I absolutely loved Katherine Arden’s ‘Winternight’ trilogy, and so I have been wondering for some time when Katherine Arden was going to publish another book. So of course I had to read ‘The Warm Hands of Ghosts’. It’s very different to her previous books, but I loved it just as much.
Briefly, Laura Iven is a Canadian nurse in France during World War One. Sent home to recover from injuries, she witnesses the devastating explosion of a ship in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, which kills her parents. Her brother Freddie has been reported missing in action, and she returns to the Front to look for him. Her search, set against the appalling carnage of the Western Front, is the main theme of the book, but there are elements of magical realism (the Devil, who plays a violin, and three witchy sisters, who immediately reminded me of the Fates). These added to the all-pervasive unworldly, fearful atmosphere which permeates the book. The combination of realism and magical realism was, for me, unbeatable.
Although it is by no means the main theme of the book, there is even a tiny hint of romance, which I loved. Other readers may not agree, feeling it is unrealistic, but personally, whilst I don’t seek out ‘happy’ endings, I do like ‘satisfactory’ ones.
If you like Alice Winn’s ‘In Memoriam’, I highly recommend this.

I had really mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I loved the premise, the setting, the era chosen, the themes -- they all promised something really unlike what usually gets published as mainstream SFF. All of these things are there, but the way the tie together left me a bit underwhelmed. My attention was wavering as I read on, which surprised me, because it's not like I was disinterested in finding out what's next, it's just on a sentence level this wasn't gripping, or perhaps wasn't a style that resonates with me. In the interest of full transparency, I hadn't read the Bear & Nightingale trilogy - I was holding off until I could read a standalone of Ardens to make up my mind about whether the style (which many seem to adore) worked for me. Leaving this as a datapoint for the curious, YMMV.

THank you to the publisher for an advance copy of the ARC, all opinions my own.

"The Warm Hands of Ghosts" by Katherine Arden is a poignant and meticulously researched tale set amidst the harrowing backdrop of World War I. Arden masterfully weaves together elements of historical fiction with a speculative twist, crafting a haunting narrative that lingers in the mind long after the final page.

The characters are richly drawn, each grappling with the trauma and devastation of war in their own way. Laura's unwavering determination to uncover the truth about her brother's fate drives the narrative forward, while Freddie and Winter's unlikely bond serves as a poignant reminder of the humanity that endures even in the darkest of times.

Arden's portrayal of the war-torn landscapes of Flanders is both vivid and immersive, transporting readers to the heart of the conflict with stunning detail. Through her evocative prose, she sheds light on the untold stories of those who fought and perished in the trenches, offering a poignant tribute to their sacrifices.

"The Warm Hands of Ghosts" is a gripping and emotionally resonant read that seamlessly blends elements of history, fantasy, and human drama. It's a testament to the enduring power of love, loyalty, and resilience in the face of unimaginable adversity.

This was pretty well written. I've always wanted to read Arden but never made the jump. I now understand why so many people love her writing.

Having adored Katherine Arden's "The Bear and the Nightingale" trilogy, I knew I had to read her latest book in which she takes a rather different direction. This drips with darkness, spirits and ghosts, immersing the reader into a atmospheric, well researched and illuminating picture of the Great War. Haunting, and chillingly shocking, it pulsates with the horrors, and heartbreak of WW1 in Belgium in this historical fiction intertwined with its vibrant and memorable elements of the fantastical. The bleakness and harrowing terrors, of lives forever changed, the damaged souls, mental health issues, grief, death, and despair of war go hand in hand with shards of light and hope, in this emotionally affecting narrative of family and love, in all its multitude of forms.

Laura Iven, a skilled battlefield nurse goes home to Halifax, Canada after being injured, her parents killed after the largest boat explosion in the harbour. Now on her own, Laura misses her brother, Freddie, serving in the Canadian Army in Flanders, living in fear of what might happen, when she receives his belongings and tags. He is apparently dead, but after odd experiences, she believes he is still alive. Laura returns to Europe, determined and intent on finding Freddie and what really happened to him, hoping to enter the Forbidden Zone, coming across a strange hotel and stories from soldiers of the worrying and menacing figure of the fiddler. In 1917, Freddie comes to, in a German pill box, only to find himself buried with the enemy, a German soldier, Hans Winter. It makes little sense to exist in a state of conflict, so they co-operate in trying to free themselves.

