Steig Larsson Millennium Trilogy - has Christmas wiped my brain. or is it really hard going?

[Lovecat]

I bought myself all 3 books to read over the break, I normally love thrillers and detective novels, but I'm finding the first one really hard going. It just seems to be pages and pages. of dullness.

Please tell me it's worth persevering?

Apologies for random punctuation - am on phone in bed as I can't sleep. Grr.

No it's not I bought all 3 books but have never read the last 2 because it would be a waste of my life :)

What I found especially tedious was the pages of description about technology i.e. PGP encryption, hardware specs. Not only is this very dull to read but it is going to date the books incredibly quickly.

Also I found the whole liberated sex thing which is obviously supposed to be provocative a total yawnfest. It just read as a boring male fantasy.

Oh god, I haven't got to any sex yet! Just loads of talking about property deals and sailing... did any mners like them?

I really quite enjoyed them - all of them! But then I coud be classed as dull!!!!!!!
I must admit to gliding over the techy bits and doing a bit of speed reading (i.e.not reading it!)

I read the first one and found it dreadful, thought it was very badly written. Have the other two but not sure I can bear to read them. My DH thought 2nd one was hard going. Can't believe they are so popular

I found the first few chapters of the 1st one very tedious, but if you persevere it does pick up, I enjoyed the whole series after that initial blip.

I've lost count of the number of times I've picked up this book then abandoned it after a few pages. I'm glad others found it hard going - I thought it was just me. Maybe it lost something in translation.

Oh it is definitely worth the effort - I urge you to continue. DH read the first one on holiday and by the end was sitting up late because he had to know how it ended. He passed it on to me saying stick with it past the slow beginning because it is worth it and he was right.

Since then I have read books to and three and they get better and better. By the end of book three I was totally gripped and couldn't bear to put it down for a minute until I had finished it.

nothing wrong with your brain ... they are just pages and pages of badly translated dullness (only have first-hand experience of the first as life is too short )

actually, to start off with it's pages and pages of dullness, then it's pages of pages of dullness interspersed with really unpleasant misogynism

take them to the charity shop first thing and treat yourself to something decent :)

Keep going!! The first 54 pages are really hard going but by page 56 i was hooked. Reading the last one at the mo and i loved them. Not normally my thing at all!

Agree with DanceInTheDark. The first quarter of book one I found really difficult, but from the point Mikael accepts the job it does get easier. Although, as it is a scene setter, it is really no better than a popcorn crime novel.

Books 2 & 3 are a continuous story and contain a lot more characterisation - particularly Lisbeth. The characters seem more real than in the first novel.

I actually found the trilogy quite a page turner after the first 60 pages of book one and read 2&3 in a couple of days.

Definately keep going past the first 50 pages, it does get really gripping. Im on the last book now, halfway through and Im dreading when I finish it.

The first 100-/120 pages are slow. The first is my least favourite although it does pick up pace. Thankfully the draw of a certain character is such, imo, that it tempts you into the next book and the 2nd and 3rd are corkers.