That said, unlike the last two books, there was no shocking moment where the action kicked in and I realized what the whole book was really about. And the author gave his bad guys no credit and no success -- it was nice to watch them get sucked down by their own arrogance, but I would have liked a little more finesse, a little more suspense.
So, I saw the problems as less pronounced than the previous books, but the strengths also felt a little flat, the action stale.
Glad I read them. Unlikely to re-read. Not sure if I want to see the movies -- movies are unfortunately good at fetishizing sexualized violence and not that great at conveying messages about systemic evils.
This entry was originally posted at http://matt-doyle.dreamwidth.org/786191.h
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I am amused that he finds a woman, finally, who's apparently worth giving up his constant no-strings-attached flings. Which, to be fair, it was never the actual relationships that bothered me (they're imminently feminism-friendly, consensual, everyone agrees that it's just casual, whatever). He never, for instance, lies to them and says he'll be nomogamous. What bothered me was the fact that A)So many of those women are *only* relevant to the story when he's fucking them, and the second they decide they don't want to keep being casual they disappear and B)It's always the women who have that issue, and he doesn't seem to even grasp where they're coming from or care one way or the other if they don't want to have sex anymore.
I will say that I have more hope for the movies, personally, although I can't speak to the American versions. I saw the first Swedish one and was impressed at how much better it was. They cut out a lot of the stupid shit, including his relationship with his co-editor. I have some interest in finishing the movies, where I have none in finishing the books.