So this blog will be dedicated to my thoughts on the last in Andrea Cremer’s Nightshade trilogy, Bloodrose, and the American version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” movie, which I went to see a few weeks ago and have been meaning to blog about.

First of all, if you haven’t heard it yet, Trent Reznor and Karen O’s version of the Immigrant Song was used for the Dragon Tattoo soundtrack and trailer, here’s the video with the full song, so so good…

I remember back in October or November when I saw the trailer with this song and literally had goosebumps all over my body. I was a huge fan of the Swedish movies and I have to admit a little bit cynical about the American version, but god this got me interested.

The movie was everything I wanted it to be. I actually think I got more out of the English language version since there’s just some things that don’t translate when you’re reading subtitles. Perhaps the subtleties of expression. I always get excited when a goth girl is made into a hero, and Lisbeth is THE hero of goth girls. I also really liked the fact that the director and writers emphasised Lisbeth’s Aspergers. Having lived with a sibling with Aspergers all my life I was so happy to see it being portrayed on the big screen. How she sometimes doesn’t know how to react in social situations, and comes off as hostile. Or the way she’s kind of awkward around Mikael and isn’t really very vocal about how she likes him. My heart literally broke when she bought him the leather jacket at the end and then threw it in the bin because she spotted Mikael going out with his old flame. Aww, so adorable and sad.

The film was really long, and I knew the story off by heart already but that didn’t stop me from enjoying every minute of it. Maybe its cathartic or something. I mean, people in Ancient Greece went to see tragedies performed in the theatre, the stories of which they had already heard a hundred times, but they still went because it was a cathartic experience. People still go to see productions of Hamlet despite the fact that they know how it ends. Everyone dies, by the way.

So yeah, I give “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” five stars. Go see it, you won’t be disappointed.

Also this week I read the last book in Andrea Cremer’s Nightshade trilogy, Bloodrose. I remember reading the first book in this series in about a day and a half, I just couldn’t put it down. In this book Calla, Ren, Shay and the rest of the wolves and Searchers need to go on a range of quests to various locations across the world to retrieve the pieces to create the weapon that can be used to defeat the Keepers. It’s all quite exciting and nail biting stuff, especially when they have to go underwater and into a cave where they’re attacked by a swarm of bats that bite.

Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know what happens in the end…

I was kind of shocked when, in the final battle, Ren dies at the hands of Emile, the man he’d all his life thought was his father. I actually preferred Ren to Shay as a love interest for Calla all through the books, and even though I knew she was never going to pick him, I didn’t want him to die. It made me feel sad. I can get quite caught up in the stories I like and sort of feel attached to the characters as if they were real people. So when Ren died I admit I did shed a tear.

But that’s not all, in order to completely defeat the Keepers Calla and her friends must be turned back into wolves. Real wolves, no longer able to be human again. I found this part of the ending both good and bad. Good because it was quite an original ending, and it’s nice when you see the characters as wolves all happy and living in nature as a pack. But bad because it really does put a full stop to the story, and you know there aren’t going to be any more books about Calla and Shay. When a story ends properly I always seem to mourn it for a little while.

But that’s just me being an unhealthy book addict for you.

I’m off to spend the rest of my Sunday writing a new chapter for my dystopian future novel and watching some more episodes from my new Fringe Season 2 box set, to feed the sci-fi junkie in me.

Until next time…