Interview with Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg

Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg are the authors of the Engelsfors trilogy, an international sensation.  The third and final book, THE KEY, has just been released in English from Overlook Press.  This Swedish phenomenon is the story of five teenage girls who discover that they are the Chosen Ones and must work together to defeat the demons trying to get a toe-hold in their small town of Engelsfors.  It's no wonder that it's become popular - at the heart of the story is female friendships, and the many narrators represent a diverse range of people.

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1. THE CIRCLE, the first book in the series, has won several awards and been made into a movie. What does that feel like?

Amazing and surreal. We wrote books that we wanted to read ourselves, and lucky for us, others wanted to read them too. We truly love these characters, and we’re so happy to see readers embrace them. We were very involved in the making of the movie (Sara cowrote the screenplay with director Levan Akin) and we’re very pleased about how it turned out.  

2. How did you find the balance between realistic and paranormal elements?

We tried not to treat them as seperate storylines, but to let them come together. That’s when things become really exciting, in our opinion - when the magical and the everyday clash. It was important not to let the Chosen Ones become too powerful too quickly because then they would be able to solve all their problems with magic. And at a certain point, when there’s too much at stake, it’s not realistic for them to care about homework anymore. It’s hardly a spoiler to say that they reach that point in The Key …  

3. I loved how developed the setting of Engelsfors was. Were you inspired by any actual Swedish small towns?

We were somewhat inspired by Mats’s old hometown, Fagersta. It’s also an old industrial town, with high unemployment, surrounded by forest. Mats hated living there when he was a teenager and felt very claustrophobic. If you were a guy and not into sports, you were pretty much done for. But Fagersta is a much nicer place than Engelsfors. There’s no apocalypse there, at least not as far as we know. Fun fact: The members of the famous rock band The Hives are also from Fagersta and they actually wrote a song for the soundtrack of the film. It’s called Blood Red Moon and the lyrics are based on The Circle. One of the weird of wonderful things that have happened to us during the past five years.  

4. Rights to the Engelsfors trilogy have sold to 29 countries. What's the strangest thing that's changed in translation?

English is really the only language we know well enough to be able to read ourselves. So we don’t really know any details about, say, the Japanese text or the Russian or Italian. We love it when our translators ask us questions that make us think about the text from new perspectives. For instance, when do certain characters put away their titles? Or when the translators tell us things we haven’t really thought of ourselves, like the fact that Ida only really curses when she is scared or surprised.  

5. There's currently a big push for diversity in American YA. The Englesfors trilogy (first book published in 2011) has a variety of diverse characters. Was that something you thought consciously about?

Yes, definitely. SPOILER WARNING THE CIRCLE/FIRE From the very beginning we decided that our ”main romance”, our ”will they or won’t they”, would be between two girls. END OF SPOILER We discuss these things a lot and we’re constantly trying to learn more.

 6. If you got elemental magic powers, which element do you think you'd get?

SARA: I would probably get water because the idea of being able to hear people’s thoughts freaks me out. Telepathic communication would be awesome though. But Mats and I more or less have that already. Wood would be very interesting. Or air, because it would be cool to be able to become invisble. And very scary probably, because there’s so much you don’t want to find out about people…

MATS: I would love to be able to fly.  

7. What are you working on next?

MATS: My next novel comes out in Sweden in September. It’s a horror novel about a 12 hour trip on a cruise ship crossing the Baltic Sea, and it’s called Färjan (so far, our agents call it Blood Line in English). I am also working on a trilogy of children’s books about monsters, and some other stuff.

SARA: My next book comes out in September in Sweden. It’s called Time for Each Other (Just nu har vi varandra) and it’s a children’s book about time and life, illustrated by amazing artist Maria Fröhlich (”The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury”, Shadow Show, IDW). I have many projects – a graphic novel, a web series, a couple of secret ones – in collaboration with others. But I’m also going to start writing my first solo novel soon. It will be in the same genre as the Engelsfors books.

