4.5 stars

As a huge fan of the Winternight trilogy, I was so excited to dive into “The Warm Hands of Ghosts.” As always, Arden’s writing is exquisite: incredibly detailed, immersive, compelling, but leaving enough for the reader to interpret on their own. You’ll fall in love with her characters: prickly nurse Laura, old-fashioned Pim, single-minded Mary, unerringly competent Jones, steady Winter, and (no spoilers) Freddie. This creepingly terrifying WWI historical fantasy asks questions of identity, memory, and self.

After Laura is injured and discharged from her nursing position in Flanders, she returns home to Halifax shortly before her home is destroyed and her parents killed by an explosion. What follows is a letter containing her brother’s dog tags, stating that he is missing and presumed dead - but signs from beyond the grave suggest that he is still alive. Laura makes the choice to return to the war front, seeking answers.

Months prior, Freddie awakens after a battle locked in the darkness with a German soldier. Together they must fight to survive first the harsh environment of No Man’s Land, and then the conflicts between each other’s interests. They wander into a mysterious hotel, owned by a fiddler who seeks their stories in exchange for their stay. Stories of the fiddler abound among the soldiers, making him more myth than man.

I highly recommend this incredible read!

This was a highly anticipated read for me, especially with the synopsis. Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing so I am rating based on what I did read. I did love the close family relationship, and the need to find answers about the FMC brother. I enjoyed the war aspect, and how it affected soldiers. I also enjoyed the ghost/seance aspect. Sadly, I just felt bored, and I think I was due to the overall writing style.

An excellent ghost story to start the year. Laura Iven was a nurse during WW1 and was sent home after being badly wounded when the hospital was bombed. Her brother Freddie has gone missing on the front very mysteriously and Laura is determined to find out what happened to him - no matter the cost.

This book is a wild ride. It's extremely well written and engrossing. I loved all the characters, and I found myself deeply invested in what was happening to them all. The villain is deliciously hate-able. I haven't read many books set during WW1 and this one kind of makes me want to seek more out.

One of my most-anticipated reads of the year!. Katherine Arden followed up her fantastic Winternight trilogy with a quartet of middle-grade horror novels, but this is her first foray back into fiction for adults. Though those looking for the more playful fantasy of Winternight may find this overly grim, I really liked this story of Canadian siblings caught up in World War I. Laura Iven is a combat nurse, and a very good one, but a serious leg wound sends her back home...unfortunately, just in time for the Great Halifax Explosion. The disaster kills both of her parents, leaving her brother Freddie as her sole surviving family. When she receives Freddie's effects in a irregular manner, though, she finagles a way to return to Europe to find out how her brother died...or maybe even if he died at all. The story is told through both Laura's perspective and Freddie's, so we know very early on that he is, in fact, alive. He finds himself trapped on the battlefield with a German soldier, Hans Winter, and the two form a bond as they struggle back to the front. Both Laura and Freddie separately find themselves, when they are most in need of succor, in a mysterious hotel being run by an even more mysterious man, a violinist who calls himself Faland. This hotel and its proprietor loom large as the siblings continue to try to find one another. I have become a bit of a World War I head, so this book was extremely up my alley. It's an incredibly under-understood time period in American culture, and I appreciate that Arden shines a spotlight on it with this novel. The thing about World War I, though, is that it was a cataclysmic event, causing just staggering amounts of loss and destruction. Naturally, this makes for a much darker tone than her previous work. This book is largely about trauma, and survivor's guilt, and the way people coped (or tried their best to do so) in the face of what was without exaggeration the end of the world as they knew it. Arden's clear, eloquent writing and the plot's forward momentum keep it from getting bogged down in despair, but it definitely falls on the bummer end of the spectrum. I personally love a bummer book, so it really worked for me. I'd definitely recommend it, especially for people curious to learn more about World War I!

