2.5 stars rounded up to 3. This book was not what I was expecting. It is being marketed as a historical fantasy ( if I remember right), however it didn’t come off as that for me. The writing style of this is so drastically different from the authors other books. It felt like there was a lot of unfinished thoughts, actions and plot lines that seemed to just fizzle out, All the side characters and Laura (female main character) all seemed flat. Personally, I disliked most of this books. The only parts/ storyline I really enjoyed reading was Freddie’s (male main character and Laura’s brother). This books would have been so much better for me if Laura and her plot line were either removed or there was less of it.

Freddie and his story with Winter and Falange are honestly the only reason I didn’t dnf this. They were the only characters that didn’t feel flat. Their stories, the events they go through and the trauma that they have to deal with are things that I feel should be talked about. I’m very grateful that Katherine Arden brought these themes and aspects into the book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an eARC of this title for my honest review.

2.5/5.0 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the gracious opportunity to review this arc.

I, unfortunately, had to DNF this at 50%.

Now let me start by saying that I had high hopes going into this. I have recently really started to appreciate the historical fiction genre, without AND without the fantasy or other genres thrown in the mix. With that being said, the way this is being marketed makes it seem as though the fantasy aspect plays a bigger part in the story. I did not find that to be true for most of my reading. I was just started to get to threads of fantasy thrown in there around the 40% mark and even then, it was extremely brief.

I found the MFC, Laura, to be a very rough character and her storyline matched her personality. It was very monotone and boring. It seems that every response from her was quite sarcastic even when not necessary by any means. I understand that she was dealing with a lot but even then she was just not a very dimensional character. Laura's brother, Freddie, had a much more interesting story line but towards the middle it to become stagnant with not much movement.

The overall pace of the story is very slow. Given the synopsis and title, I was expecting more paranormal activity to take place. The seance at the beginning was really setting a good flow of the story, but then other than the occasional vision from Laura, it's not there. It really just became a back and forth story of the characters moving from place to place. This of course means, based on how much I read, that if there was other paranormal activity that really happens it will take place after the 50% mark, which is far too long into the book for my liking. There were so many parts of the story where I feel like it could have either included it or just been taken out all together.

I can admit I appreciate that the author did very meticulous and thorough work studying the war and can be noticed in detail even from the beginning of the story. All descriptions of the war felt realistic and gave an excellent mental picture.

As a final note, I don't think this was completely horrible to where I would never finish the story. I just feel like expectations were not met which caused disappointment, but I see myself finishing this in the future.

Grab your hot beverage of choice and settle in under a warm blanket on a cold day for this read!

If you are a fan of historical fiction and love the added aspect of the paranormal or fantasy this is the book for you!

The story, the setting, the timeline were all so well plotted and forward driven that this ended up being a one sitting read for me.

Readers who enjoy books like Lovely War and The London Seance Society will devour this book!

Title: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
Publication Date- 02/13/24
Publisher- Penguin Random House- Del Rey
Overall Rating- 4 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say, I have never read a book like this before. This was also my first book by Katherine Arden and I am pleased to say I thoroughly enjoyed her writing. The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a well crafted historical fiction that adds the paranormal. I want to start off by saying if historical fiction is something you really dislike, it’s not like in the backdrop of this story, it is the main genre. I am not the biggest historical fiction person however, I really loved this. Just use extreme caution if you are not interested in WW1 and a very slow wartime story. If you can get past those elements there is so much to take away from this story.

What worked: This is just such an interesting story about a deeply sad time in history. Often, we see historical fiction taking place during WW2. In my experience, it is rare to find a book about WW1. If you do decide to read this, make sure you read the author's note at the end it’s very important and informative and touches on the lack of interest in WW1. Throughout the story we learn about the madness and horrors that war creates and I appreciate that Katherine Arden showed how women were involved and the horrors they faced too which are almost always left out in literature.

