A quick read and but a nice way to wrap up this series!! i still like the previous books a bit better!! but nice read overall!!

This final installment of this story did not disappoint. As exciting and thrilling as the first in the series, Small Spaces, this book will fly off the shelves for middle grade students looking for something scary and chilling.

This is the 4th book in a series that started with Small Spaces and it's best if you read the whole series in order, so read the first 3 before you read this one. The first book in this series was beyond spooky and was pretty scary, and the other two were just as good and spooky, but this one, while it was spooky, wasn't as good. I'm not sure what it was, but something was missing from the ending of this book for me. Other than it feeling like it was missing something, more explanation or background on The Smiling Man or something, it scared me but good this one with the clowns - Those clowns in this story are disturbing and somewhat terrifying even for me as an adult reading about these clowns in a Middle-Grade spooky read.
All in all, I enjoyed this book and would recommend checking it out if you've been following the series and want to know what happens with Ollie, Coco, Brian, and Phil and getting their chance to find and get Ollie back. Also, if you want a great spooky MG read for this time of year, it's a good one. You know what would even be better is to start with the first book and read it all the way through all at once. It's a great spooky fall read, and it also illustrates and shows how important families and friends are and communication, supporting, and helping each other out. It also talks about fears and overcoming them and such. If nothing else, I'd read it just for the spookiness of the carnival and a little bit of jump scares I had from reading about those clowns. I already hated clowns, so this made me hate them even more. Also, if you have a phobia of clowns, be aware of the creepy clowns in this book.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group/G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for letting me read and review this spooky story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book right up until the end, which felt so rushed I couldn't believe the story could really be over.
I'm not a fan of carnivals, nor afraid of clowns, so I prefered some of her other settings, but there were some creepy the-call-is-coming-from-inside-the-house-moments that gave me goosebumps.
I was initially bummed that the parents didn't remember anything and was so glad, when the kids decided to trust in their families. What annoyed me was that it didn't really matter in the end. Without going into spoiler territory, the multiple times the kids sat down to explain everything to the adults felt like filler material. And like I said, I had hoped for a bit more to happen in the end. I don't know if the author was rushing to finish the book or what, but I wished we got some more background on the smiling man and the reason behind everything. The resolution felt lack-luster and just plain easy.

I had heard that this might be the series finale, and I am not really sure from reading it. Could be. Anyways, fans of the series will enjoy this one, and the cover with the clowns will get the attention of kids looking for MG "scary" books.

This book took a little while to pick up on the cliffhanger ending of book three, it started to develop a plot of its own first, which eventually tied into the cliffhanger. However, the game between The Smiling Man and Coco and Brian picks up, as does the relationship with Ollie. The group gets a little more help from Phil and there is more interaction with their parents as well. This group has always used their brains to get the better of the evil Smiling Man and the resolution felt a little quick for me. There are also some interesting clues as to the past of The Smiling Man, and while I had heard this was the last book in the series, I think a prequel with his origin story might be even more interesting.

[I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.]

**Note: This review contains spoilers for the previous books in the series along with spoilers for the official synopsis of Empty Smiles.**

Empty Smiles is the fourth and final book in Katherine Arden's Small Spaces series. At the center of Empty Smiles is the Smiling Man's wondrous carnival that travels the country, kidnapped Ollie in tow. The carnival is fun by day but by night, it hides a terrible secret... and some scary, awful, no-good clowns. Can Ollie's friends save her? Can Ollie help to save herself? The carnival lights are twinkling, the Ferris Wheel is spinning--and the game is on.

Empty Smiles takes readers on a summer horror journey that includes creepy clowns, ghosts, and a foreboding atmosphere--along with Arden's signature skill for crafting realistic, compelling and thoughtful characters, human and supernatural alike.

One of the more intriguing aspects of the Small Spaces series is Arden's characterization of Ollie and her friends, which shies away from the stock "cookie-cutter kid in a youth horror book" archetype and instead creates realistic young characters that young readers can identify with and older readers will find interesting rather than bland or annoying.

With Arden's skillful storytelling, we get a strong sense of changing friendship dynamics and a sense of how the events of the books are impacting the children's lives and relationships with each other and their parents. It's a refreshing change from middle grade horror that puts young characters in horrifying situations but never explores how that affects them. Arden's take on the parents in this book is a great one. I've never read a middle grade horror with such realistic parent involvement, and Empty Smiles definitely shines for that aspect alone.

Readers looking for horror won't be disappointed. Empty Smiles returns to true horror form and takes on the classic scary carnival trope but with some fresh spins that keep things interesting and chilling. There is a lot of creepy imagery in the book, along with some genuine tense, tightly written chase scenes that will leave your heart pounding. (Confession: My lights flickered the evening after I read this book, and I genuinely got a little nervous.)

While there is a lot of interaction between Ollie and the Smiling Man in the final book, I don't feel that readers get a proper conclusion to their dynamic created in the previous books. It feels like that dynamic may have ended with the bargaining scene that happened but wasn't shown in Book 3. Perhaps the prologue to Empty Smiles could have been this scene, giving us the conclusion to that initial "game" between Ollie and the Smiling Man that began in the cornfield with Book #1, leaving room for what happens in this book.

Still, the dynamic shift is very fascinating and the events and dialogue in this book give the Smiling Man some incredible depth. I also appreciate just how present the character was in this book versus his absence in Book 3.

Ultimately, Empty Smiles delivers on scares, thrills and most importantly, heart.

Scare Factor: 5/5 (Scary monster clowns, lots of peril, some genuine injuries, intense chase scenes, and scary imagery related to ghosts)

Recommended For: Readers 9 and up.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

This was a very satisfying, creepy, and thrilling end to a great horror middle grade series. Since each book takes place in a different season, each book manages to be scary and creepy in new ways. I loved the carnival setting and the scary clowns. I liked this one much more than books 2 and 3. I felt it wrapped up a little too quick and neatly, but overall I love this series. I love how each character really grew into themselves and learned to be independent throughout the series. This will always be a top recommendation for me for middle grade readers.