"The Warm Hands of Ghosts" follows Laura Iven, a former nurse in WWI who was sent home to Halifax after being injured, as she struggles with the tragic loss of her parents and the news that her brother, Freddie, is "missing, presumed dead" on the front. The return of Freddie's effects to Laura makes her suspicious of Freddie's disappearance, and she sets out with a fellow Halifax native wracked by grief to try and find out the truth.

As someone who adores Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy, I was so excited to hear about this new, standalone book for adults. I flew through my read of this, loving the balance of history, character building, tension between plotlines, and subtly fantastical elements that also appealed to my literary sensibilities. The book is beautifully written, the moments of grief and loss rendered clearly but achingly, and Arden's exigence for writing-- North America's lack of fascination with WWI compared to WWII-- proved expertly executed.

Although this was a very different read from the Winternight books, fans of those books will still love the interplay of history, literature, and fantasy in this new novel. 100% recommend.

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of the for review through netgalley.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book a lot. This was very different from Arden's previous books (all of which I have loved) . This is a historical fiction set in WWI timeframe with some magical realism in the form of supposed ghosts and a mysterious fiddler. The story jumps between two POVs; that of Laura in 1918 (a dishonorably discharged nurse) and her brother, Freddie, back a few months before the timeframe Laura is in (he is a soldier on the war front).

The bulk of the story involves Laura trying to track down Freddie after receiving his effects with no body or explanation. Freddie's portions of the story involve a bit more magical realism. At first he is trying to survive a very dire situation on the war front and then he finds himself involved with the mysterious fiddler.

This was beautifully written and completely engrossing. I loved Laura's character and really enjoyed the people she meets on her travels to find Freddie. Freddie was also well done. There is a lot of seeing what happens to people in war and some of war in the actual trenches. However, woven into all of this is a mysterious story about a fiddler man on the front who makes the soldiers yearn for the escapism he provides, some soldiers yearn so much they go mad.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this, it was incredibly well written and engaging. It was nice to read a book set in the WWI time-frame, I feel like I have read a ton of books about WWII but there aren't as many about WWI. The characters were amazing and I loved the mysterious fiddler. There is a lot of violence and trauma in this book. You are reading from both a solider's and nurse's perspective and neither were very kind professions during wartime. I loved the ending to this as well, it was so hopeful. Arden is an amazing author and so far I have loved every book she's written. I will definitely keep my eye out for future books.

Hauntingly tragic, beautifully somber. I will like to first thank NetGalley and the publishers for this amazing opportunity.This book is about a sister who is a discharged field nurse that is trying to uncover the mystery of her brother's disappearance in January 1918 and a brother who is trapped in a pillbox with his enemy in November 1917.
This book was absolutely devastating. It paints the true horrors of war. It's not glamorous. It's ugly, infectious. The story depicts individuals fighting for their loved ones and themselves but also losing themselves due to the traumas they faced, while having an eerie haunting aspect. This book leaves you feeling empty at the end because it's so real. The language in this book is beautifully written. Overall, I highly recommend it

I read Katherine Arden's review of this book and understood that it took her five years to write this novel, and it was her most difficult due to really trying to pin down a difficult concept. Call me intrigued.

Goodreads describes it as "a hauntingly beautiful novel with a speculative twist." Storygraph gave me historical fantasy. The Author's Note describes WW1 as a clash of times, men in chainmail fighting tanks. Humans thrown into the future while experiencing the barbarism of the trenches. She writes about J. R. R. Tolkien fighting in WW1, then Frodo and Sam walking across the steaming, pocked ground into Mordor. She helped me understand WW1 as a time of such disreality that it inspired my favorite genre.

And I think that's really what this book is -- sometimes you need fantasy to help understand reality, because we cannot imagine such a fantastic time. I learned about WW1 because Katherine Arden taught me about the Fiddler, and the warm hands of ghosts.

And yeah, I'll remember this story for the rest of my life. So, five stars.

<I>Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book blew me away and also took away my ability to form sentences for awhile, so this review has been a little delayed.

I knew that this would be a very different book from The Bear and the Nightingale, and yet I still had no idea what to actually expect. Arden is a very skilled writer and storyteller, but she sets out to tell a completely different type of story with a completely different style than that series, and yet it still completely worked for me.

