The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo seems to be pretty divisive. Either you like it or you don’t. After making a solid go of it and getting pretty deep into the book, I ended up being in the latter category, just from Larsson’s style, which didn’t jibe with me enough that it finally bumped me from what was (at least in part) a genuinely interesting story.
The same can be said for The Unwanteds, which has an interesting premise–a dystopian setting where, in a secured and indoctrinated city where all creativity and expressions of joy are forbidden, every year children who are now thirteen are categorized as Wanted (educated to be elevated to rulers and the military), Necessary (put to work), or Unwanted (to be eliminated as a result of displaying some sign of creativity); but as they approach their executions, the teens instead pass into a secret magical land where their creativity is not only encouraged and crafted, it can be used to make magic spells, which will help not if but when the kids’ home city discovers their existence and wages war against them–but the style wasn’t to my taste.
Mind you, this series is a New York Times best seller, so don’t take my word for it. As with every book and movie and music and kind of artistic expression, check it out for yourself if the concept sounds at all interesting. To each his own, and all that.
Meanwhile, I just started The Adventurers Guild in the hopes that it suits me a bit better than some others have this month.