Dead Voices is the sequel to Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. I adored Small Spaces, so when I realized there was a second book (which will be followed by a third and a fourth!!!), I was so excited. Like Small Spaces, Dead Voices is middle grade horror. I thought it was actually a little scarier, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you why Dead Voices is the perfect read to give you chills this holiday season.

Don’t Listen and Don’t Look in Mirrors

(Warning: If you haven’t read Small Spaces, you might want to read it first before reading this review.)

Olivia Adler, Coco Zintner, and Brian Battersby escaped the Smiling Man and his scarecrows back in October. Now it’s winter break, and the three kids plus Ollie’s dad and Coco’s mom are headed to the brand new Mount Hemlock Resort for a ski trip—a free trip that Mr. Adler won. (If this setup sounds a little like Luigi’s Mansion, well, you might be onto something.)

However, the three kids don’t get to do much skiing. On the night they arrive, a snowstorm blows in. It knocks out the power, and for some reason the gas heating and backup generators aren’t working. And it just keeps snowing. 

Before our heroes get completely snowed in, a mysterious ghost hunter named Mr. Voland arrives through the snow. Mr. Voland is there to investigate Mount Hemlock Resort’s haunted past, and the rumors of continued hauntings even through the resort’s renovation and conversion into a ski lodge. 

Ollie, Coco, and Brian have seen some weird things in the lodge (including some taxidermied animals that seem to move around on their own), so they are intrigued by Mr. Voland’s knowledge of the ghosts. Thinking he might be able to help them figure out what’s going on, they begin to rely on his expertise—until Ollie’s watch, which helped them escape the Smiling Man’s scarecrows, comes to life again with a new message: BEWARE. 

After all, not all ghosts are friendly.

Shouldn’t Have Taken That Free Ski Trip

I have mixed feelings about sequels to books I love. It can be hard to make a second book feel different from the first while recreating the same tone, setting, or characters that the reader enjoyed about the first. This was one of the things I was worried about with Dead Voices. Part of the reason I enjoyed Small Spaces was the creepiness and the mystery about what was happening, and I worried that the second one would try to recreate that creepiness with more scarecrows and a similar plot. 

Happily, however, none of that turned out to be the case. Dead Voices get creepy very quickly, but not in a Halloween-y way that recycles things from book 1. While Small Spaces felt very autumnal in its eeriness, Dead Voices feels wintry. I actually thought it was a lot scarier than Small Spaces.

This time, the strange occurrences start with shadowy figures looming out of a snowstorm and dreams of a little girl pleading for help finding her bones. The ski lodge, far from feeling warm and inviting, feels big, shadowy, and unfriendly. Ollie, Coco, and Brian notice strange things almost immediately, from the power generators refusing to work to strange footsteps made by no one to some taxidermic animals that seem to move around the lodge by themselves when no one is looking. These strange things are paired with enough parallels to Small Spaces that you wonder if all the spooky happenings are connected somehow, but not in a way that feels like a repeat. 

One thing that helps the story feel different is that parts of Dead Voices are told from Coco’s point of view. I really enjoyed this because it let me get to know Coco as a character a little better, where Small Spaces was mostly about Ollie. Coco provides a nice contrast to Ollie’s character too. When the kids notice that Ollie’s dad and Coco’s mom are showing hints of romance, Ollie isn’t thrilled because she still misses her mom—but Coco, whose dad left when she was a baby, is excited about it. Later, when they and Brian get entangled in the ghostly happenings around Mount Hemlock Resort, Ollie wants to trust Mr. Voland, the ghost hunter, while Coco wants to tell everything to their parents. But even when their different ideas and weaknesses get them into trouble, Coco, Ollie, and Brian are able to work together to figure out what’s going on at the lodge and how to stop it.

Like in Small Spaces, Ollie, Coco, and Brian were part of what made Dead Voices so enjoyable for me. They aren’t stupid like characters in some other horror books or films might be. When they see a sinister ghost, they run in the other direction to the lobby where they can be around the adults. The things that get them into actual trouble are weaknesses that come naturally for their characters, like Ollie’s inability to let go of her mom as a result of her grief. The kids feel like real kids, and Dead Voices felt like a very natural continuation of the story Small Spaces began. I’ll be looking forward to the release of the next book in the quartet.

Who to Read With

Like Small Spaces, Dead Voices would probably be too scary for younger kids, but that 8–12 age group would probably enjoy the chills without being too frightened. I found it very scary in an enjoyable way, but not in a way that made me lose sleep. 

For parents who might want to know, there is a scene with a ouija board and the kids try to use it to talk to Ollie’s mom. This plan ends badly (obviously), but it’s something to be aware of if you don’t want your kids reading about ouija boards.

Listen Together

I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator once again delivered an excellent performance. This time, her voices for the ghosts were what gave the book its spine-chilling eeriness. I had a hard time listening to it at night!

You can pick up a copy of Dead Voices as a gift for anyone who might appreciate a holiday ghost story from Bookshop (which supports local bookstores!) or from Amazon.