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On a night after the apparent suicide of high school student Elias Malmgren, a blood-red moon fills the night sky. Minoo wakes up outside her house, still in her pajamas, and is drawn by an invisible force to an abandoned theme park on the outskirts of town. Soon five of her classmates--Vanessa, Linnea, Anna-Karin, Rebecka and Ida--arrive, compelled the same force. A mystical being takes over Ida's body and tells them they are fated to fight an ancient evil that is hunting them. The park is a safe haven; the school, a place of danger. The six are wildly different and definitely not friends...but they are the Chosen Ones. As the weeks pass, each girl discovers she has a unique magical ability. They begin exploring their powers, but they are not all firmly committed to their mission--to discover the truth about Elias's death. Then a horrible tragedy strikes within the circle. Newly determined to fight the evil forces, they begin to learn magic from The Book of Patterns, an ancient work with a will of its own that reveals different things to different witches. In this gripping first installment of the Engelsfors Trilogy, a parallel world emerges in which teenage dreams, insanely annoying parents, bullying, revenge, and love collide with flirtation, dangerous forces, and ancient magic. An international sensation with rights sold in 24 countries, The Circle is razor-sharp and remarkable from start to finish.… (more)
User reviews
What is it then? Well, it’s a YA brick, first in a planned trilogy. About teenage witches on a mission to stop the apocalypse. Yeah, I know: Woo-bloody-hoo. But it’s also a pitch perfect novel about growing up in a small town where the future left decades ago, about the horrible social games of teenage life and about all kinds of…real stuff. And really, while nothing is perhaps truly original in this book – think Buffy meets Let the right one in meets Fucking Åmål, maybe – it’s just so cleverly balanced between it’s dirty realism and it’s occultism, it cannot be denied. At times, I even wish the authors would stop babbling about demons and just focus on the tension in the locker room. Which is, for me at least, not often the case with this type of literature. And of course, like in Buffy, what Strandberg and Elfgren are doing is also finding the effortless links between these two streams of the story – so that the magic and the horror and the secrets actually become mirrors of teenage life.
In drab, industrial Engelsfors (beautifully captured, for someone who’s grown up in a town like that) six girls from very different social stratas – both at home and in school – are brought to the deserted dance park under a blood red moon. They have nothing in common: the bully, the sporty girl with a secret eating disorder, the outcast, the victim, the white trash and the painfully average. They are not friends. But they are finding out they need to find a way to work together, or die.
People don’t just change here, other than by extremely small steps. And yes, the girls drink, smoke, have sex and are often extremely cruel to each other. This is not a pretty book, nor is it moral. But it rings true, witch circles or not. And of, course, it is virtually impossible to put down.
The supernatural part, which is the main story, often takes a back-seat to the mechanics of the various relationships and before you even know it, you have a personal stake in the well-being of these girls, even those you don't like. Thankfully, the characters never succumb to what I refer to as Sookie-Stackhouse-Syndrome - getting into trouble by acting stupid - and I am thankful to the authors for not taking the cheap way out; nobody dies unless the evil power is actually cleverer or stronger. I also appreciate that the girls don't suddenly bond and become bosom buddies once they realize that they will be needing each other's powers, but rather more realistically, the ones who don't like each other in the beginning still don't get along at the end. I am very much impressed with the writing, characterization, and plot and wish more than anything that the forthcoming installments don't let this one down.
Well, this is NOT that kind of book. It's all much more complicated than that. Instead of one heroine Extra Special, we get six very ordinary ones. They're supposed to save the world with their powers, but first they have to get along. That's quite a challenge when the group includes a bully and her victim and one of the girls dates another one's ex. These girls are troubled (by all kinds of issues, not just boys) and it shows in how they act. They're far from perfect and that makes them extremely believable and relatable.
The story begins with a mysterious death that looks like a suicide. From then on anything can happen. Anyone can get hurt and anyone can die. The authors don't promise their readers safety, but they will give you a hell of a ride. Unfortunately the book is a beginning of another trilogy - I'd be happy to read a great YA fantasy standalone sometime.
A derelict fairground and an ancient prophecy, a shocking and suspicious suicide at school and six girls drawn together one dark and stormy night.
Such a familiar (if enticing) setup means it's all down to the execution and rest assured that's all good. It's not a quick, fast paced
It does have some faults, I think the translation Americanised it so to my (UK) ears I struggled for a while to get a sense of place and one of the girls (Ida the bully) barely makes it to two dimensions as do some of the adults but the rest is all good. It is the 1st in an unfinished trilogy too but it manages to have a great plot and be cool piece of world building. Plus I think the 3rd is due out Sweden this year.
Strongly recommended for YA lovers and anyone else who wants an engaging fantastical read.
Six teenagers are drawn together in a small town in Sweden, there should be
It's interesting, I liked the gritty realism of it and man, no-one is safe in these stories.
Plot: This plot is about several different characters being called by a council
Characters: There are several different characters that this story tells. I can’t name them all but I’m sure there are more than 6 characters that the reader is jumping between. And to be honest, I did not like this. There are a lot of story lines, a lot of minor characters to know. This is the one main reason why I read this book so slow. There is a lot to know and well if your not paying attention you can miss out on stuff.
Ending: The book ends with nothing really much explain. Instead the reader is left with lots of questions. There were only about two characters that I really latched onto and wanted to know.
This is an okay book. Be sure that if you decided to pick up this book that you dedicate time to it cause it will make you think. You have to read it slowly and take in each character carefully. If you think that your going to read it and fly right through it then you will only be left confused. Overall, it’s good. I think if the authors slow down the story and explored other storylines instead of creating others, I might have enjoyed it more.
1.) centred more or less exclusively on female teenaged characters,
2.) whose main plot isn't a love plot,
3.) who don't get raped.
This is so incredibly rare it really bears mentioning (Seriously. Try thinking of more examples of
The different girls don't all differ that much from each other, but after some time were believable enough to be interested in. I'm definitely considering Finisheding the sequels.
I don't understand why this book has been compared so widely to completely unconnected books simply because the authors are also Swedish when what we have here is a mix between Charmed with a bit of the Buffy scooby cast thrown in. Set in Sweden, though, sure. It most certainly doesn't have the least bit to do with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and as far as I'm concerned is a better book for that, because grittiness and female characters doesn't always have to be about sexual abuse.
Even with a fair amount of teen angst about the opposite sex, family issues, fitting in and being popular, I still was completely swept up in this story. At almost 600 pages, it is quite detailed, and by the end of the first book they have only scratched the surface of whatever evil is about to emerge. What I found most engaging were the characters, each of the five remaining girls have a distinct personality and a distinct magical skill. Based on the elements of water, metal, earth etc., they are individually strong but when they join together, almost invincible.
I will certainly be continuing on with this trilogy as not only was I captivated by the darker fantasy elements, I also enjoyed the author’s handling of the teen issues like body image, suicide, grief, bullying and friendship that are explored.
The plot is steady and at first it was hard to figure out
One little thing I didn't particularly like was the lack of background story. It was limited to just a few pages, the girls received each a book and were told to read it and voila. It didn't explain much and there's mention of this "Council" who the is, or what their plans are we don't know. The lack of the background does leave the plot with less substance. What that being said however, the simple plot and each character having their personality traits and flaws greatly makes up for this shortfall.
Despite the length of the novel (may be off putting to some people) it gave each character their own story, and this was enjoyable to read. It certainly gave you more opportunity to get to know them as to who they are, and it shows how their newfound abilities shape them for the next books to come.
I'll be looking into the next book for this series! it certainly got my interest!