I can't honestly say that I am disappointed by this book, because I knew going in that it wasn't going to be what I wanted. (Something more akin to the Winternight trilogy.) And having read the blurb, I was fairly certain it wasn't going to be that.

The fact that I read this book at all is based on two words on the cover: Katherine Arden. She's a brilliant writer, and her skill is really the only reason I finished. If this book finds its proper audience (not Winternight fans, and not really me), it will do well.

It has depth and vivid descriptions and a unique depiction of a terrible time in history. And it has characters who I cared about, almost in spite of myself (Jones was a particular favorite)

Will I read this again? No. But I am sort of glad I read it once. Though it may prompt some uneasy dreams.

This book is so good! I loved all the characters and the setting and the plot! It was all breathtaking and haunting! So so good!!!

𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

This is one of my most anticipated reads for 2024. Ardens Winternight Trilogy is much beloved by myself and I have been waiting ever so patiently for her next book, when I first got news of this book I knew I had to beg, borrow or steal to get myself an ARC.

Well I am here to tell you I didn’t have to do any of that because the wonderful people at @delray sent me a copy and it absolutely lived up to all my expectations.

This is not The Winternight trilogy, so don’t read this expecting that. This book is wholly its own, it is dark, mysterious, haunting and woven with the finest threads of love, honour, and healing.

Reading this was a bit of an evolution, it took some time to find the mystery that was lurking, Arden took me through the experiences of two siblings and the people tied to them as they dug through the darkest of miseries and scenery, to battle against evil, and to reunite themselves with the light. The journey became so expansive from the first chapter to the last, I felt like with each passing page the light slowly crept back into the story and its occupants. So to say it was an evolution it really was, of spirit, of mind and of body.

When I closed the last page, I felt overcome, the way she described war and those in it I would of believed she had first hand experience, but then she puts in her magical touch of something ethereal and you get this ghost story of the past. It’s impossible to describe and I suggest going on the journey yourself.

This book is for those who believe there is light even in the darkest of nights.

Wow. I have never read a book quite like this one. I don't read a lot of war books, especially ones so detailed. Arden is not afraid to get into the nitty gritty details and realities ofwar. If you are squeamish about medical content and blood, skip this book, but you are missing out. This book is haunting and heavy; I had to take breaks to breathe and remember that I am not in the trenches, fearing for my life. Descriptions of the trenches and battleground made me think of the movie 1917. Arden really made me feel like I was there. I also appreciated that she addressed the injustice of those in command not having to pay the true cost of the war.
If you liked Divine Rivals but want more focus on the war, read this book. If you like war stories but wish they had fantasy elements, this book is for you.
I highly, highly recommend this book.

I absolutely adore Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy, so when I heard about 'Warm Hands of Ghosts' I jumped at the chance to review it. It did not disappoint. The characters are compelling and the writing easy to fall into.

This is a war time tale that picks up in the midst of WW1. We follow siblings Laura and Freddie Iven, a Canadian nurse and soldier, their story sucks you in. They're so very relatable and their characters so real that the war itself, although very present, fades into the background as the reader sees life through their eyes. I absolutely loved this book. If you're a historical fiction fan preorder this one.

TW: scenes of war

I'm still in the middle of reading this and will return with more when I finish, but as of now I LOVE this book. It is sad and haunting and gritty, and so unique from anything I've ever read before.

This story was not what I was originally expecting, and was a change from the genres and styles I would normally pick to read.. Over all it was an enjoyable read. It was very beautifully written story about the surviving during the time of WW1. You can clearly tell that Katherine Arden did her research and on the setting and time period.

I had a hard time connecting to the characters, specifically with Laura. I found my self more invested with Freddie's POV and story line then I did with hers.

A page-turning blend of historical fiction and fantasy in the vein of Mary Stewart and Simone St. James. This novel follows Laura Iven, an injured Canadian WWI nurse, who longs to find her younger brother, Freddie, a missing soldier. She finds help in unexpected places. Characters are richly crafted with some facing an impossible choice: to rejoin the harsh, fast-changing real world or hide in an enticing fantasy world.

Katherine Arden can do no wrong as I'm concerned. The way this story was woven made it almost impossible to put down. The odds. The war. The horror of never knowing, and the horror of knowing. For anyone who wants the very best of both history and paranormal elements, this is the kind of book for you.

A cast of tough characters shines in this historical about a British nurse searching for her missing brother. Supernatural elements are subtle and disturbing, as she navigates two worlds of friendly and hostile forces against the violent backdrop of WWI

THIS BOOK!! I read it 3 months ago and I still think about it multiple times a week. It's a mix of history and fantasy and grief and war and it is just so beautifully written.