The characters, you will meet some deeply moving, resilient, bad ass characters. Wow, our main character, I would love to see this story be turned into a movie just so I can see her on screen. It would be impossible for me to formulate the words to show the strength these characters possessed that isn’t too far off from the real lives of those during WW1. This book doesn’t play sides. If you read it you’ll see what I mean.

The paranormal aspects were very well developed and interesting. They also wove into the story in ways that made sense and weren’t too complicated. Reading this, makes me want to read the Bear and the Nightingale trilogy also by this author. She combines history and folklore in deeply meaningful ways. I’m realizing I’m using the word deep a lot but this book truly has depth to it in ways I didn’t expect.

One of the strongest points of the book is the ending. I loved the ending. Not much else to say about that except read it and find out. This is a story that will stick with me for a long time.

What didn’t work: For some this story may be too slow. As someone who has grown to love slow pace, character stories, the middle of dragged on just a bit too much. That’s the only reason this isn’t a five star, I wonder if it could have been slightly shorter or if that’s my lack of experience with historical fiction speaking. This is really my only complaint.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this amazing opportunity!

It is so hard for me to rate the books that ended up being my whole life and personality.
This book was just that.
It is a masterpiece in my eyes but I might be and probably am biased because I’m obsessed with the author.
The cover did not disappoint at all.
Highly recommend for you guys to grab it as soon as it is out.

This was such a beautiful and fascinating book. Like many arc readers, I wanted to read this book because I found the Winternight Trilogy to be profoundly transforming. It is still one of my favorite reads, and so I was excited to read another sort of magic historical story from KA.

Despite knowing what I thought was a decent amount about WWI, I found myself constantly googling things while reading this story because there was so much really interesting history that she was delving into that I knew nothing about—especially in Canada! It was cool to get to use the story and the characters’ journeys to do my own research.

There is something spellbinding about everything KA writes and this is no exception. It is, admittedly, a very slow paced book, but I think that will make for a wonderfully atmospheric audiobook, which I will be listening to as soon as my library has a copy.

Thanks to netgalley for granting me this arc!

Full disclosure, I DNF'd this book just a few chapters in. I was so excited to receive this ARC, and so disappointed when I started reading it. I loved Arden's Winternight trilogy and thought I would love this newest work as well. The writing in this novel is vastly different from what Arden has produced before, and it does not click with me at all. The sentences are short and choppy; I could overlook this if they flowed together well, but they don't. I found myself rereading each paragraph multiple times, and still not absorbing what was happening. I made the decision not to continue with the book to spare myself this experience the whole way through.

Such a beautifully atmospheric and haunting book! Katherine Arden's writing is absolutely amazing and I can't wait to read her other books!

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is not primarily a fantasy/romance, but rather historical fiction based on WW1 with the tiniest drop of magic (which might as well be a metaphor) and the tiniest amount of romance - very subtle, and I am so happy that this isn't another romanticized war story.

(There are graphic descriptions of wounded soldiers, body parts falling, and a lot more gruesome wounds and deaths - please don't read it if you can't deal with such descriptions.)

Let me start by saying that I’m in the biggest reading slump I’ve been in in the past two years. I DNF’d this book at 17%. I can acknowledge that this is a good book and that I could probably enjoy it at a different point in time. However, right now, me and this storyline/ writing style are simply not getting along. Consider this a soft DNF because I’m likely to pick this up at some point, just not now.

I did love the depth of the characters that I had seen in only the very beginning of the book. I can already see who they are and what they stand for. It’s refreshing to read a book by an author who understands their characters. The plot simply didn’t catch my attention in the bit that I read. Ill try it again later!!

Haunting, desperation, yearning, and beautifully written.

Katherine Arden is a wonderful storyteller.
A novel about a injured woman on a quest to find her dead brother that she suspected isn’t dead. And a brother who struggles to survive a war and the demon who wants to consume is soul.

