I actually really enjoyed this - and I have just spotted that there is a Volume 2 so I'm going to HAVE to order that now!

i loved the whole Victorian feel of it - the way it was written made it feel quite an old book - but racy with it. i kept worrying that the slightly erotic was going to tip over into uncomfortable full-on porn, but it never did, it was all quite tasteful.

I think that the author may have been a bit confused as to where the story was going - there were quite a lot of cha... (show more)

I actually really enjoyed this - and I have just spotted that there is a Volume 2 so I'm going to HAVE to order that now!

i loved the whole Victorian feel of it - the way it was written made it feel quite an old book - but racy with it. i kept worrying that the slightly erotic was going to tip over into uncomfortable full-on porn, but it never did, it was all quite tasteful.

I think that the author may have been a bit confused as to where the story was going - there were quite a lot of characters, and there seemed to be a lot of little plot twists and turns, and whole scenes that didn't seem to have any purpose to the story - however it romped along (and it WAS a romp!) at a great pace, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A lot of it seemed to play out as what would make a fantastic film - especially the highly tense stand off in the final scene when all the story was unraveled and then neatly tied up! (show less)

I saw the film before reading the book, and I was completely blown away by it. So, I was worried that I would do what I usually do in reverse (be disappointed by a film after loving the book), but thought I'd read the book anyway. The book is SO much better than the film - it explains so much more (obviously), and where the film had a slightly 'romantic' view of everything, there are some really quite nasty topics explored in the book, which I thought was quite brave of the author. I spent... (show more)

I saw the film before reading the book, and I was completely blown away by it. So, I was worried that I would do what I usually do in reverse (be disappointed by a film after loving the book), but thought I'd read the book anyway. The book is SO much better than the film - it explains so much more (obviously), and where the film had a slightly 'romantic' view of everything, there are some really quite nasty topics explored in the book, which I thought was quite brave of the author. I spent so much of the book confused as to whose 'side' I should be on, which I personally think is a great thing. Your morals SHOULD be called into question throughout your life, no matter what the subject - you should be able to see things from the other side, and I felt that this book really pushed this. A fantastic story, well written (and well translated from the original Swedish I believe) that I would recommend to anyone made of stern stuff. (show less)