The trilogy, written by the late Stieg Larsson, revolves
around the fictional operations of a Swedish Publications house named
(unsurprisingly) “Millennium”. For the sake of those who have not embarked on
this reading journey, I will write only about the details I admire in the
characters so that you may enjoy the storyline in your own time.
Of course, Millennium serves as the crucial vehicle for the
interactions between the various characters. In many ways, Millennium serves as
the backdrop to allow a work/personal relationship interaction between the
characters Carl Mikael Blomkvist, Lisbeth Salander and Erika Berger. Throughout
the trilogy, new characters enter at different stages to contribute their drama
to the overarching story line.
In retrospective, I find Salander’s character very
inspirational. Should you be fortunate enough to read the book without taking a
sneak peak at the movie trailer, I would hope that you find her behaviour and
characteristics to be worthy of noting down and applying to yourself. Of
course, there are many elements of her character which I probably shouldn’t
aspire to become, but general traits like her attentive and sharp mind is one
which everyone should adopt.
Despite being written at the (disputably) dawn of this
computer age, the novels feel surprisingly in touch with modern times. There
are continual references to the dominance of Apple computing (albeit older
specs) and a general aura that technology is being used appropriately to tackle
many elements of life. Therefore, I am positively surprised at the timelessness
of the writing. But what I wished to comment, was the awe inspiring methods in
which Salander approaches computers. Her ability to hack is something I envy,
because it seems she can accomplish so much by just installing “Asphexia” into
all her enemy’s computers. In all honesty, the trilogy has made me aspire to
become a better user of technology in order to leverage its’ power against
greater forces beyond my control.
I found reading the Millennium Trilogy immensely satisfying.
It’s a storyline which isn’t too far fetched to the point of “ridiculous”,
whilst not being too mundane that I fall asleep. There were spikes which kept
me alert and kept my eyes glued to the page. At times, it felt like the words
naturally translated into movie action scenes in my mind, so in that sense, the
trilogy is a highly entertaining book.
The trilogy sits into the “good entertainment” category
perfectly. If you want to take your mind off serious books but not wanting to
ditch reading altogether for a while, then The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl
who played with Fire and The Girl who
Kicked Over the Hornet’s Nest are next up on your list.
+ I found all three books across various Charity stores in London. Each sequel appeared at exactly the time when I finished the preceding one. It seems books have a certain compass in them which makes them steer towards you!
