Josh

It was good to be back in this universe again, and there are definitely things I liked about the book. I was personally curious about Yun Tianming's journey and the Trisolarans in general, so getting more on that front was satisfying. That said, I can't say I truly enjoyed it as an entry in the series, published fan fiction or not. The story blends fantastical, theological, and sci-fi elements in ways that are certainly mind-bending, but they never quite come together into anything that feels meaningful or grounded.

I also quite dislike how the third story in particular ends. The final moments of Death's End were powerful precisely because they left so much open to interpretation, both emotionally and philosophically. This follow up tries to offer more definitive answers, and in doing so, it diminishes some of what made the original trilogy’s ending resonate so well with me.

2 collapsing dimensions out of 5.

Long mystery and thriller series are hard for me to stay invested in. At some point, it starts to feel like the same material is being recycled. The characters have already grown as much as they are going to, the plot becomes familiar, and the overall story starts to feel stale. For me, this book was the point where the series lost all of its momentum.

I know the characters are deep and nuanced from the earlier books, but that doesn’t come through here. They feel mostly one-dimensional. The journalism angle that added so much to the earlier novels is almost entirely absent. Lisbeth feels flat. Blomkvist’s personality barely comes through. There are also elements from Larsson’s original trilogy that seem to have been intentionally downplayed or ignored. One example is Berger’s relationship with Blomkvist. Her role had already been reduced in the previous book, but here it is virtually nonexistent until the final pages. Even then, her brief appearance seems to exist only to create conflict around her relationship with Blomkvist, potentially so it ends. That could have been fine if it were given proper attention, but instead, it is rushed and doesn’t quite fit with what we know about these characters.

In the earlier books, the first two-thirds were usually solid, but it was the final third where everything came to a head that really pulled me in. That section always made me want to keep turning pages, no matter the time or whatever else I needed to be doing. Unfortunately, that did not happen with this one. I found the story predictable, at times unbelievable, and ultimately not very engaging. Even the climax failed to hold my interest, missing the 'thrill' in thriller. Suffice to say I think this is the point I'll be stopping with this series

Trigger Warning: If animal cruelty/abuse makes you squeamish then I highly recommend finding a summary of chapter 16 that just hits the key points if you decide to read it. Even as someone who is not a highly visual reader I found this chapter grotesque.

I immensely enjoyed this novel, but having said that there are parts of it that I loathed. I loved the magical realism and how seamlessly it was woven into the story. There's something about the writing and how surreal things are that sucked me in and kept me turning page after page. I enjoyed the abstraction of reality and surprisingly enjoyed that the puzzle is left up to one's own interpretation for the most part.

But on the other end of the spectrum there are parts of this novel where I rolled my eyes, visibly cringed and wondered if I was even reading the same author. There are scene's that go into an absurd level of detail, often very awkward or crude, detail. Some of the characters feel more like vessels to spit out philosophy than they do actual people or are simply tools for the plot and feel paper thin. The biggest thing though is definitely the way sexuality and the commentary around it is written. The writing of this book is damn near lyrical, until it comes to sexuality and women and the jarring crudeness of that contrast sticks out like a sore thumb.

I hate the notion of "Its great if you just ignore x, y, and z", but that's legitimately how I felt about this. It is what it is. 4 Nakata's out of 5.

I have mixed feelings about this series as a whole. I still maintain that it's really the 'villains' (the humans not What Waits) that carry the story, especially for YA. They are the most interesting characters, but through the books the other characters did grow on me as well and I genuinely enjoyed some of their interactions such as Dom and Sorasa.

This book, like the one's before it though, has sections where everything is moving at a snail's pace and I was, to put it plainly, wondering if it was ever going to get to the point. I was even wondering if there was going to be a climax in this book or if there'd be another cliffhanger and a fourth book as I was approaching the end and all there had really been was 'reunions'. There is a conclusion though (mostly), one I found underwhelming and rushed, but there none the less.

I'd say worth reading if you enjoy the Tolkien formula. I'm still sitting around a 3 to 3.5 but I will say this much. I enjoyed it immensely more than Aveyard's other series Red Queen. Partly due to it being more Tolkienesque and partly because it does a better job imo of straddling the line between YA and Adult.

There are a couple things that put me off this book a bit in comparison to the original trilogy. One of those is just the nature of some mystery thriller's. Each book tends to escalate the mystery that needs solved and it reaches a point where it becomes so large I can no longer suspend my disbelief.

The other one is that this is a new author. Putting aside what I personally think about the Larsson estate issue, any time you have a new author trying to fill very large shoes you're going to have some growing pains. I do feel Lagercrantz by the end had gotten a handle on the characters, so that while not quite the same, still captured that familiar voice.

There is an odd disconnect between the third book and this one though. Millenium is having familiar issue's, but it not only doesn't feel convincing but serves no real purpose to the narrative imo. Blomkvist has a relationship by the end of the third book, but that's mysteriously missing, not mentioned in any way, so it's back to the status quo 'ladys man' which I was never a huge fan of.

It's not all bad though, the payoff still delivers and one benefit of Lagercrantz writing is that he's not nearly as prone to writing about the minutia of the characters lives. There's no grocery list included or a detailed breakdown of what's for breakfast and I certainly can appreciate the lack of that as it was one of my main complaints with the trilogy.

I'm still not certain this series needed to go beyond the trilogy which was a nice wrapping up point. None the less 3 big brothers out of 5.