Arden writes with humanity and compassion of the apocalyptic tragedy that was the Great War, of an unimaginable number of deaths, the toll it takes on sanity, the absolute desperation, madness, misery, brutality, the use of gas, lack of food, fear, ghosts, and the utter chaos of the battlefield. It is the connections that build and create paths through the murky quagmire of war in the fight for survival, familial, friendships, surprising relationships that spring that are transformative as they leap beyond conventional and dividing lines of war. This is a touching, powerful, if challenging, novel, plunging the reader into the best and worst of what people are capable of, the nightmare details of what war truly entails, we can never seem to learn though, as can be seen in the wars of our contemporary world today. An incredible read that I recommend highly. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗠 𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗦
—𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻 | 𝟯.𝟮𝟱🌟

“𝘈 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘨𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝙂𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨, 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘺. 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙚𝙩.”

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲:
✨Historical fiction
✨Elements of paranormal magical realism
✨Set during World War I
✨Set in Belgium/Canada
✨Dual POV

𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀:
Laura, an army nurse who was honorably discharged back to Canada during the war due to a shell injury, finds out her brother is missing, presumed dead. Freddie, her brother, finds himself trapped with an injured German, both close to death, as they discover that death isn’t always the worst result of war. Laura and Freddie try to reach each other, across oceans and war torn land, with forces working against them.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑨𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓. She demonstrated that with one of my favourite fantasy trilogies ever: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺. And she further demonstrates it with this 𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 and 𝗵𝗮𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 work of fiction that feels 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸, 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰, and 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱.

KA 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 to 𝘀𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 from the 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 of war and honestly, the 𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮 is very real in this book. I think it’s because although this is historical fic, it feels so 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 with the Russian-Ukrainian and Israeli-Palestine conflicts currently ongoing. The 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 of war may have 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 but the 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 of it is a 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 and I couldn’t help but consistently apply the horror I was learning about in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 to the current world conflicts.

This has been labelled as a 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘆 but it doesn’t quite belong in that box. Historical, yes, for sure. However, the 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 are better described as 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 with the 𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 of 𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 and the 𝗼𝗱𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 of the 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 in the story, 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, who is based on 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 from 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢 and is 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 of the 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗹.

𝑺𝒐, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝑰 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒓? The answer to that is 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝗿, 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. I found the characters 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁, even though there was a 𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗢𝗩 with 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗶𝗰 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢 and 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦, I didn’t feel as though I was 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 to them. I wonder whether it was the 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 of war that made me feel 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯 to any 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 and as this is more 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 than plot driven, that 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. To be honest, I don’t feel like my rating is set in stone as this is the kind of book that will take a while to process.

𝗸𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵 | 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗵 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘆 📚🧚🏼‍♀️

4.5 stars!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book! My opinions are my own.

I have read the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden and I was mesmerized by her enchanting writing style. I love the way history, folklore and fantasy come together and leave me wondering what is real, what is not, and what might be real without me even knowing it.

While I was looking forward to reading this new book, I did wonder whether the fairytale-like undercurrent would be present in this story, too, seeing as it takes place during world war I. And yes - it sure is there. Throughout the book there's always this feeling that something just isn't right, something else is going on, something that cannot be understood through reasoning alone. It might be fairytale-like, but there's no guarantee for a happy ending.

The story takes place during the first world war and the atrocities, the fear, the pain... It's all there. It's in the writing itself, too: short, determined sentences, as if there's no time to say anything more. No use, either.

Katherine Arden just has a way with words and with storytelling that I haven't found with any other author quite in the same way. I definitely recommend this book!

uality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

War fiction isn’t generally a genre I’m interested in, but I’ve been homesick for the magic of Arden’s historical fantasy so didn’t hesitate to jump headfirst into this one. Her magical realism elevates any story and while The Warm Hands of Ghosts is far more rooted in reality than her other novels, the book balances both well to tell a story quite unique.

My one reservation about this novel was how slow it was to start. Arden takes real time to build depth in her characters beyond the typical war time portraits, but it’s more than a third of the way through before we get some actual fantasy. What becomes an almost timeless saga, seeing more sides to the war than trenches and hospitals, takes quite a lot of lead in time to grow in new directions.

The ‘some people cannot create, they can only use and destroy’ motifs are the real polish for me. While thematically it sometimes gets battered about, it is undeniably the core of a dazzling crescendo, and a very long thread tying each person and each story together. The narrative takes place over about a year or so, but far less consistently than we tend to be used to in modern novels - that thematic truth of nature is what marries it all together.

Laura herself is a great character to anchor the sweeping story, time period and ensemble cast. It could have been so easy to fall into stereotype but the brusque nurse doesn’t drown out the emotional person underneath - and likewise her logic is always there for Laura to fall back on in defence. Her identity, and her companions’, are crafted so well the story can be political without derailing the narrative for a moral high ground. Beliefs and actions are consistent because they align with the characters we are falling for.