The Warm Hands of Ghost by Katherine Arden is riveting, engaging readers from the first chapter all the way to the end. Immediately, I was invested in the characters, losing sleep because I wanted to know what happened next. Full of powerful imagery, I felt like I was there with them as they fought for family and survival on the front lines of WWI. Vivid and haunting, yet I wanted more.

(Thank you for the arc)

It’s been just over 100 years since the end of World War I. The last veterans have passed away and World War II has largely eclipsed what was called the Great War in a lot of Western minds. Katherine Arden’s heartbreaking historical fantasy, The Warm Hands of Ghosts, brings the horrors of the catastrophic First World War back to life through the eyes of a nurse and her soldier brother. Both characters search for each other in the wake of the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres, July-November 1917) through figurative and literal hell.

Laura Iven was sent home to Canada after the Belgian hospital she was working at was shelled by the Germans in the fall of 1917 and she received a near-fatal leg wound. Tragically, almost as soon as she recovers (mostly) and finds new work, her parents are killed in the Halifax Explosion. She only has one relative left, her brother Freddie, who disappeared during the Battle of Passchendaele. After what Laura has seen of the front, it’s hard to hold out hope that Freddie is still alive. She’s a cynical person but, when a package arrives with Freddie’s bloody infantry jacket and both halves of his ID tag, Laura pulls strings to be sent back to Belgium to search for him. (ID tags were split in half when a body was recovered. One half was sent to family members after the death was recorded; the other half would stay with the remains.)

Our first hints that The Warm Hands of Ghosts is not a straight work of historical fiction come from the three elderly women whom Laura boards with and nurses for. The three women run seances (Laura dismisses them as scam artists) that are surprisingly accurate. Readers who remember their Greek myths will clock the familiar-sounding names of the three Parkey sisters. Things get even stranger when Laura returns to Belgium and starts to hear rumors of a fiddler who offers respite from the bombs, the wet, and the deprivations of trench warfare, only to disappear by morning and never be seen again. It would be easy for Laura to dismiss her own strange encounter with the fiddler, Faland, except that the women traveling with her also have the same experience. It’s harder to explain away something as a hallucination or a dream if others remember it, too.

Freddie’s story is told in parallel with Laura’s. We know he’s alive after surviving the explosion of a German pillbox emplacement but his story is even stranger than Laura’s. It’s a miracle that Freddie wasn’t killed by the explosion or by being buried in mud. Thanks to the presence of a German soldier named Winter who was in the pillbox, Freddie managed to dig them out. Once the two men emerge, however, they have a new problem. If they find the German trenches, Freddie will be taken prisoner and possibly shot. If they find the Allies’ trenches, Winter will be the one facing imprisonment and possible execution. There is no safety for either of them…until they run across a curious fiddle player who offers them refuge for a negligible price.

As The Warm Hands of Ghosts developed, I felt so much sympathy for Laura and Freddie. Both of them have almost died. They’ve suffered terribly at the disastrous whims of the generals who’ve sent so many people to their deaths over the course of the war. The easy thing would be to either go home and forget (Laura) or retreat into fantasy and oblivion (Freddie). The hard thing is to keep putting one foot in front of the other and search for a way through trauma and death. But what I love most about this incredible novel is that neither Laura or Freddie has to do the hard thing alone. There are hands—from friends and from ghosts—to pull them through their trials to the other side, whatever that might look like.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a beautiful and harrowing novel. I strongly recommend it to fans of historical fantasy or readers who are looking for a more original war story.

"The Warm Hands of Ghosts" by Katherine Arden is a WWI Historical Fiction Story with Paranormal Aspects!

Laura Iven, a field nurse during WWI, was wounded, discharged, and sent home to Halifax, Canada. She is stunned when news arrives that her brother Freddie, a soldier in the Canadian Army, is missing and presumed dead. As she touches his bloody jacket and ID tags, she can't believe what she sees and reads to be true.

Despite struggling with a painful leg injury, Laura decides to return to Flanders, Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. She's determined to discover the truth of what happened to Freddie, in the hopes that he's still alive...

"The Warm Hands of Ghosts" is told through alternating timelines of the main character Laura Iven, and her brother, Wilfred (Freddie) Iven. This is my first read by Katherine Arden and there is something to be said about an author whose writing and storytelling can transport you to where the story is taking place. In this case, it's 1917-1918 in Flanders, Belgium* during The Great War and I felt like I was there.

This is a hefty tale to take on, with topics of severe injury, death, and the darkness of war. Blending the horrors of war with aspects of Paranormal gives this story a diversion and unexpected mystery. This is the type of creativity I love.

I thought the author did a remarkable job of making this story feel like it passes through one era into the next, sprinkling newness with the existing familiar, and you can recognize it in the character of Laura most profoundly. This might be the closest experience to Steampunk I've ever read without realizing it. Were there implied touches of Science Fiction in the mix, too?

