Book Review: The Circle by Sara B. Elfgren & Mats Strandberg

"Only together can they survive.
 Engelsfors. A beautiful name for a scrubby little town in Sweden where six girls have just started high school. They have nothing in common -- except they are all hunted by an ancient evil.

The autumn semester has just started when a student is found dead in one of the school toilet cubicles. Everyone suspects suicide. Everyone except those that know the truth. One night, when a mysterious red moon fills the sky, the girls meet in the park. They don't know why or how they were brought there but they learn that they need each other in order to survive.

They are told that they are witches. An ancient prophecy states that they are The Chosen Ones. From this day on, high school is a matter of life and death. They must learn how to work together despite their differences and they have to master the forces that have awakened within them. Time is running out. Something is hunting them and if they don't find it and defeat it, it will kill them."

Genre: YA, paranormal (witches)
Published: June 7th 2012
Pages: 592 (paperback)
Goodreads

The Circle is translated from Swedish and was first published in 2011. The story takes place in the Swedish village of Engelfors and is all about six girls, or better said six witches, who are only finding out what their powers really are.


I can't really say too much about the six witches because things change as the book goes on, but they all go to the same high school, belong to completely different groups and they have nothing to do with each other. But there's a mysterious force that eventually binds them together and they have to learn how to like each other, or they'll die. Each witch and each other characters has a story and they have their own characteristics, which makes it easier for the reader to really set them apart. And by the end of this book, you will know each character as they are.

Let me say this: this book is kinda strange. In a good way, but sometimes also in a not-so-positive way.
First of all: the POV changes almost every chapter. In the beginning you get confused because in the beginning their are seven POVs and you really have to get to know them first which can be quite odd sometimes. Also, the whole witchy and paranormal thing is on one hand rather creepy and on the other hand sometimes a bit childish, like it's not real enough.
For example, when I was reading the Gemma Doyle trilogy, the whole magic thing seemed very realistic. But in this novel, it really took about 200 pages for it actually start making sense, which was a bit disappointing.

A really good thing about this book is that it's quite an original story and the beginning is creepy as fuck and typical Swedish, which I really liked, because I do think that it's important that you can recognize a writer's style. Another positive thing is that the background of the entire magical situation they find themselves in, has quite a developed background and the more I read, the more it started to make sense to me.

It's also quite a quick read, despite the 500+ pages, which enables you to enjoy the story even more. Furthermore, I do like reading about Swedish places, swedish habits and almost none of the names were translated / changed into English. The translator kept the Swedish names, which is a big thumps up. From my own experience, I know that when a book is translated from English to Dutch, names will be changed by the translater and often they come up with names that don't even fit the characters.

It's a good book, with developed characters and new take on witchcraft. Definitely enjoyed it, but because it does have some disappointing parts, I ended up giving it four (actual rating 3.5) out of five stars.