This book gets off to a bit of a slow start, as it establishes its two main POVs and its cast of characters. Some of these are introduced quite hurriedly, but we get to know them as the book proceeds. Ultimately, while it took me just a bit to warm up to the style of the book, I just knew that I had to keep reading because I needed to know what happened to these characters.

This book is truly haunting, and in comparison to some other wartime books with fantasy elements, it truly captures the absolute devastation, horror, and waste of this conflict in the most chilling ways. Here, the fantastical elements are utilized perfectly to illustrate the madness that comes with war, and I know I'll be thinking about this for a long time.

While lovers of the much more whimsical Winternight trilogy may at first be startled by the darkness here, I encourage those readers to give this book an opportunity to shine!

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is a captivating, haunting and beautifully-written novel that had me reading every chance I got.
The remarkable setting of WW1 was done so well here.
The world building was fantastic, leaving me feeling like I was there, following in these characters footsteps, watching their story unfold.
Each character has depth and voice that makes them irresistible, the plot is clever and thrilling, the writing superb and the foundation of that wonderful, rich world makes it difficult to let go.
I cannot remember the last time I became so thoroughly immersed in a story.

Thank You NetGalley and Random House, Ballantine & Del Rey for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Katherine Arden's newest is a triumph. Building off worldbuilding skills she established in 'The Bear and the Nightingale,' she has adeptly penned a world with its feet firmly planted in ours, with its head in the clouds. Dreamy, haunting, and shockingly real, this book accomplishes everything it sets out to in a tight, page turning package. I feel so lucky that Katherine Arden is a local author and look forward to having her in our store! Her most recent is sure to be a bestseller.

This one is sorta hard to get through but I finally made it! I gave it 4 stars due I feel like the pacing is a bit slow at times. But so far, it was a great read! I recommended it!

review to come closer to publication date.

thank you to netgalley and random house publishing group for the arc.

The scope of this story was ambitious and I felt the storytelling was well done. I felt grounded in setting of the novel. At times I had trouble connecting with the characters, but I thought the statements on war and love and loss are so prescient right now. I plan to recommend it to friends. Thank you so much for the ARC!

Haunting, sublime in every way that keeps you up at night. Katherine envelopes this tale with a gorgeous pen, and speaks of the heartbreak of war that spares absolutely no one in its nightmarish wake.

It’s hard to find a collection of words so soon after reading this amazing story, so I’ll only add just how stumped I was that writing could be moving in a way that lingers into tomorrow.

This book is dark, shocking, and haunting. The way this book has captured the battlefield and the horrors of that is so vivid and heartbreaking. As tragic as it is this book is beautiful and lasting. It pulls through the muck of all that darkness and grasps at the threads of hope and love. This is one for the ages.

Actual Rating: 4,5 ⭐️

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have heard of Katherine Arden before, her novel The Bear and The Nightingale is on my TBR. The Warm Hands of Ghosts got my attention, because of the premise and I'm so happy that I got an ARC for this book. It was an amazing read.

Plot

Field nurse Laura Iven finds out of her husband Freddie's death in battle in 1918, along with his personal belongings. She volunteers at a private hospital when she goes to Belgium, where she hears rumors of haunted trenches and a hotelier who grants troops the gift of oblivion. Freddie Iven and Hans Winter, a wounded German soldier, are stuck in an overturned pillbox when they awaken in November 1917. They band together, flee, and seek safety with an enigmatic figure who seems to have the ability to make the trenches vanish. Laura and Freddie have to make the difficult decision of whether their world is worth saving or should be abandoned completely as shells rain down on Flanders.

I was hooked since the first page and I loved every second of it. The pacing was good, the characters were well done and I really loved the writing style of the author.

Characters

Laura Iven

Laura is our main character, alongside her brother Freddie. She goes back to Belgium, because she wants to find what happened to her brother. She is a very strong character. What she sees and what she has to dealt with, you know how brave she can be. She does everything she can do find her brother and also the help her friend Pim.