Mesmerizingly written, the scenic and tone of the setting can be vividly painted thru Arden’s rich metaphors and contrast. Her strong language of magic can be felt in the pages of this book. The ghost and the haunting jest of a man who present salvation but is the anthesis of it.

I love that Arden presents romance not thru blatant actions but small gestures. A glance. A promise. And ultimately a debt called in.

Three loves in the end. One a tragedy. One being healed. And another blossoming.

Definitely a great story to read!

In the author's note, Katherine Arden calls the time period of WWI "darkly surreal" and I must agree, especially considering the care and knowledge the author put into this recreation of a time that is less understood by many than, of course, WWII.

A brother and a sister separated by this war. Laura is in Nova Scotia when a ship explodes, killing many, including her parents and destroying her home. Soon after, she receives a box of her brothers belongings, including his jacket and tags, a note saying that Freddie is missing and presumed dead. After some strange occurrences, Laura travels to France with a few friends to once again take up the mantel of the nurse and search for her brother.

Freddie, meanwhile, finds himself trapped and only survives with the help of a soldier from the enemy's side. To save this person, he sacrifices himself, but not in the way you may think. Will Laura find him? And, what will she risk in the process?

I have feelings!!!!! Romantic, devastating.. . This book is not just "one of my favorites"... this has to be the best book I have read in quite some time. I can not wrap my head around the author's ability to in this one book, break my heart, and then completely rebuild it. The attention to every single harmful effect of war on all different people juxtaposed with a touch of magical realism that scorched me completely... this is absolutely brilliant. I'm honestly speechless, and I know I'm going to now be searching for the next book that hits this hard, this deeply and yet has me holding onto it for dear life.

Out February 13, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

I enjoyed reading the author's previous trilogy. However, I stopped reading this title fairly early on due to the seance that was taking place.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to preview this book.

I really loved this! It was a great historical fiction with a little bit of added fantasy spookiness with the ghosts and the character Faland. I enjoyed the dual timeline and how it all comes together. The ending I definitely did not see coming but it made perfect sense all at the same time. Those twists are always a good surprise!

I fell in love with Arden's storytelling with the Winternight series so I was super excited to read this new one. Very different from the Winternight world but still steeped in history and complex characters who you can't help but love. My favorite characters were Freddie and Winter especially when they were together. I thought the pacing lagged a little in the second quarter but once it picked up at the halfway point I couldn't put it down. Finished it in a day!

If you are expecting a similar escapist floaty feeling kind of read ala the <i>Winternight</i> trilogy, be warned, you won’t find it here. Instead this was heavy, grounded, both by the realities and horrors (which sometimes feel like UNrealities) of war and loss. And the writing felt very reflective of that. Almost stark instead of carrying one off into the imagined world above. Again, grounded feels like a good word for it. But, notably, not weighed down by it, either.

The entwined timelines of this story carry us through the time of The Great War, each lead by an Iven sibling, Laura, a nurse, honourably discharged back in Nova Scotia to recuperate after her hospital was bombed, and Freddie, a soldier, months before, where we see him become as Laura knows him to be in her present/his future : missing, presumed dead. We see what happens in the months before she’s notified and it’s the uncertainty of his fate that sends her back to the front. Running from the ghosts that haunt her at home to face the ghosts she left behind in the hopes her brother isn’t counted among them.

<i>Armageddon was a fire in the harbour, a box delivered on a cold day. It wasn’t one great event, but ten million tiny ones that you faced all alone.</i>

So much of this is, little surprise considering the title, about what haunt us. Choices and chances, sacrifices and desires, and literal losses, too. Memories and moments and how it all comes together to make us who we are. It can be frightening and fantastical to face those things. Much like it’s frightening and fantastical for the characters standing at death’s door, inches from a war that cares only for the whole and not the individual, as sinister forces both large and small dog their steps.

