With Small Spaces, Ollie, Coco, and Brian were not that close. Once you’re used to it, Arden flips this on it’s head. It was just too much right away, with no build up at all. However, I have to admit, that this story did end up using this non-build up very well. The moment you find out there are ghosts in the ski lodge, the kids are constantly running away from them and experiencing them. A lot of stuff was happening right away, and it just didn’t seem to follow the idea of building tension at all. I was at first unsure if I would like Dead Voices as much as I did Small Spaces, for one particular reason: it seemed to take on too many stereotypical haunted house ideas, and pack them all into one short time frame. There were so many creepy scenes that called my mind back to classic horror films, but it still fit the tone of a fun, middle grade novel. Dead Voices is very similar in voice to Small Spaces, with so many atmospheric and creepy descriptions that I couldn’t get enough of. So when I found out that Small Spaces, a book that captured my exact spooky needs, was a series, and that the sequel was coming out soon, you have no idea how happy I was. Thank you to Friya Bankwalla for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.īeing in a very specific mood for a long time was extremely difficult, especially when very few books were fitting the bill in my head. I’m also in a big mood for spooky stories, so this seemed like the perfect fit. Why this book?: I enjoyed the first book in this series, Small Spaces. You can check out my first review through the link. Ollie and friends soon realize that ghosts are keeping them there. Their first night there, a storm snows them in, and soon everything stops working.

When Ollie’s dad wins early tickets to a new ski resort, they take Ollie’s new friends Coco and Brian, and Coco’s mom, along with them.

Dead voices by katherine arden