The Circle

April 8, 2013
First published in 2011, this first book in the Engelsfors trilogy follows a group of Swedish teenagers as they awaken to the supernatural horrors around them. The opening sequence draws readers into sympathy with a troubled boy named Elias, who’s desperate to connect with his best friend, Linnéa. Instead, a voice in his head drives him to graphically depicted suicide. After that, it’s somewhat difficult to commit to the many other characters, mostly female classmates of Elias, whose anomie and everyday bleakness occupy the next hundred pages. Minoo, Vanessa, Linnéa, Anna-Karin, Rebecka, and Ida have 10th grade in common, but little else. There is a point to this slice-of-life approach, but for readers drawn by the promise of magic and fate, that point may feel like a long time coming. Reluctantly bonding over the discovery that they are “Chosen Ones,” gifted with strange powers, and developing a shared conviction that Elias’s death wasn’t suicide, the girls gradually begin to act. Breathless page-turner this is not: the narrative is defined by its angst, and for readers who share it, this book will feel special. Ages 14–up.