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A review by jennywrennn
Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden
3.0
I am baffled by the ending of this????
Up until the last 5? Pages - I was ready to call this the 2nd best instalment in the series (Small Spaces being first obviously)
It built up to such an intense climax, it introduced so many new ideas and dropped so many little clues, and then out of literally nowhere, it just resolved everything within 2 pages, with no explanation, and wrapped the whole thing up.
It was lacking emotion, it was rushed and honestly, the last few pages were kind of poorly written (waaaay more cheesy and juvenile than the rest of the series)
I actually even double checked, because I thought it was a 4 book series, to see if I was wrong - surely they wouldn’t drop all those open ideas and leave them hanging unresolved? But nope, that was indeed the finale. It honestly read like the author herself had gotten as far as the final pages before getting kidnapped by clowns herself and having to wrap up the ending with minutes to spare.
Super disappointed as I LOVE this series and again, up until the ending, this was easily one of the better instalments- it also felt like she knew her younger readers had grown a few years since the first book came out, and she was leaning into more mature writing and scarier horror sequences throughout the book, so it was even more of a bummer to have the final pages revert back to the most basic, cheesy, stereotypical middle grade vibes.
Really let down by this one :( but still giving it 3 stars because up until those final pages I did love it.
Up until the last 5? Pages - I was ready to call this the 2nd best instalment in the series (Small Spaces being first obviously)
It built up to such an intense climax, it introduced so many new ideas and dropped so many little clues, and then out of literally nowhere, it just resolved everything within 2 pages, with no explanation, and wrapped the whole thing up.
It was lacking emotion, it was rushed and honestly, the last few pages were kind of poorly written (waaaay more cheesy and juvenile than the rest of the series)
I actually even double checked, because I thought it was a 4 book series, to see if I was wrong - surely they wouldn’t drop all those open ideas and leave them hanging unresolved? But nope, that was indeed the finale. It honestly read like the author herself had gotten as far as the final pages before getting kidnapped by clowns herself and having to wrap up the ending with minutes to spare.
Super disappointed as I LOVE this series and again, up until the ending, this was easily one of the better instalments- it also felt like she knew her younger readers had grown a few years since the first book came out, and she was leaning into more mature writing and scarier horror sequences throughout the book, so it was even more of a bummer to have the final pages revert back to the most basic, cheesy, stereotypical middle grade vibes.
Really let down by this one :( but still giving it 3 stars because up until those final pages I did love it.