Dead Voices - Review

Author: Katherine Arden

Genre: Middle Grade/Horror

Format: Kindle

Pages: 254

This is the second book in the Small Spaces series and takes place a few months after Small Spaces ends. We're still following the same three main characters Olivia, Coco, and Brian, and while the POV shifts from Olivia to Coco throughout the book, Dead Voices definitely is more about Coco. Which I was happy to see. I did like Olivia as a main character in the first book, but it was nice to see another of the trio get more of a spotlight in this book. Fingers crossed Brian will get a bigger part in the next. Though I did get a giggle at what happened to him in this book.

Dead Voices follows the typical haunted house set up with the trio trapped, thanks to a snowstorm, in what they later learn is a haunted ski lodge. Even the history of the lodge itself is one I've read in other books, but this one is a little different from the magic of the Smiling Man. This just adds an extra layer onto the plot because now it's not just a race against Mother Hemlock, but trying to figure out what is part haunting and which is part sinister game.

What's fun for older readers is this book is easy to start to unravel and figure out what the game really is, but I could definitely see the misdirection giving younger readers a hard time. Because even I missed a few key things at the beginning because I was so focused on the haunted house part of the story, I forgot that there was a whole other story being told. Even though it's Book Two, it's Middle Grade rated, and that means the original villain is coming back. I was still like yes creepy orphanage with an evil headmistress. Let's go!

Still a solid side story. I could have a whole second book on what happened to Gabe and I would devour it. Just to learn more about Mother Hemlock, the girls in the bed, and Gretel. 

I also really liked the mini-drama between Olivia's dad and Coco's mom, and their realizing that maybe they might be more than friends. It wasn't a big part of the story, but it's a great Middle-Grade trope that I grew up on. And, it's an easy way to add a little bit of drama between the characters. Though, I was glad that didn't result in major drama or a fight. But, it was sort of like random food for thought for both girls.

Hands down though, Brian's storyline was the best bit. So Dead Voices is as much Coco's story as it is Olivia's story. The first book, it's all about Olivia learning to live again after losing her mother and starting to let people in again. This story is about Coco becoming more brave, trusting herself to be brave, and realizing she has a place amongst her friends. So the plot is really set up like a chess game in Coco's honor. This means, poor brawny Brian, though he does have brains as we learned in the first book because he's an avid reader, wasn't really needed for this game of wits.

Did harm him? No. Kidnap him and tie him up? Nope. The Smiling Man put him in a loop so no door lead to where it was supposed to! He spent the last half of the book running around the ski lodge on a quick trip to nowhere, and the only part that bummed me out was we didn't get a chapter from his point of view while stuck in that loop. But, it's a Saturday Morning Cartoon kind of moment that I adore it.

All-in-all, this was a lot of fun and a solid continuation of this story. I liked the parallels from Book One to Book Two. They were enough that you could tell it was the same villain, but different enough not to get bored. It added new elements of a scare, and parts were actually a little scary. Arden has a way with words that reading in the dark, at like midnight, half asleep, even me, an adult was like, maybe I sleep with the ghost light on tonight. So I'm excited to jump into Book Three, Dark Waters. It's the one that gets recommended to me the most, and it's without a doubt my favorite cover of the entire series!

HAPPY READING!!