Small Spaces

More like 3.5. Small Spaces is solid middle grade horror, and thus a great October read. Ollie, our 11-year-old protagonist, stumbles upon a mystery; the kind all tangled up in local urban legends. She works to get to the bottom of said mystery during a field trip that really goes off the rails. I mean, it could not have gone more wrong. Small Spaces is suspenseful and reads quick. The cover is a good indication of the tone. Ollie's dad is great. I would have preferred first-person narration to third, but my biggest misgiving is the dead mom trope. Every time with the dead mom. Almost all of Ollie's character development relates directly to her mom's death, and it just feels like a cheap (and stale) way to flesh out the main character. Even so, I'm excited to read [b:the sequel 43069601 Dead Voices (Small Spaces #2) Katherine Arden https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1555318304l/43069601.SY75.jpg 66864206].