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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
This book and the first book in this series, Small Spaces, were my favorite.
In this final book in the series, Ollie has been imprisoned by the Smiling Man on his traveling carnival train in exchange for him saving her father's life in the previous book. He feeds her and entertains her, but he is still his sinister, scary self.
Coco, Bryan and Phil are waiting for a sign of Ollie and from the Smiling Man who told them they would have a chance to win Ollie Back. In the meantime, children are disappearing from a local carnival and creepy clowns are terrorizing the town.
This book really solidifies the found family between Ollie, Bryan and Coco, and how surviving trauma can bond them and help them build trust with one another forever. The monsters in this book were particularly creepy and sinister to me. One of the really effective scares in all of the books in this series is how the Smiling Man as villain makes the kids hypervigilant and distrustful of their own realities.
My only complaint about this book is that the ending felt like a mad rush to the conclusion, but hinted at Ollie's curiosity, despite all he had done, about the Smiling Man, his origins, his lore and his loneliness. I wish that had been explored more in this book.
In this final book in the series, Ollie has been imprisoned by the Smiling Man on his traveling carnival train in exchange for him saving her father's life in the previous book. He feeds her and entertains her, but he is still his sinister, scary self.
Coco, Bryan and Phil are waiting for a sign of Ollie and from the Smiling Man who told them they would have a chance to win Ollie Back. In the meantime, children are disappearing from a local carnival and creepy clowns are terrorizing the town.
This book really solidifies the found family between Ollie, Bryan and Coco, and how surviving trauma can bond them and help them build trust with one another forever. The monsters in this book were particularly creepy and sinister to me. One of the really effective scares in all of the books in this series is how the Smiling Man as villain makes the kids hypervigilant and distrustful of their own realities.
My only complaint about this book is that the ending felt like a mad rush to the conclusion, but hinted at Ollie's curiosity, despite all he had done, about the Smiling Man, his origins, his lore and his loneliness. I wish that had been explored more in this book.
3.25/5 - the ending felt too rushed to me.
however, i enjoyed the series as a whole! if you're looking for quick reads with endearing characters, i fully recommend this quartet.
however, i enjoyed the series as a whole! if you're looking for quick reads with endearing characters, i fully recommend this quartet.
I honestly don't know what to rate this... I think everyone didn't realize that the climax must have been at one point because we felt there MUST be something else happening.
And that is true. If Arden was trying to make the climax earlier, it would have made sense, it just wasn't delivered well. That the true BBEG wasn't the smiling man in this book, but the clowns. If it was clearer that the clowns and carnival were a separate entity, then the climax happened much earlier and the ending wouldn't seem so rushed. (Also, the pacing of the keys, the "final confrontation" with the smiling man. All seemed to point that there must have been more.)
This was a fun read. A great series, and great characters.
My biggest disappointment is that they didn't flush out the idea that was hinted at the entire book. What did the smiling man want???
And that is true. If Arden was trying to make the climax earlier, it would have made sense, it just wasn't delivered well. That the true BBEG wasn't the smiling man in this book, but the clowns. If it was clearer that the clowns and carnival were a separate entity, then the climax happened much earlier and the ending wouldn't seem so rushed. (Also, the pacing of the keys, the "final confrontation" with the smiling man. All seemed to point that there must have been more.)
This was a fun read. A great series, and great characters.
My biggest disappointment is that they didn't flush out the idea that was hinted at the entire book. What did the smiling man want???
Empty Smiles is an utterly creepy conclusion to the Small Spaces/i> series but, like Dark Waters before it, it left me unsatisfied.
In this last installment, Ollie is lost, taken by the Smiling Man, and there is a last as of yet unidentified, herculean task for Brian and Coco to complete to rescue her. Ollie finds herself in a horrific carnival, where clowns hunt children at night. To escape, you need to find three keys. These clowns were super creepy, and there are some very scary chase scenes. I loved the haunted carnival setting.
However, my biggest complaint is that this novel is too short and left many unanswered questions. Why did the Smiling Man ransack three houses for Ollie’s watch and never use it for anything? Why did he want Ollie to stay? To trick her? For company? What would that have looked like for her? And was this really it? This task was enough to sever his connection to Brian, Coco, and Ollie? This? The finale at the carnival was too short, too truncated, and too easy. I needed more answers and felt like the book could have been twice its size. (There are plenty of hefty middle grade novels. It would have been fine.) The ending is so abrupt; it could have benefitted from an epilogue or something.
Still, my daughter has started this series and is loving it, so it’s a great spooky season read for your middle grade aged readers.
In this last installment, Ollie is lost, taken by the Smiling Man, and there is a last as of yet unidentified, herculean task for Brian and Coco to complete to rescue her. Ollie finds herself in a horrific carnival, where clowns hunt children at night. To escape, you need to find three keys. These clowns were super creepy, and there are some very scary chase scenes. I loved the haunted carnival setting.
However, my biggest complaint is that this novel is too short and left many unanswered questions. Why did the Smiling Man ransack three houses for Ollie’s watch and never use it for anything? Why did he want Ollie to stay? To trick her? For company? What would that have looked like for her? And was this really it? This task was enough to sever his connection to Brian, Coco, and Ollie? This? The finale at the carnival was too short, too truncated, and too easy. I needed more answers and felt like the book could have been twice its size. (There are plenty of hefty middle grade novels. It would have been fine.) The ending is so abrupt; it could have benefitted from an epilogue or something.
Still, my daughter has started this series and is loving it, so it’s a great spooky season read for your middle grade aged readers.
Welp I'm gonna live in denial and pretend that this was not the last book to what started as a very good series.
What happened? Why the hurry? I just don't get it.
What happened? Why the hurry? I just don't get it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A really lukewarm and rushed end to what started as a really stellar horror middle grade series. I would still definitely recommend it to middle grade readers especially if they enjoy the frights and horrors of Goosebumps or other horror series.
I had really high hopes for this final volume since the last one felt the most rushed and especially with the cliffhanger ending. I don't think we spent enough time with Coco and especially Brian as well as Phil, who felt really underdeveloped over all (why was he constantly comparing himself to Ollie??). We spend most of the novel with the kids constantly talking about their fear of the Smiling Man and hope for Ollie as well as them trying to convince their parents for the "final confrontation" to be resolved in two chapters? That's insane to me. Out of the entire series, this one was the most rushed and this series could have capped at 3 books rather than 4. We don't even get a resolution on the dolled people nor Ruth and Tim.
I still enjoyed the writing and overall horror elements, but I wish there had been more development of the plot and characters and less of a rushed ending.
I had really high hopes for this final volume since the last one felt the most rushed and especially with the cliffhanger ending. I don't think we spent enough time with Coco and especially Brian as well as Phil, who felt really underdeveloped over all (why was he constantly comparing himself to Ollie??).
I still enjoyed the writing and overall horror elements, but I wish there had been more development of the plot and characters and less of a rushed ending.
3/5 stars - The first two books were by far my favorites of the series, but overall it’s a great middle reader, spooky series. I love feeling like I’m picking up a Goosebumps book by reading these. This one has creepy clowns and a spooky carnival, but it somehow felt a bit younger to me than the others, and, as others have already said, a bit incomplete. Would still 100 percent read them all again, however! Maybe I will!
Really 3.5. I loved this series so much, and I’ll be recommending it to many students. Scary and so spooky in the first half, and then, alas, a rushed ending.
I think this was the scariest of the four, probably due to clowns. All these books feel like they should be longer, like the endings are very sudden, and this one is no different.