I really do love Arden’s bittersweet style of storytelling. Everything always feels so rich and grim and exciting all at once. The Warm Hands of Ghosts harkens to so many references from folklore, to poetry, to music, to history and on and on. But her story feels uniquely original and new - and that’s hard to come by.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the Winternight trilogy, its magical atmosphere and characters in particular. So I've been highly anticipating Katherine Arden's new Adult book since it's been announced. Yet upon reading the first chapters, I realized that I'd better adjust my expectations to get the most of this book : indeed if there *is* a speculative twist, The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a historical novel set during WW1 most of all, and in my opinion you shouldn't go in there expecting something reminiscing of Vasya's story. You won't find it. Her writing here is more raw, to the point—and if it suited the story so well, it's undeniably different.

You should still read this book, however.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is hauntingly beautiful, eerie yet realistic—truly an all-consuming experience. It doesn't shy away from the horrors of war and is very graphic at times, and the dash of magic doesn't undermine the hopelessness of it all—on the contrary, it makes the unreality of war so much more pregnant. I was there with the characters, and I cared *so much*. Slow but never boring, it captured my interest quickly and never let go.

My only real complaint is the way the ending wrapped everything in a neat bow, but then how can I find fault in that when it made me so very happy? I can't, really. In this house we try not to be hypocrites, so. yeah. The romances might have been a bit underdeveloped, but I was rooting for them all the way. They *worked*.

This story will stay with me for a very long time. Recommended to Historical fiction readers.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a story about what war does to people, told through the eyes of Laura, scarred and traumatised from her time as a field hospital nurse, and her brother Freddie, a solider who finds himself in No Man's Land with an enemy solider. It's historical fiction, but with a dreamlike and whimsical, but also dark, magical realism atmosphere. A bit like if The Night Circus was a war movie, with emphasis (interestingly) on movie.

I always love themes of normal people in war, and I think this one did that very well. It's in all the details, from our main characters Laura and Freddie and how their traumas affect the way they view the world, to their mother, a conspiracy theorist made worse in the face of war, to the contrast between normal soldiers dying on the battle field and their superiors throwing lavish parties that we glimpse here and there in Laura's adventures through Belgium. This also ties in with the magical aspect, the legends of the fiddler and his hotel where you can forget your sorrows for a second, but sometimes in exchange for your own sanity, as well as the ghosts that are ever present. It's also always interesting to read about war from the perspective of the women; Laura is no less involved, injured or traumatised from her time as a nurse than the male soliders are.

Even though the plot was tense enough by far to keep me hooked all the way through, the focal point of The Warm Hands of Ghosts are the characters. There's something about how the characters have gone through so much, and they're still surviving and making it through every day life because they have to, and they find little things to enjoy here and there. There's so much pain, no shying away from the horrors and the darkness, but also a good amount of love and hope. Further, one of my favourite aspects, and also part of why this book reads like a movie, is that we don't know everything about the characters. They all have traumas and experiences that they are doing their very best not to think about, and that they don't want to tell the reader about, so that you kind of have to piece together their histories yourself, and it makes them feel incredibly human.

I also really liked the romance arcs. It takes a certain kind of author to write a romance that is so intense you can feel it without the characters barely even touching each other, and Katherine Arden is that author. I also really liked that this book is almost a little too romantic, in an early 1900s girls book Anne of Green Gables type of way, it made for a really interesting contrast to the otherwise dark themes but also really fit the historical aspect, in some way.

This is such a unique book, I absolutely loved it, and I would highly recommend it, especially to fans of historical fantasy or magical realism books like The Night Circus or The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. And if you like Katherine Arden's previous books you won't be disappointed either.

Laura’s brother Freddie was fighting in France in the First World War.
She has been sent his belongings but she does not believe that he is dead.
She returns to France to work as a nurse and look for her brother.
A story about family and loss.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a huge fan of the Winternight trilogy, I was thrilled to read an early copy of the author's latest historical fantasy offering. This time the action is set in 1918 during the First World War. The story is driven by a Canadian nurse called Laura who returns to the Front after hearing her brother is missing in action. A few months earlier at Ypres, her brother Freddie is trapped in a pillbox with a German soldier, Winter. An unbreakable bond is forged as they are reborn from their living death. And then there is the mysterious Faland, a figure whispered about in the trenches.

In a man-made hellscape like war, the author asks what place does the Devil have? What would he want in such an environment? This character is the fantasy element of the novel but is blended beautifully with the historical setting. Pitted against the horrifying indifference of the war, Faland's curiosity about humans is endless, As Freddie comments later in the novel, "Faland might ruin him ... but he'd know him first".

