Beyond Midsommar: Terrifying Scandinavian Horror by Sara B. Elfgren

The Circle is the first book in a trilogy that critics have compared to “Twilight by way of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Lev Grossman) with “all the epic mayhem and darkness of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and with teen characters as rich and nuanced as any reader could hope for” (Megan Abbott). 

The series follows Minoo, who wakes up one night to find herself in an abandoned theme park outside of town, compelled there by the same mysterious force that drew five of her classmates to the same spot.

The six girls could not be more different, but when the mysterious entity tells them that an ancient evil is hunting them, the girls have no choice but to team up to stop it. 

Each armed with their own unique magical ability, the girls must battle both the everyday realities of adolescence and the evil entity that threatens to destroy them. 

School is back in session, and the Chosen Ones are hopeful that the worst evil they will have to face this year is a difficult exam. Unfortunately for them, dark forces have other plans for the residents of Engelsfors. The girls will have to band together tighter than ever if they want save their town. 

Is their newfound friendship up to the task? Or will the Chosen Ones learn the importance of trust the hard way—after it’s too late.

The final book in the Engelsfors trilogy finds the Chosen Ones as the last line of defense against the demonic forces that have terrorized Engelsfors. Weakened and still recovering from their last battle in Fire, evil strikes again, putting not only their lives, but their friendship, at risk. 

Can the Chosen Ones fight internal and real demons at the same time? Or will a terrifying apocalypse come to pass after all? 

“Even if, like me, you have a lifelong obsession with Norse myths, I promise you you’ve never seen them like this,” New York Times–bestselling author Lev Grossman writes of this Hunger Games-meets-Norse mythology graphic novel, which won the 2020 IBPA Award. 

Her entire life, Vei trained to become the strongest warrior of Jotunheim and honor the god of her people. When that very god casts her into the sea, Vei’s understanding of her place in the world is thrown into disarray. 

She journeys back to Jotunheim to find it embroiled in the Meistarileikir, a bloody game between the humans, the giants, and the gods of Asgard that will determine who will have the right to rule the land of Midgard.

Unsure which gods to trust, Vei must fight an epic battle not only for her people’s control of Midgard, but for her very life. 

Vei may have won the Meistarileikir, but the war between man, giant, and god is far from over.

The more Vei fights, the less sure she is what she is fighting for—and who is worth the fight. In the action-packed, fantasy-filled conclusion to the Vei series, the heroine faces her most uncertain battle yet.

Can Vei find a way to distinguish friend from foe? And how much will she sacrifice in the process? 

Eighteen-year-old Kasper has emerged from a rough patch right into his dream job at the theme park Gröna Lund, where his friend Iris teaches him how to terrify guests in the haunted house.

His attention is soon distracted when he learns the story of Grim, his father’s former death-metal bandmate who died under mysterious circumstances just as the band was achieving notoriety.  

Kasper enlists the help of Iris to find out more about Grim, transporting the pair from their present-day amusement park job to the gritty world of 1980s Stockholm. What really happened to his father’s bandmate?

After thirty years, Kasper’s father, Håkan, has left that part of his past behind. But Kasper just can’t seem to get Grim out of his head. Especially once Grim starts appearing in his dreams…