elizabethstrachan 's review for:

Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This was a really good ending to the series. I took half a star away because it seemed like the author wanted us to feel bad for the Smiling Man. I get that he's lonely, but he literally steals children. There's no room to feel sorry for him. Anyway, the storyline was great. I wasn't sure about it because I'm a grown woman who is terrified of clowns, but they really weren't that bad. They were almost too goofy and stupid to be scary.

I'm glad the rest of the gang were able to find Ollie, watch or no watch. The Smiling Man was so petty, always stealing the watch to cheat at his games. In the end, I really think he wanted Ollie to find the keys.