The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

For this review, I am not going to be writing my own synopsis.

Synopsis: Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. - Dave Callanan

Review: I was literally just staring at my computer screen, trying to come up with my own summary for this novel, but obviously had a hard time, and eventually failed to do so. I don't know if it's because the plot is too complicated to tell without giving away too much information, or if I wasn't just into it that much. I guess it's a bit of both.

This is an international bestseller, and I see this everywhere I go! (bookstores, Target, Walmart, etc) I guess, in a lot of ways, I can see how this has gained so much popularity and praise.
Generally, the book is good.

But.. not that good.

It is less than expected, especially after hearing many people recommending this book and reading its good reviews. I have to agree though, it is interesting. It also is really rich in intricate details. But like I said already, it just wasn't that good.
The novel is long, and it felt like it! It took a while for it to get to the main plot, that by the time it did, I couldn't even tell because of all the other unnecessary subplots. The middle part of the book was the best part, but the ending, like I said about how it started, was also drawn out way too much. The characters also, were not developed well enough, which made it hard for me to connect or relate more to them. Their roles were not believable either. And when I don't care that much for the characters, I tend to not care much about what's going on, what's happening to them, and the situations they are facing.

If it wasn't for the author's intelligent writing, I don't know what would have made me kept reading.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad book. Overall, I guess I would still recommend it, so you can judge it for yourself. It's just that I can think of a lot of other titles similar to this plot and style that would be much better choices than this.

The Sweet Far Thing

::SPOILERS AHEAD!!::

I love the first two books and was eagerly awaiting to get my hands on this one and finish it. I finally did.

This is the last installment of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, and I have to say that despite the obvious writing talent the author has, this book disappointed me more than anything else.

I thought that this was such a bad ending! It frustrated me how anti-climactic and irrelevant everything was, not to mention dragging with its 800 pages.

First of all, the characters never seem to grow up. They’re still the same immature and greedy teenagers that they were in the first book. I expected at least some kind of growth or maturity there somewhere, but found nothing. Felicity and Ann all seem to hate Gemma, and simply use her as a gateway to the realms. Their friendship is not inspiring, nothing special, genuine, or important. Pippa, by far, in my opinion, is the most intriguing character.

Another main character I found interesting was Kartik. I also loved his scenes with Gemma. But of course, the author just had to kill him. I found that unnecessary. Speaking of unnecessary, include Felicity’s “shocking” lesbian storyline. It didn’t fit! Sorry Libba Bray, it did not work.

::END OF SPOILERS::

THE CONSENSUS: If you do not want to ruin the first two books in your mind, I suggest you skip this one and create your own version of an ending. It would have gone differently, but I’m sure it would be a much better one.

Bad ending to an otherwise entertaining, imaginative series. Disappointing!