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Empty Smiles

Small Spaces Quartet Book 4

Katherine Arden

Ages 10–15

Readers rate it 3.7 (25 on Hardcover)

256 pages · Released 2022

Content report card

Empty Smiles parent’s guide: what’s inside

High confidence

Sexual content

Substance use

What it offers

A note for parents

Empty Smiles is the dark, suspenseful finale of the Small Spaces Quartet, featuring intense supernatural horror and life-threatening peril rather than graphic violence. The story emphasizes friendship, courage, and self-sacrifice as protagonists risk everything to rescue their friend from a dangerous entity. While atmospheric dread and emotional stakes are significant, the horror is more psychological than gory, making it suitable for middle-grade readers comfortable with darker fantasy but not appropriate for younger children.

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From the publisher

It’s been three months since Ollie made a daring deal with the smiling man to save those she loved, and then vanished without a trace. The smiling man promised Coco, Brian and Phil, that they’d have a chance to save her, but as time goes by, they begin to worry that the smiling man has lied to them and Ollie is gone fo... It’s been three months since Ollie made a daring deal with the smiling man to save those she loved, and then vanished without a trace. The smiling man promised Coco, Brian and Phil, that they’d have a chance to save her, but as time goes by, they begin to worry that the smiling man has lied to them and Ollie is gone forever. But finally, a clue surfaces. A boy who went missing at a nearby traveling carnival appears at the town swimming hole, terrified and rambling. He tells anyone who'll listen about the mysterious man who took him. How the man agreed to let him go on one condition: that he deliver a message. Play if you dare. Game on! The smiling man has finally made his move. Now it’s Coco, Brian, and Phil’s turn to make theirs. And they know just where to start. The traveling carnival is coming to Evansburg. Meanwhile, Ollie is trapped in the world behind the mist, learning the horrifying secrets of the smiling man's carnival, trying everything to help her friends find her. Brian, Coco and Phil will risk everything to rescue Ollie—but they all soon realize this game is much more dangerous than the ones before. This time the smiling man is playing for keeps. The summer nights are short, and Ollie, Coco, Brian, and Phil have only until sunrise to beat him once and for all—or it’s game over for everyone.

Shelved under

  • Strong Character Development
  • Loveable Characters
  • A mix driven
  • Diverse Characters
  • Character driven
  • Not Diverse Characters
  • tense
  • dark
  • Adventurous
  • emotional
  • mysterious
  • Fantasy

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ISBN 9780593109182 · Penguin Young Readers Group

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