Review: Small Spaces by Katherine Arden (L)

Synopsis: After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think--she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with "the smiling man," a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price.
Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: "Best get moving. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you." Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie's previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN.
Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. As the trio head out into the woods--bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them--the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: "Avoid large places. Keep to small."
And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins.

Review: Took a bit to get into, but the action picked up nicely. Creepy AF with the scarecrows and shit. The watch giving directions was a nice touch. Deals well with the fallout of grief. Particularly, how bookworms often use books to escape the "real world". I like that her mom was the adventerous one, and he dad the knitter and baker. The danger gave me chills and the solution was perfect! Excellent book, one of my favorite reads of the year.

Quote: "Maybe, she kept thinking, when she came back from one of those other worlds, when she woke up from book dreaming, she would come back to a world where her mother wasn't dead" (pg109)


Bookmarks: 4 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 978-0-525-51502-9
Year Published: 2018
Date Finished: 12-12-18
Pages: 216