If you’ve enjoyed other books in the Millennium series, you may enjoy this one and may enjoy the nostalgia of it all. It is definitely a fresh take and was fun to revisit some favorite characters.

This felt so different from the other books in the series that it was a little bit jarring for me. Not my favorite read.

I love this series and Lizbeth Salander is one of my favorite characters. This was a well written book but I had some issues with the plot. It was just “eh” at times. And, of course, it needed more Lizbeth Salander.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75523433

Just 3 stars for the Seventh outing of Lisbeth Salader, now with her third (female) writer. Having read them all, I was really rather underwhelmed by this installment "Girl in the Eagle's Talons". There seemed to be translation issues here and in addition, both of the MC's seemed somewhat diminished from their former selves (I get they're older, but still). There was plenty of action & I did like the addition of Lisbeth's niece, but something was just off here. My sincere thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the "read now" complimentary DRC - opinions my own.

I've always like Lisbeth Salander's character, and I struggled with the previous iterations that attempted to revive her. I'm not familiar with Smirnoff's other work, so I have nothing with which to compare her writing. As much as I wanted to enjoy this latest reimagining of Salander, I could not get into this novel. The first half was downright painful, not to mention confusing due to intermittent flashbacks, men with no names, and a myriad of characters that really had no relevance up to that point. The redeeming quality of this novel, and perhaps the only thing that kept me reading, was Svala. While only thirteen, she seems worthy of her own set of novels - maybe for a YA audience, but she deserves to be the lead protagonist, either way.

Some of the story may have also been lost in translation. There was a great deal that seemed to go beyond the usual geographical challenges that arise when reading a novel set outside the reader's country. (What is the deal with Santa and Finland? That whole part of the book was bizarre.) I love a good Swedish police procedural, but even Lisbeth couldn't save this one for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me get my hands on this one early. After a disappointing second trilogy that treated Lisbeth as a side character, I was excited to revisit these characters with a female author. The plot was fun and I enjoyed the introduction of Svala, Lisbeth’s niece. However, the translation was just awful. Very stilted with jarring jumps in time/setting/dialogue that made me wonder if I had missed something-I finally gave up on rereading confusing passages and just plowed through. I’m sure the original is a lot of fun but this translation is not quite ready for English-speaking audiences.

This is one I’m going to have to think about for a while because, truthfully, I’m not sure how I feel about it. It felt like a very mixed bag to me. Of course I loved getting to live with Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, one of my all time favorite fictional characters, once again. And Svala Hirak, Lisbeth’s niece, was also a welcome addition and entertaining foil to Lisbeth.

One of my biggest complaints is that there are just too many new characters who ultimately serve no real purpose within the story, as well as far too many subplots that could be removed without affecting the book at all.

And this might be me being picky, but I don’t think the Millenium saga needs the random meta moments sprinkled throughout. Lisbeth actually referring to herself as the girl either the dragon tattoo and the girl who played with fire, as well as Svala telling her aunt “You look like Noomi Rapace” just felt really cringe-y to me.

The central mystery is good enough that it really doesn’t need those extra subplots, and Lisbeth’s continued determination to take down men who hurt women is especially welcome in 2023.

Overall, the nostalgia factor of Mikael and Lisbeth is strong, but the novel itself felt very middling. Here’s hoping the next one is a true return to form for my favorite duo.

It pains me to give a two star review, especially when I appreciate the immense effort it takes to write, publish and translate a book. This series of books is one I have followed over the years and I was looking forward to this latest installment. However, I found the narrative choppy and with little transition between topics and characters. While some of the characters' inner thoughts were italicized it was not always clear if the thoughts were past, present or future or whose thoughts they were. Blomqvists is angst-ridden due to the demise of his beloved Millennium. His future looks bleak filled with blog, vlogs and podcasts. On top of professional worries he is asked to travel to Norrland for his daughter Pernilla's wedding and to see his nine year old grandson.

Coincidentally, Salander travels to Norrland at the same time, also for family-related business. Her twin (dead) brother's daughter needs a guardian and she is the only option available. The story line becomes exquisitely twisted from this point on. The bad guys are over-the-top evil and vile, more coincidences occur and the plot gets more and more tangled. And though this series has always been graphic I found this installment more graphic than necessary at times.

Perhaps the translation of the book enters into the awkwardness I found while reading but I am not sure that is totally responsible for the less than smooth writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-galley.