Freddie Iven

My heart broke for him. He suffered so much during the whole novel. His chapters and his POV were the best for me. The reader could feel how hopeless and tired he was. I just want to give him a hug and protect him.

Winter

He is the German soldier Freddie met when he was trapped in the pillbox. Winter was also a character that I really loved. He truly cared for Freddie and tried to help him in every step of the way. They found each other at the worst time of their lives and try to do everything in their power to stay together.

Pim and Mary

Pim and Mary are two women that go with Laura to Belgium. Mary has a hospital that helps the soldier and Pim lost her son in the war. They are both strong women with their own flaws and dark side.

Faland

Faland was an odd character. In fact, I didn't give 5 starts to the book because of his character. I can understand why the author used him, but his character and especially the ending was a little weird for me.

Writing

The author's writing is amazing. The reader can feel how hopeless, afraid and tired the characters are during the whole novel. Seeing the characters losing their hope of a better world and seeing the damage and the violence that occur in WWI completely broke my heart. The author made an amazing job in portrayed the horror and the difficulties of the war.

Final Thoughts

I truly recommend this book. It touched me deeply and if you love the author previous work, I'm certain you will love this one.

Absolutely phenomenal! This book surprised me in so many ways and I'm so glad I took a chance on it. I'm generally not a historical fiction reader, but with the suggestion of something paranormal and Katherine Arden's name on it, I couldn't resist giving it a go.

If you're looking for something gritty and haunting, but also achingly beautiful, this is absolutely the book for you. Arden's depictions of war and trauma, grief and desperation leap off the page and grab the reader by the throat. I don't tend to get immersed in books that feel realistic, but this book had my heart in its fist the entire time.

One of the greatest successes here is how well-balanced everything is. The dual timelines are handled perfectly and I never felt myself leaning more toward one than the other. Both were equally engaging and kept me turning pages as quickly as I could. The tonal shifts are handled just as deftly as we pivot from quiet, reflective moments to moments that feel overwhelmingly loud and busy. I normally find constant shifts like that very jarring, but Arden guides the reader along so carefully that you get to experience both to the fullest.

I loved this book and can't wait to recommend it as widely as I can. If you're a fan of Arden's fantasy work and feeling apprehensive about reading something realistic, please give this one a shot anyway.

Special thanks to Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for review.

"The Warm Hands of Ghosts" is a melancholic, eerie look at World War One and its effects, and is centered on a combat nurse, Laura, who is searching for her missing brother. Told in back-and-forth chapters alternating between his point of view and hers, this novel is slow-paced in its uncertainty and grief. Laura's brother, Freddie, is haunted by a mysterious fiddler-player - a spirit? A demon? And the late Spiritualist movement plays a large role in taking this largely historical fiction book and placing it firmly within the fantasy genre. I adored this book - it was somehow sad, hopeful, and extremely kind in its execution despite its grim subject matter.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden — available Feb 13!

Thank you Del Rey and NetGalley for my free advance copy 🫶

Read this if you:
🦄 love historical fiction with a twist of magical realism
🏋️‍♀️ vibe with strong female characters
✨ appreciate atmospheric writing

Laura is a combat nurse during WWI, injured in the line of duty but still witnessing horrors back home in Halifax. When a crate full of her soldier brother's belongings arrives at her door with little explanation of the circumstances of his death, she starts to feel that something isn't right. Returning to Belgium to search for Freddie, Laura encounters a strange man and a swirl of rumors about his abilities — does he have something to do with Freddie's disappearance?

This book was beautifully written, on par with Arden's Winternight Trilogy. I adored Laura as a character, as well as Winter and Pim! I found the storyline to be compelling, especially Freddie and Winter's scenes, and loved the addition of a bit of sinister magic. Arden's choice to focus on an area not normally covered in WWI fiction (Flanders/Belgium) was nice as well, I always enjoy learning some history while reading. As with most historical fiction, don't skip the author's note!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️