Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - The Circle

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Circle by Mats Strandberg, Sara Bergmark Elfgren

1 review

rinku's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn’t expect Circle to be this amazing – but already after the first hundred pages, I realized that I found a true gem. It had everything I love to see in a YA Fantasy novel: an intriguing setting and a dark atmosphere, twists and surprises, and a multi-dimensional, mostly female cast. It is important to mention that there are many, partly very graphic potential triggers (addiction, adult/minor relationship, alcoholism, bullying, (child) death, drug abuse, eating disorder, fatphobia, femicide, fire/fire injury, homophobia), so please beware of them before reading it.

It's hard to summarize the plot because it follows so many different story lines. The plot is your good old the-chosen-ones-plot, but in an urban setting in a small Swedish town. In this book, the focus is not really on the fantastic side of the story. The protagonists rather try to figure out what it means to be chosen and who is responsible for bad things happening in the town, but the focus lies more on the characters themselves and the different struggles they have. In the end of the book, they all have changed so much, and they realize that they’ll only survive if they work together, despite the differences that are between them.

Throughout the book, there is this amazingly creepy, dark and angsty atmosphere. You have to be scared all the time for the main characters because their life is constantly threatened;

Rebecka’s death especially upset me. Her going to Adriana was such a déjà vu moment from the beginning of the book and you knew that she now had to die – but I didn’t expect it to actually happen

There are many interesting twists which made the plot not as predictable, and the mystery is executed well, so you can’t be sure who

the demon is murdering the chosen ones. Many assumptions I had who would be evil were wrong, and I got tricked by the narrative at some points. I was sure that Nicolaus or Adriana would have something to do with it, but they don’t. It was a bit disappointing that Adriana is not evil because she would’ve been such a cool villain, but oh well, I still love her. I also believed that Gustaf was responsible for Rebecka’s death and that he’s faking all his feelings. It was a surprise in the end that Max was the demon, I didn’t see that coming – when re-reading this series one day, I definitely will look out if there were any hints towards this twist

. My favorite part of the story was the epic and dramatic finale. It was in this moment that I realized that all the chosen ones are important to me – even Ida.

The magic system works with elements and is nothing too special, but I still liked it and the different abilities that the elements gave to the girls. Like mentioned above, the magic aspect is not the focus in this book of the series but will become important in the following books. There are other interesting concepts teased that may or may not become important in the future, like different dimensions or timelines.

The setting of the story was amazing as well. Like I’ve talked about before, I love books that take place at one main setting. This is here the town Engelsfors. It has such a strange vibe to it which fits the story perfectly. The town life felt so realistic and organic that I could believe the town existed in reality: Like it’s typical for a small town like this, everyone knows each other, and everyone is somehow connected. Next to Engelsfors, the school is the most important setting in the story since it’s a place for the evil. The school life as well felt realistic and dynamic.

Next to the settings, the characters in Circle are amazing and multi-dimensional. For one, I love the fact that all main characters are all female and diverse. It was interesting to see how different they were from each other and how different their relationships to each other were. There are six main characters and four POVs. I hadn’t the feeling that there were too many POVs but rather think that the POV changes were executed very well. Every girl has her own plot line, and I was invested in all of them. Generally, Circle was able to portray the feelings teenage girls have when growing up so well and I could relate to many thoughts they had when I was at that age.

I’ve read in other reviews that many people don’t like Minoo, but she found a place in my heart by an instant. The way she thinks, especially at the beginning, was so relatable to the thoughts I had when I was her age – it was a bit creepy to be honest. Her friendship with Rebecka later on was so wholesome, especially since she was the first friend Minoo ever made. My favorite moment was how she became friends with Rebecka and the fact that Rebecka was her first friend made it even more special. Not only her self-doubt, but

her mourning because of Rebecka was depicted realistically as well.

I could even emphasize with Anna-Karin; it’s understandable that someone in her position would not be able to stop using her abilities. I felt so sorry for her when

their house burned down and her grandfather being not the same anymore. I’ve already read the following books, and sadly, her life doesn’t get easier

. I liked the other two chosen ones, Linnéa and Vanessa, as well, and I think we’ll may get a romance between them.

The only character I was not the biggest fan of is Ida; she’s a bit one-dimensional compared to the other girls with saving Gustaf being her only motivation. But Ida with her anti-position gave the group an interesting dynamic.

I can recommend Circle for everyone who loves reading YA (Urban) Fantasy and wants to read something different from the mainstream (and is okay with reading about the above-mentioned triggers). For me, it was one of the biggest surprises this year. Not only Circle is amazing but its sequels are able to maintain the great quality of the series and I enjoyed every moment I spend in Engelsfors.

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