"The Warm Hands of Ghosts" is a story with diverse characterizations and an original premise that I loved reading and I recommend it to readers who, like me, enjoy a blend of Historical and Fantasy Fiction. I believe I will be visiting this author's backlist very soon!

4.25⭐

*Flanders Fields in Belgium was a major battle theatre on the Western Front during the First World War where a million soldiers from more than 50 countries were wounded, missing, or killed in action. Is it any wonder why there are stories of ghosts wandering this land?

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, Del Rey, and Katherine Arden for a DRC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.

WOW. i don’t even know what to say. this book was incredible. The story was so heartbreaking & beautiful at the same time. I can’t wait for this to be published and tel everyone I know to read it.

This story is set during WW2, at the end of it. The main characters are Laura and Freddie, who are a nurse and soilder duo. Freddie ends up going missing and Laura goes on a mission to find him, leading us into this captivating story.

Katherine Arden’s writing style is beautiful and i definitely will be reading more of her work now!!

A beautifully written and dark tale to keep you captivated from the very start.

This book has a dark and eerie setting, something I have been loving as of late in the books I have been reading. Arden tells a beautiful story that delves into themes of war, despression, cruelty, madness and more (I recommend looking up trigger warnings before picking this one up).

I love how this book not only is set in the backdrop of war, but that it also deals with the topics of friendship and love and how much that can impact your life.

This book is not for everyone, but if you enjoy darker themes then this is the tale fore you!

This book was a jaw dropping tale that had me transfixed from start to finish.

Thank you so much to Random House Publishing, NetGalley and Katherine Arden for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review! It was much appreciated!

*4.5 stars

At this point, I honestly don't think Arden will publish a book I don't love.

With that being said, I'll caution readers who pick up THE WARM HANDS OF GHOSTS expecting a similar reading experience to The Winternight trilogy. Yes, this also has a woman going up against an eternal being, but Laura and Vasilisa are not the same type of protagonist, nor is Morozko and Faland the same type of villain. Arden's author's note at the end provides further context as to why this book is set in WWI, but with SO many books about WWII published year after year, it was really fascinating to have one focused on the early 1900s and the first world war as Victorian propriety and sensibilities are slowly stripped away as more people are forced to say goodbye to loved ones as they head off to a war they probably won't return from. Paring the horrors that both Laura and Freddie experience while at the front with the local tragedy of a ship exploding in the harbor in Halifax and the many civilian lives were lost helps to set the stage for The Fiddler and what he offers to the people that find his hotel.

This starts off slow, but stick with it because once Laura is back in Flanders things will pick up. The last 30% or so was impossible to put down because I HAD to find out what happened next. I found Laura to be an interesting character and can imagine the war was full of women similar to her that did all they could to try and keep the soldiers alive as long as they could. While she's not a comic book heroine rushing into the fight, she has a strong enough will to know that someone has to be at the hospital to help put the boys back together when they arrive broken and bloody. There are a few twists that I appreciated and I got a little teary eyed at the end when Laura reads the letter left for her (and for what she dreams of doing after that, I sincerely hope she follows up with her idea and makes it a reality).

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Del Rey in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautifully written war story that reads like historical fiction but with a dash of the spiritual as an infusion that sparks contemplation and self-reflection. Excellent choice for a book club read with lots to discuss. Questions like what makes a hellscape? What are the limits to what we can handle? How do our 'devils' change as we do? "What would any of us do when thrown unprepared into a strange new world?" (Arden, 2024). Thank you for providing a copy for me to read and review. The cover done for Waterstones is absolutely STUNNING.

This book was a surprise. First, let me say it is bleak for much of the book. The setting is dark and delves into themes of war, madness, depression, hopelessness, human depravity, and cruelty... a lot of bleak content. Second, it also deals with the power of love and devotion, of friendship and family. It talks about the power of just believing in someone who doesn't believe in themselves.

Arden really sort of made a statement with this book, and I'm so glad I read it. One of my favorite parts was the authors note, where she discusses why and how she came to tell this story, and now I may find myself going down a WWI historical fantasy rabbit hole.

This book is not for everyone. But it was absolutely for me. I love Arden's writing style and over all what she has to say about the human experience and war in this story.

Thank you Netgalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story falls short of its potential. The writing style differs from the author's usual, making it harder to follow. The protagonist, Laura, lacks engagement, and the plot becomes convoluted.

While some elements showed promise, it ultimately fell short for me. Simplifying the narrative, focusing on the core characters, and avoiding convenient resolutions could have enhanced the story's impact. Unfortunately, the plot feels messy, lacking the depth and richness of the Winternight series....so it doesn't live up to that standard.