Josh

It was good to be back in this universe again, and there are definitely things I liked about the book. I was personally curious about Yun Tianming's journey and the Trisolarans in general, so getting more on that front was satisfying. That said, I can't say I truly enjoyed it as an entry in the series, published fan fiction or not. The story blends fantastical, theological, and sci-fi elements in ways that are certainly mind-bending, but they never quite come together into anything that feels meaningful or grounded.

I also quite dislike how the third story in particular ends. The final moments of Death's End were powerful precisely because they left so much open to interpretation, both emotionally and philosophically. This follow up tries to offer more definitive answers, and in doing so, it diminishes some of what made the original trilogy’s ending resonate so well with me.

2 collapsing dimensions out of 5.

Long mystery and thriller series are hard for me to stay invested in. At some point, it starts to feel like the same material is being recycled. The characters have already grown as much as they are going to, the plot becomes familiar, and the overall story starts to feel stale. For me, this book was the point where the series lost all of its momentum.

I know the characters are deep and nuanced from the earlier books, but that doesn’t come through here. They feel mostly one-dimensional. The journalism angle that added so much to the earlier novels is almost entirely absent. Lisbeth feels flat. Blomkvist’s personality barely comes through. There are also elements from Larsson’s original trilogy that seem to have been intentionally downplayed or ignored. One example is Berger’s relationship with Blomkvist. Her role had already been reduced in the previous book, but here it is virtually nonexistent until the final pages. Even then, her brief appearance seems to exist only to create conflict around her relationship with Blomkvist, potentially so it ends. That could have been fine if it were given proper attention, but instead, it is rushed and doesn’t quite fit with what we know about these characters.

In the earlier books, the first two-thirds were usually solid, but it was the final third where everything came to a head that really pulled me in. That section always made me want to keep turning pages, no matter the time or whatever else I needed to be doing. Unfortunately, that did not happen with this one. I found the story predictable, at times unbelievable, and ultimately not very engaging. Even the climax failed to hold my interest, missing the 'thrill' in thriller. Suffice to say I think this is the point I'll be stopping with this series

Trigger Warning: If animal cruelty/abuse makes you squeamish then I highly recommend finding a summary of chapter 16 that just hits the key points if you decide to read it. Even as someone who is not a highly visual reader I found this chapter grotesque.

I immensely enjoyed this novel, but having said that there are parts of it that I loathed. I loved the magical realism and how seamlessly it was woven into the story. There's something about the writing and how surreal things are that sucked me in and kept me turning page after page. I enjoyed the abstraction of reality and surprisingly enjoyed that the puzzle is left up to one's own interpretation for the most part.

But on the other end of the spectrum there are parts of this novel where I rolled my eyes, visibly cringed and wondered if I was even reading the same author. There are scene's that go into an absurd level of detail, often very awkward or crude, detail. Some of the characters feel more like vessels to spit out philosophy than they do actual people or are simply tools for the plot and feel paper thin. The biggest thing though is definitely the way sexuality and the commentary around it is written. The writing of this book is damn near lyrical, until it comes to sexuality and women and the jarring crudeness of that contrast sticks out like a sore thumb.

I hate the notion of "Its great if you just ignore x, y, and z", but that's legitimately how I felt about this. It is what it is. 4 Nakata's out of 5.