The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Series) Books in Order
Stieg Larsson
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2005)
- The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006)
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (2007)
David Lagercrantz
- The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2015)
- The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (2017)
- The Girl Who Lived Twice (2019)
Karin Smirnoff
- The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons (2022)
What is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo about?
The Millennium series is a Swedish crime novel series firstly written by journalist Stieg Larsson. He planned for the series to have 10 books but only completed three before his death in 2004. The series features two main characters: Lisbeth Salander, a loner computer hacker with a photographic memory, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher. The first three books, known as the “Millennium Trilogy,” were published posthumously and have been translated into over 50 languages. The entire series has sold over 100 million copies worldwide.
In 2013, author David Lagercrantz was commissioned to continue the series with Larsson’s characters. He wrote three more books, with the series having been adapted into films and graphic novels.
In November 2021, publishing house Polaris acquired the rights to the series and announced a new trilogy of books written by Swedish author Karin Smirnoff. The first book in the new trilogy, The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons, was published in 2022 with a full release in 2023.
Who was Stieg Larsson?
Karl Stig-Erland “Stieg” Larsson was a Swedish writer, journalist, and activist. He is best known for writing the Millennium trilogy of crime novels, which were published posthumously, starting in 2005, after he died of a sudden heart attack.
How to Read The Millennium Series
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2005)
Millennium #1
166,342 words, 600 pages, 18 hrs and 48 mins to read.
Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
4.16 out of 5 on Goodreads
It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance…and about Lisbeth Salander, a 24-year-old, pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age, who assists Blomkvist with the investigation.
This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism – and an unexpected connection between themselves.
- The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006)
Millennium #2
185,140 words, 630 pages, 20 hrs and 49 mins to read.
Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
4.25 out of 5 on Goodreads
The next installment of the Millennium series: Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (2007)
Millennium #3
212,716 words, 672 pages, 25 hrs and 6 mins to read.
Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
4.23 out of 5 on Goodreads
In the next installment of the Millennium series, with the help of Mikael Blomkvist, Salander will need to identify those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she’ll seek revenge—against the man who tried to kill her and against the corrupt government institutions that nearly destroyed her life.
- The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2015)
Millennium #4
184,000 words, 544 pages, 16 hrs and 46 mins to read.
Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
3.79 out of 5 on Goodreads
The next installment in the Millennium series: a genius hacker who has always been an outsider; a journalist with a penchant for danger. She is Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo. He is Mikael Blomkvist, crusading editor of Millennium. One night, Blomkvist receives a call from a source who claims to have been given information vital to the United States by a young female hacker. Blomkvist, always on the lookout for a story, reaches out to Salander for help. She, as usual, has plans of her own. Together they are drawn into a ruthless underworld of spies, cybercriminals, and government operatives—some willing to kill to protect their secrets.
- The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (2017)
Millennium #5
136,000 words, 448 pages, 13 hrs and 32 mins to read.
Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
3.79 out of 5 on Goodreads
Lisbeth Salander—obstinate outsider, volatile seeker of justice for herself and others—seizes on a chance to unearth her mysterious past once and for all. And she will let nothing stop her—not the Islamists she enrages by rescuing a young woman from their brutality; not the prison gang leader who passes a death sentence on her; not the deadly reach of her long-lost twin sister, Camilla; and not the people who will do anything to keep buried knowledge of a sinister pseudoscientific experiment known only as The Registry. Once again, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are the fierce heart of a thrilling full-tilt novel that takes on some of the world’s most insidious problems.
- The Girl Who Lived Twice (2019)
Millennium #6
127,000 words, 448 pages, 11 hrs and 47 mins to read.
Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
3.75 out of 5 on Goodreads
Mikael Blomkvist is trying to reach Lisbeth Salander—the fierce, unstoppable girl with the dragon tattoo. He needs her help unraveling the identity of a man who died with Blomkvist’s phone number in his pocket—a man who does not exist in any official records and whose garbled last words hinted at knowledge that would be dangerous to important people. But Lisbeth has disappeared. She’s sold her apartment in Stockholm. She’s gone dark. She’s told no one where she is. And no one is aware that at long last she’s got her primal enemy, her twin sister, Camilla, squarely in her sights.
- The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons (2022) (wide release in Aug 2023)
Millennium #7
108,000 words, 552 pages, 10 hrs to read.
Published by Random House Large Print
3.33 out of 5 on Goodreads
Change is coming to Sweden’s far north: its untapped natural resources are sparking a gold rush, with the criminal underworld leading the charge. But it’s not the prospect of riches that brings Lisbeth Salander to the small town of Gasskas. She has been named guardian to her niece Svala, whose mother has disappeared. Two things soon become clear: Svala is a remarkably gifted teenager—and she’s being watched.
Mikael Blomkvist is also heading north. He has seen better days. Millennium magazine is in its final print issue, and relations with his daughter are strained. Worse still, there are troubling rumors surrounding the man she’s about to marry. When the truth behind the whispers explodes into violence, Salander emerges as Blomkvist’s last hope.
Overall
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series is one of the most successful crime series in history. Some fans of the original Stieg Larsson trilogy have been upset that the series was continued after his death. The first trilogy was actually the series that got me into reading as an adult and is still one of my favourite trilogies to date!
Which one is your favourite or most looking forward to picking up next? Do you think the series should have stopped after the first trilogy?
Let us know!
Happy reading!
Total Word Count
- Total Word Count: 1,119,198
- Total Page Count: 3894
- Total Reading/Listening Time: 116 hrs and 48 mins
More of the same, but different:
Things to Note:
- Word count is an approximation.
- Amount of pages may differ due to different publications, font style and/or size etc.
- Time spent reading is generally an approximation based on the word count and the average reading time. The average reader will read 250 WPM (Words Per Minute).
- This is the original publisher of the books.
- The current Goodreads score at the time of writing.
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