<i>There’s no man’s will stronger than the war.</i>

Arden condensed so much history and fact into this novel and it’s heartbreaking and horrible in its realness. I learned a lot from the perspectives included, particularly Laura and her nurse and doctor counterparts, but equally having Pim, Laura’s gently reared widowed friend, along for the ride provided a contrast of the Victorian ideals and manners that were fading away in the face of the realities of this new modern and war-filled age; the blood and the despair and fickle fate that could kill one son, one brother, one loved one, and leave another alive. It’s through Pim that we experience another dose of contradiction as she sis seated next to high ranking army personnel having luxury meals and abiding by societal custom just a stone’s throw away from the wounded and dying, laid up in makeshift hospitals housed in abandoned buildings, who had been sent to the front to survive on rations and suffer until the end. Realities and unrealities.

<i>Men stripped the war of emotions as best they could. They didn’t think of what it all meant. They did what they had to, then packed their memories away and sat on them.</i>

Even Freddie, as his chapters caught up to Laura’s, felt that disconnect both from the circumstances he finds himself in as well as the added trauma and grief from surviving.

The whole experience was dark and surreal but not, I want to say, without hope. Because sometimes, in the darkest hours, both literally and figuratively and sometimes both at the same time, we find the strength — the person — to carry us through to the other side.

While there isn’t a happy ending in the traditional sense — <i>We won, screamed the people outside. [but] don’t they know, Laura thought, we all lost?</i> — there is some bittersweet satisfaction to have by how the story wraps up. And I think that’s incredibly fitting because of the content and the experiences that Arden has done her best to capture within. Sure, there’s fiction but most is fact, is real, and it’s a hard pill to swallow. Not just because of what happened, the losses, the atrocities, but because it wasn’t the end of the wars. And we’ve still not learned.

This read is going to stay with me for a long time and I definitely see myself revisiting this because there were so many passages I lingered over, cried over, even occasionally felt bizarrely giddy over, and it was truly so well done. I hope you give it a chance and that maybe in the reading of it you’ll not only take something away from the experience but also, maybe, think warmly towards your own ghosts.

Highly recommend.

4.5 stars

Thank you so much to Net Galley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Katherine Arden for providing this book for my honest review. This is such a beautifully written atmospheric book. Katherine Arden can write in such a way that it makes the reader feel they are a part of the story. I love that this book takes place during WW1 as we don’t often get many historical fiction books during this timeline. I also like the multiple POV’s and the sci- fi/ fantasy elements. This is such a haunting and unforgettable book. Despite it being a slow burn and a bit of a heavy read, I very much enjoyed it. Katherine Arden is an auto buy author for me now! I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fantasy books, slow builds, and atmospheric settings. Thank you again for alllowing me to review this powerful book.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.25 stars

WARM HANDS OF GHOSTS is a multi-POV novel set in WW1 that follows siblings Laura and Freddie Iven. Laura is a combat nurse who was honerably discharged after being wounded. Freddie is a soldier fighting at the front. Laura is sent home to Halifax and, one day, receives Freddie’s dog tag and jacket. She gets the sense things are not as they seem and finds a way back to the front to find answers.

Laura’s POV, while it gives valuable background information and context, was a bit more difficult to get into, especially when compared with Freddie and Winter. Freddie and Winter were beautifully fleshed out and compelling characters. I wish we had more of them or the book was written from their perspectives.

Pim and Mary were largely ignored after they arrived in the Forbidden Zone. They were set up to be interesting side characters and I was disappointed we didn’t get more interactions with them. I have a similar feel for Faland. He was a partially finished character. I very much enjoyed how he was presented as morally grey, instead of pure evil. He was a great comparison to the pure evils of war.

GHOSTS is a very dark novel that gives an accurate view of what WW1 was like for those on the front. It’s bleak, depressing, apocalyptic, and haunting, just as the soldiers, nurses, and doctors experienced. The first 40% is fairly slow and can feel like a slog, but it picks up VERY quickly and keeps going right until the end.