The central dichotomy is that of the old world versus the new world. We have characters like Laura, Winter, and Jones adapting to the new world and Freddie, Pim, and Faland identifying with the old world. How can these characters survive in this new world? Is oblivion the better option? Seeing how the arcs of all these characters play out is fascinating. Pim's especially is the arc that will linger with me longest. As a war widow and mother of a fallen soldier, Pim is the epitome of the ideal woman and her beauty blinds both the other characters and the reader to the emotions roiling under the surface.

There is so much I could say about the brilliance of this unforgettable novel but it's one I'd highly recommend pre-ordering and discovering for yourself.

Set in war torn Europe, Laura Iven returns to Canada after being injured on the front line. Her parents are killed in the Halifax explosion and her brother is reported as dead. When an opportunity arises to return to Europe she is determined to find out what happened to her brother. The story unfolds through the twin narratives of Laura and her brother Freddie. There is an atmospheric quality to the writing which brings the war to life. Never having read any of KA's novels before, I wasn't expecting the mystical/fantasy twist. I chose to interpret the appearance of Faland as a metaphor for PTSD and the need for soldiers to lose themselves rather than as a character collecting souls..

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an eArc for review!

“In a way, it’s easier to imagine the world’s going to end. At least there’s a certainty to it. End—bam—done. But change—where does change stop?””

I want to start by saying historical fiction usually isn’t for me, especially not anything WW related. But god, I think I might start to love it. This was so great and atmospheric and human.

Warm hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is such a heartfelt story about humanity, love, attachment, death and war. And for some reason it was a page turner, I couldn’t stop reading. It was so so good.

I loved the characters, I loved Freddie and Laura, I loved the dispair and I loved the question of if everything in the world you love is lost to you, what do you do?

This is definitely one of my top reads this year!

“There’s nothing noble about suffering. It’s an ugly, petty, crawling business.”

A well-researched and eloquently told story of the trauma of World War One, both for those in the trenches and those who care for and about them.
Perhaps because I’d previously come across the theme of Tommies selling their souls to the Devil to escape the battlefields, I wasn't intrigued by the allegorical interludes with Farlad and felt the novel was strong enough to stand up well without them. The parts of The Warm Hands of Ghosts that interested me the most were the relationship between British Freddie Iven and German Hans Winter in no-man’s-land, the experiences of Laura and Penelope searching for their menfolk in Belgium and the action-led last quarter of the story.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

Liked but didn't love it. Found it hard to work out what was going on a lot of the time. Great characters but wondered how much was allegorical, how much magic and how much madness. The basic storyline was great, the bits about the strange violinist not so much.

I was really grateful to netgalley for giving me an ARC. I've always wanted to try this author.

I gave this book 4.5 stars.
It is mostly a historical novel with slight fantasy elements.

I really enjoy the characters and the writing and found the novel quite gripping.

I knocked half a star off because although I enjoyed it it didn't quite knock my socks off. There were also a lot of themed surrounding trauma and the horrors of war which went over my head a bit. Maybe smarter people would enjoy it more.

Headlines:
Rich characterisation
Palpably tragic
Deep mystery that turned the pages

The Warm Hands of Ghosts was a chokehold of a book; it got me by the scruff and demanded the pages turn. In many ways, this was a discomforting read because of the tragedy unfolding and the sinister characterisation of Faland. However, many of the other characters demanded my attention and made me love them.

Laura was such a tangible and admirable character, a nurse behind war lines, wounded herself in many ways. Her brother, Freddie was the counterpart to this story and his journey through these pages was hideous in many ways but compelling. Winter, Jones and even Pim were strong and deep side characters that made me lose myself to the story.

Faland was the kind of character that made the hairs stand up on my arms, I hated him and yet didn't understand who he was. I scoured the pages to work out his identity and felt most comfortable when the story moved away from him, but he was always lurking in the wings.

The sense of WW1 could be felt. Some of the experiences conjured sights and sounds that were just awful but no doubt true. I found myself curious about the Angels of Mons and found that tale to be based in legend of the times. The description was never long-winded and the show versus tell was balanced incredibly well.

This was a clever, memorable story. The writing was easy, even when the narrative was difficult. Arden led the reader carefully through the traumatic experiences and mixed the history with magic and myth rather seamlessly.

Thank you to Century Books for the review copy.

I honestly forgot just how much I love Arden's writing. Haunting and beautiful at the same time, she never fails when it comes to creating the exact atmosphere needed for a scene, and when I tell you that she took me through the emotional ringer with this book, I am not exaggerating.