Review: Graceling and Fire

Before you read the review, please tell me how you feel about the new layout!

Both by Kristin Cashore.



As a child, Lady Katsa killed her cousin when he reached out to her, because something in her feared his touch. Now, her uncle the King, uses her to intimidate his nobles - tourture and death are Katsa's trade. But she's tired of it, and working behind his back to do good deeds. This puts her in the path of Prince Po, a man Graced with fighting. Together, they attempt to solve the mystery of who kidnapped Po's grandfather and why.

At first, it's hard to remember all the country names and positions. But soon enough Katsa and Po are on the road and things start moving quickly. Even with the page length, it's hard to imagine how much occurs in GRACELING. Kristin Cashore keeps the action and revelations flying fast and furious. And for those not into fight scenes, there's a wonderful romance between the oblivious Katsa and perceptive Po. (I also enjoyed the relationship between Katsa's cousin Prince Raffin and his assistant Bann. At least, I believe there's a relationship between them.)

I enjoyed Cashore's characters. Katsa is somewhat atypical for a heroine, wanting neither marriage nor children. She makes a reasonable argument for not wanting either, but doesn't deny herself a relationship when the opportunity comes to make one work. Each of the surrounding characters have interesting personalities as well. The perceptive Bitterblue is a favorite of mine, so I'm happy that Cashore is hard at work on a novel about her.

GRACELING explores prejudice, child abuse, and other dark subjects. But it does so while maintaining a light, adventurous tone. It gives weight to the reading while leaving it a fun experience. I certainly enjoyed the novel.



FIRE begins before GRACELING, connected only by the character of Leck. It is set in the land of the Dells, home to beautiful monsters. The ending, however, implies that the Dells may not remain separate and unknown from the other lands for long.

Fire is beautiful and irresistable, the last of the human monsters. She'd rather be plain and unnoticed, for her cruel father caused the previous king to lead the land into disrepair. The civil war is reaching a height, and recent events prevent Fire from remaining apart from the action.

She also dislikes spending time with Prince Brigan, whose shields can prevent her mind control, and who reminds her of her father's worst actions. Fire nurses her guilt, and it only becomes clear as the novel continues how much she holds herself responsible for. She's both a larger than life heroine and a young girl who likes to play with puppies.

Once more, the characters are the standout, though some are certainly irritating. I like that Cashore doesn't condemn sexual relationships nor ignore possible consequences. There's a tangled web of relationships in FIRE, on par with the most glorious of soap operas. It makes a nice background to the war and Fire's place within it.

The only problem with the climax is the knowledge of what happens in GRACELING. It dims some of Fire's triumph, though she and Brigan certainly accomplish many other things. FIRE moves just as quickly as GRACELING. I can see why fans of YA fantasy have been going crazy over these novels. I know I'm already ready to read the third.

Guest Blog and Contest: Fire by Kristin Cashore

Kristin Cashore's first novel GRACELING received various accolades and is now available in paperback. But it's companion, FIRE, won't be available until October 5th. However, you can get to know the characters now with Kristin's blog tour.



King Nash, the oldest son of Nax and Roen, is… well, he’s trying, really hard. It’s just that there’s an awful lot of chaos these days, and imminent civil war is enough to put any king off his game now and then, and, well there’s that problem wherein Fire is so mesmerizing that he turns into a romantic saphead every time he sees her… embarrassing behavior for a king, really. Maybe he should apologize. In person, with a bouquet of flowers?

Not excited yet? Then check out the awesome sample Penguin made available on scribd.

Fire by Kristin Cashore

In addition, you can come back tomorrow to read my reviews of GRACELING and FIRE. But you don't have to take my word for it - I'm giving away a signed copy of FIRE to one IBWB reader with a Canadian or US mailing address. Just leave a comment saying which character from FIRE you think sounds most interesting.

There are two chances for extra entries:
Tweet about the blog tour, preferably including a link to my stop, with hash tag #firetour.
Post the widget.




This contest is open until October 3rd. However, my Maximum Ride contest ends 9/28.