The Circle (Engelsfors trilogy Book 1)

"I first became aware of this trilogy when I did an event with Sara B. Elfgren many years ago. It’s set in the fictional Swedish town of Engelsfors, where six girls discover they’re the Chosen Ones – elemental witches, destined to save the world from evil. Now they must work together to control their awakened magic, despite having very little in common. The basic premise of the trilogy is quite simple, but for me, it stands out because of the complexity of the characters and their relationships. The girls aren’t friends at the beginning – one of them is an outright bully – and they each have their own set of issues outside the supernatural threat. There’s also a beautiful romance that blossoms between two of the girls – one of the first examples of a sapphic relationship I ever saw in fantasy. Absolutely. When you have more than one instalment, you can add so much depth and complexity to both the characters and their connections to each other. You can see the consequences of their choices play out over months or years; you can write a torturously slow-burn romance; you can forge, break, and mend relationships; you can follow the protagonist as they grow and change, regress and fail, and ultimately rise again. The Skane duology by Lisa Lueddecke – A Shiver of Snow and Sky and its standalone prequel, A Storm of Ice and Stars – is really underrated. It’s set on a frozen island where the colours of the aurora are messages from a goddess, and a plague is ravaging the land. I fell in love with Iceland a couple of years ago and I’m very fond of fantasy settings that remind me of my trip there. Other series I’ve loved are the Strange the Dreamer duology by Laini Taylor, the Twin Crowns trilogy by Katherine Webber and Catherine Doyle, and the Singing Hills cycle by Nghi Vo. I’m also looking forward to continuing the Gethsemane series by Jackson P. Brown, which started with The Reaper ."