Laura Ivan is one of those characters that you don't simply become invested in, you almost become her. Her wants and needs and hopes become your own, and you can't help but want her to get a happy ending, whatever that looks like. She's someone who has had to be tough her whole life, a nurse in the war who has seen her fair share of death, but after her hospital is bombed and she gets a piece of shrapnel in the leg, Laura finds herself shipped home to Halifax. But Laura isn't the type to sit idly by, especially when she receives notice that her younger brother, Freddie, is lost in action. Her journey takes her back into the trenches of WW1, her only clue a mysterious figure called the fiddler who her patients talk of with hope and horror in equal measure. She's someone who has spent so long taking care of others, she's forgotten how to take care of herself, she's stubborn, bullheaded in some cases, but she will not give up if there is even the tiniest bit of hope that Freddie is still alive.

Freddie signed up hoping for glory, instead he got death and more death. After an explosion he finds himself trapped in the dark, but he isn't alone, with him is a German soldier called Winter. The pair form a tenuous alliance to try and survive, and once out they realise that there is no where to go, no where they won't be shot, called traitor or deserter. So when they meet the elusive Fiddler, he offers a chance they struggle to turn down. Arden also graces us with a tight knit, but intricately developed cast of side characters, from Winter the German soldier Freddie befriends, to Pim, a woman trying to do her bit after being told her son had died in the war.

Through both Freddie and Laura, Arden shows the true horror of war, not the fanciful, almost glorified propaganda we get to see, but the deep, dark truth of it. She shows what war can turn people into, how men who were suffering from the worst kinds of PTSD were seen as cowards, traitors, and shot for their supposed weakness. She doesn't shy away from the horror, the brutality, instead she embraces it, shows us it in all it's haunting glory, but she also shows the things that can grow out of those kinds of situations, friendships, love even, and despite the dark and horrifying nature of the story, it's also one filled with hope. There's one certain story line that absolutely broke me, and shows how war affects, not just those in it, but the ones they leave at home. She shows there is a price to pay for these wars, and how it's never the men in charge who end up paying it. You can feel how deep Arden went with the research describing battles, towns, people as they were at the time, and all of this together added up to make a read that was both harrowing and hopeful in equal measure.

My expectations for this book were beyond high, especially having loved Ardens previous series, but this struck me in a different way. The fantasy element in this book was smaller, less intense, but that doesn't mean it didn't play an integral part in the story. Throughout the book we hear stories about, and eventually end up meeting the mysterious Fiddler. Someone shell shocked men have nightmares about, and people look on with both hope and horror. I thought how Arden wove the fiddlers specific magic into this story was so incredibly well done. It adds to the emotion and tension, and despite knowing that he wasn't a 'good guy' you couldn't help but empathise with the people who made the decision to follow him, knowing what would happen to themselves and thinking that an easier 'out' than living in the real world. It's something I wont delve too deeply into because I believe it's something you should experience first hand, without any clues, so as to feel the full emotional impact yourself.

Now I've talked about the dark, and hopeless side to this story, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I promise. There were two romance arcs in this book that I adored. They take up so little time, and almost slowly creep up on us as the reader, but I just felt they were so true to the time and the events that these characters had to go through. War can create horror and torment people, but it can also bring people together and I think Arden did a brilliant job at allowing us, and her characters, these little rays of hope, whilst never shying away from the horror and danger and outright hypocrisy of war.

I can't tell you how much I loved this book, I was so afraid it wasn't going to live up to my own hype, but if anything it exceed it. Arden is a skillful storyteller and knows exactly how to create an atmosphere and ring emotions out of her readers. Fans of her Winternight series might be in for a shock because this is overwhelmingly different in so many ways, but it's still beautifully written, and I found myself completely overcome with emotion reading the last 10% or so of the book, desperately wanting these characters to come out of this unharmed, but knowing that just wasn't going to happen.

A moving and mythical story of love and sacrifice in WW1

Tough no nonsense nurse Laura searches for her brother Freddie among the horrors of WW1. While searching she hears many stories of The Fiddler but who is he and what does he mean in her search for her brother?

It took me a bit to get into this one and I found the pace a bit slow but overall I enjoyed The Warm Hands of Ghosts. Told from the pov of Laura and Freddie, I particularly enjoyed Freddie’s chapters especially before he gets caught up with the Fiddler.

I actually think I would have enjoyed this book more without the ghost element. It is an interesting and well written story but I confess to getting a bit ‘lost’ in some of the Fiddler sections.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for the chance to read an early copy