As I commented before, I felt under pressure to enjoy this book, as it has had such good press. I need not have worried. I was not far through before it got to the un-put-downable phase. It is quite a long book, with a complex story and lots of foreign names, but I never felt lost or confused. I think my reasonable familiarity of (and affection for) the country probably helped.
The characters are well drawn, but leave enough to the imagination to keep me interested - Salander, in particular, is full of surprises. I think it is important to consider the quality of the storytelling and the quality of the writing separately. The story is powerful and well thought through and this will drive me to read the following two books. It is slightly hard to assess the quality of writing, when a book is read in translation. But I did feel that there were quite a few examples of excessive, intricate detail - like Salander's old and new computers, where we get a detailed specification. I also wonder if there was more sex in the book than necessary. I am not being prudish - I just thought that some of the sexual references detracted from the main story, which already had a sexual theme.
Now, out of curiosity, I will watch the DVD of the movie.
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