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themezzaluna 's review for:
Empty Smiles
by Katherine Arden
2.5 ⭐️
I wanted to love this so badly. I absolutely adore Katherine Arden's writing and have loved every book in this series, but this one just didn't do it for me. I needed so much more from it.
I was so excited about the fact that we were getting to see more of the smiling man, especially since it sounded like there was a man behind the monster, yet we never really got answers in the end. Why did he want Ollie to stay at the Carnival so badly? Why did he seem worried about her, or somewhat happy when our main characters managed to get the gate open? Why was he so afraid of the funhouse? What would he have seen in those mirrors? There are so many questions left unanswered, and I feel like it would've made the book better if we had gotten the answers we were looking for.
The ending falls flat. I have been creating an attachment to these characters for 3 books and yet felt NOTHING when they managed to get themselves to safety and reunite with the people they loved, which saddens me to no end.
Let me also mention that for such high stakes, the problem was easily solved, which threw me off. Our characters did struggle with running from the clowns, but after that everything else was so easy. Finding the keys. Leaving. And why did the smiling man let them leave so easily? I am still struggling to understand this.
As I've mentioned before, I love Katherine Arden's work and felt that maybe I got my hopes a bit to high because of that. I think that's also why I can't bring myself to give this book a 2 star rating.
I wanted to love this so badly. I absolutely adore Katherine Arden's writing and have loved every book in this series, but this one just didn't do it for me. I needed so much more from it.
I was so excited about the fact that we were getting to see more of the smiling man, especially since it sounded like there was a man behind the monster, yet we never really got answers in the end. Why did he want Ollie to stay at the Carnival so badly? Why did he seem worried about her, or somewhat happy when our main characters managed to get the gate open? Why was he so afraid of the funhouse? What would he have seen in those mirrors? There are so many questions left unanswered, and I feel like it would've made the book better if we had gotten the answers we were looking for.
The ending falls flat. I have been creating an attachment to these characters for 3 books and yet felt NOTHING when they managed to get themselves to safety and reunite with the people they loved, which saddens me to no end.
Let me also mention that for such high stakes, the problem was easily solved, which threw me off. Our characters did struggle with running from the clowns, but after that everything else was so easy. Finding the keys. Leaving. And why did the smiling man let them leave so easily? I am still struggling to understand this.
As I've mentioned before, I love Katherine Arden's work and felt that maybe I got my hopes a bit to high because of that. I think that's also why I can't bring myself to give this book a 2 star rating.