This book is VERY different from Arden’s Winternight trilogy and may not appeal to the same reader base. In her author’s note, Adren mentioned struggling to finish this book. You can sense that throughout the novel.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It’s far from perfect, but it had some compelling characters and some very relevant and well-done themes.

The hands of ghosts may be warm, but they are also heavy. Arden's meticulously researched story of love and war and the fog between the two offers readers a harsh look at the depths of war's trenches and men's souls but never loses sight of what we live for at the end of the day. Prickly combat nurse Laura returns to the front, but finds more questions than answers about the fate of her brother, all the while quietly nursing the hope that he is still alive. Equal parts enchanting and horrifying, Arden weaves a story that haunts readers long after the final page, much like the faint sound of violin music in the wind.

In all honesty this was a 3.5/3.75 star book.

Okay: let’s quickly break this down. The first 60% of this book was a slog to get through, but the next 20% actually gripped my attention while the very last 20% was captivating. So it’s hard to rate a book where I felt a lot of different emotions while reading it.

This is gonna be a messier review than I usually go with, but bear with me here:

First off I think this is a huge jump creatively for the author. Going from Russian mythology to a WW1 story definitely shows her ability to write whatever she chooses, but I also think it’s going to attract a different audience and reader than her previous books. I definitely picked this book up initially because of my love for The Bear and the Nightingale, and I’m sure others will as well. But it probably will come as a shock to some readers about what a huge change of pace this book is.

I really wanted more from Laura initially. Her story wasn’t nearly as compelling as Freddie’s from the beginning so reading her chapters definitely left me wishing from more from her as a character. I wish that her character arc had been expedited a bit to give us more depth.

Mary and Pim were necessary additions but unfortunately Mary was basically discarded once they got to the Forbidden Zone. I wish the same time and attention had been given to fostering her relationships with all of the secondary characters because they all felt flat and I didn’t feel like they were given the time they deserved. It would have made the ending much more impactful if there was more attention to characters. Also, I wish we could have had a bit more time between her and Jones to better solidify that relationship.

Freddie and Winter were what I wanted from this story. They had depth, they were interesting, and I wanted everything to be centered around them. I could go on and on about how I felt about these two, that’s how strongly I feel about them.

Final thoughts: I wish this book had been told solely from Winters and Freddie’s perspective. I think it would have made a significant difference in the overall storytelling and given more depth to the characters that were the most compelling and dynamic. Going through everything that Winters go through in order to get back to Freddie while reading about the trials of Freddie and Faland would have been so heart wrenching in all the right ways. It would have made the ending just exquisite.

This book! Wow this book leaves part of it in your soul. It takes ahold of you and it digs itself into you. This was so freaking amazing! I will definitely pick up more books from Katherine Arden!! Historical fiction at its best right here!!
I just reviewed The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. #TheWarmHandsofGhosts #NetGalley
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Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey publishing for an ARC.

Laura Iven is a wounded WWI nurse who’s honorably discharged and sent back to her home in Canada. She leaves her brother, Freddie, fighting at the front. Soon after, she receives a box of his belongings and note of his death. Laura feels something is off, something's not quite right, and goes back to Belgium to search for an explanation of what happened to her brother.

Readers are given two different storylines - Laura’s story at the beginning of 1918 and her brother’s experience the last couple months of 1917.

I loved The Bear and the Nightingale trilogy, which is why I was so excited to read Katherine’s new book. While The Warm Hands of Ghosts did not reach the same level of The Bear and the Nightingale, it was still a beautifully written story. Ghosts is colder and darker, which makes sense as it is a story of the brutality of war and the after effects on a person’s spirit.

In the author’s note, Arden explains her struggle in completing the novel. As a reader, I could almost feel that as I progressed through the book. There was just something missing and a few plot points that seemed either unnecessary or not fully fleshed out. While I did enjoy Laura and Jones’s relationship, I had a hard time connecting with many of the other characters. The “villain” wasn’t enough of a villain for me; I needed more from his character as well.

Overall I am happy to have read this book, but it fell short in a few places.