Small Spaces (Small Spaces #1) by Katherine Arden
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
I love middle grade/juvenile horror books, and I'm always on the hunt for good and scary ones. This came up on a list, and I was thrilled that my library had the audiobooks. Now comes the sad part. While I liked this book, I was disappointed. It wasn't quite scary enough for my tastes. I have read one of Katherine Arden's adult fantasy novels The Bear and the Nightingale, so I know she can write genuinely scary books. This was stopped short of living up to the promise of freaking animated Scarecrows. There a couple of eerie scenes that had the potential. However, it didn't do it for me. Having said that, the story was interesting. I also liked the theme of a young person working through grieving a deceased parent. My father died when I was about thirty, and I know how hard that hit me. People really don't know what to say or how to act when you lose a loved one. I imagine it's even worse for a child. Ollie's solution is to withdraw from life so as not to deal with how others treat her in the aftermath of her mother's death.
I really loved the bond and moments between Ollie and her dad, and the flashbacks to them as a family. To me, that was the real heart of the story. I also liked the friendship of situation that springs up between Ollie, Brian and Coco. They really helped to support each other, and their different strengths made them stronger together. That kind of friendship has the potential to last forever. I think that I would have rated this much higher if the balance was better between the character interactions and quiet moment within the books, and the horror elements. I do have to say the storyline is interesting and I have been waiting to read a book that integrates scarecrow folklore into a story. The diary entries from the past were atmospheric and did have a spooky feel. So while I was disappointed on the scare factor front, the emotional resonance, character development and interactions definitely impressed me. I'll definitely continue this series.
Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars
I really loved the bond and moments between Ollie and her dad, and the flashbacks to them as a family. To me, that was the real heart of the story. I also liked the friendship of situation that springs up between Ollie, Brian and Coco. They really helped to support each other, and their different strengths made them stronger together. That kind of friendship has the potential to last forever. I think that I would have rated this much higher if the balance was better between the character interactions and quiet moment within the books, and the horror elements. I do have to say the storyline is interesting and I have been waiting to read a book that integrates scarecrow folklore into a story. The diary entries from the past were atmospheric and did have a spooky feel. So while I was disappointed on the scare factor front, the emotional resonance, character development and interactions definitely impressed me. I'll definitely continue this series.
Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars
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