"Dead Voices"

"Dead Voices"
Written by Katherine Arden
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

"Dead Voices" is the sequel to a middle grade novel called, "Small Spaces". Written by the poetic and beloved author of the "Winternight" series, Katherine Arden has created a fun and entertaining series about a group of friends solving creepy and adventurous mysteries. Initially, I had been very excited to begin this, due to my received invitation to join a publicity blog tour held by Penguin Random House's kids' imprint.

In this sophomore novel in the series, "Dead Voices" follows the friends, Ollie, Coco, and Brian, as they and their families travel to a ski lodge in a deep blizzard. They meet Mr. Voland, a man who tells the group that he is a paranormal investigator. He has come to the ski lodge to search for the supernatural. The team works with him to investigate the hauntings.

The main girl from the trio is Coco. She becomes haunted by the ghost of a young girl, from the time that the ski lodge was once an orphanage. The crew realizes that the way they can help this girl find peace is to return her bones to her final resting place.

I enjoyed this book, and I felt it to be an enjoyable read. I was anticipating this to be a bit creepier, much more like R.L. Stine, who had given a blurb for the front and back of the book. I find that although I enjoy some middle grade and a majority of young adult fiction, that this book was not as enjoyable for an older audience. I do often still read R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, and other middle grade horror authors. I would have preferred more haunts and specters.

In addition, I felt that the crew were not all that intriguing. The creepier scenes lacked a truly eerie feeling as well as effective suspense. The characters felt a little too simple, without many discernable characters. Their lack of characteristics and interesting qualities left me a bit confused who was whom. I just felt that although this was a short novel, Arden could have fleshed out the characters a bit more.

To conclude, I was not as enamoured of this story as much as I had wanted to be. It was a fun, cheesy book to read during the Halloween season. If not for the blog tour, I would not have picked this up. I would not continue this series, purely based on other horror books I'd prefer to read instead. I do recommend this to younger readers and to those adults who primarily read younger novels.

I received a complimentary finished copy in exchange for reviewing purposes and participation on a blog tour. Thank you to Penguin Kids Publishing for the opportunity.