I read this novel back in December and I had forgotten to update my review on this.

Katherine Arden has done it again! Her writing has continues to blow me away since I read her first novel, The Bear and the Nightingale on NetGalley years ago.
Her writing has taken me back to WWI. The characters were so well written including the backgrounds. It felt like I was in the story which I love!

Some readers may not resonate with this novel because it is totally out of the field from her The Bear and the Nightingale series. They may struggle to understand the story because it is very unique.

I would recommend this novel to anyone I know would understand the depth of this darkness and story.

Thank you Del Ray and NetGalley for this wonderful ! All my opinions are my own.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a hauntingly beautiful novel about the horrors of WWI and the bond between siblings. Though it took me a bit to get into the story, once the fantastical elements were introduced I did not want to put it down. I would highly recommend this book to people looking for a darker twist on Addie and Luc’s dynamic in The Invisible Life of Addie Larue.

I am obsessed with the way that the two timelines slowly twine together as the story progresses. The slight differences in the timelines of each perspective preserve a constant sense of tension. Pieces of the past are revealed but certain characters’ fates remain a mystery until the very end. The dark magic of a forgotten god subtly links both of our main characters and it was so satisfying to see how everything connected in the end.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts provides fascinating commentary on grief, trauma, and the way different people were touched by the horrors of the war. The fantastical elements are a uniquely interesting vehicle for these themes and conversations.

There were a lot of different elements in play by the end of the book. Though I found them all interesting for various reasons, I don't know if they all fit together. Some elements felt rushed or underdeveloped which made the ending feel a little bit awkward.

"Armageddon was a fire in the harbor, a box delivered on a cold day. It wasn't one great tragedy, but ten million tiny ones and everyone faced theirs alone."

I cannot express how much I loved this story. It beautifully captured the emotional effects of war on those who served. No man's land stripped men down to their primal instincts to survive. How we cling to comfort when we are alone in the dark, how our brains try to protect us when we encounter things that are too horrific to process, and how, in the darkest times, the warm hands of ghosts can help us find our way back home.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is a moving work of historical fiction set during the horrors of World War 1 in 1918. It revolves around the siblings Laura and Freddie Iven, who grapple with the profound darkness of the war. Laura, a former member of the Canadian Nursing Force, was forced to retire after sustaining a severe injury in Belgium. Freddie, a private in the Canadian army, embarks on a dangerous mission in The Forbidden Zone to capture Passchendaele Ridge.

When Laura receives a box with Freddie's personal effects one day, she can scarcely believe it—his tags and jacket with a German postcard concealed in the lining. No one had sent a telegram to say that he had been killed in combat. Upon deciphering a cryptic message on the back of the postcard she found in his coat, she sets out to return to The Forbidden Zone and uncover the truth about her brother's fate. He is all Laura has left after the tragic loss of both her parents in the Halifax explosion. She joins forces with Mary Borden and Pim Shaw to navigate back to the front and serve at a private aid station near Poperinghe.

Freddie wakes up and is not alone—there is a voice in the darkness. He reaches out, needing something to cling to, and the voice leads him. Along the way, he encounters a mysterious man named Faland, who offers to help him keep the promise that he made in the dark. But is the cost of Faland's aid too high to bear? Freddie has nothing to offer; the war has already taken everything from him. All Faland asks for in return is a story...

This book has everything I love to read about. I think this book just found me at a bad time. I DNF this book around 30 % which I never like to do. Thankfully every book I have not finished I came back to and finished. I am going to give this book some time and space and will come back to read again! I really enjoyed where the plot was going, I think It was just a little too detailed to take in for me. Usually I read these types of books with audio to help me comprehend but because this was an advance copy I didn't get the chance to. Will circle back again!

Katherine Ardin has some of the most beautiful writing I've ever read! This was a fantastic historical fiction/fantasy that had a lot of beautiful conversations about family. I enjoyed the the fantastical element of this book as well. It added a different layer to the book that really emphasized the familial bond and the horrors of war. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!

ARC provided us exchange for an honest review.

My apologies, I’m a little backed up with my ARC’s but working diligently to get caught up. I really enjoyed this book! It had the perfect mixture of horror, history, and romance! I liked how it shows a strong sibling relationship and even has a touch of a M/M love. I would highly recommend if you like historical fiction with some creepy horror aspects and a touch of magic!

I was so excited to receive this ARC since my most favorite trilogy of all time is the Winternight series.

Katherine did not disappoint! I loved the atmosphere of this story. I truly felt like I was walking down the street in Birmingham in the 1900s during the mining times. It's a slow build and a wonderful story of family and the lengths someone will go for truth.

I need more books like these!

Thank you to Del Ray Books and Netgalley for this amazing ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book to be really engaging and I loved the premise. I'm a sucker for gothic so this story was right up my alley. I am looking forward to reading other books by the author.

This a sibling story set during WWI. It's full of magical realism, an eerie hotel and an unlikely friendship. Though very different, I think it would be a great companion to In Memoriam by Alice Winn.

This book sounded so interesting. A nurse during WWI is searching for her missing brother after his effects were mailed home to her. She makes her way back after being discharged after an injury and some paranormal activity follows her there. This book is GRAPHIC in its descriptions and isn't shy about the gruesome realities of the trench warfare of WWI. She is a nurse and has SEEN some things, on and off the front.

This started off a little slow and jumps between Laura and Freddie's POVs with a time gap between them. So we follow Laura's search for Freddie, and his journey on the front lines of the war. I got really confused, REALLY fast with this book. It feels very disjointed in the writing and I had to power through this at times. I would fall asleep after reading 2 pages, often. You also felt like you were in a fever dream state while reading Freddie's POV, which was probably intentional, but that made it even harder to keep it straight at times. The twist at the end was half what I was expecting it to be, at least in the who. The why was not what I thought it would be.

It didn't feel like it was written by the same author of The Bear an the Nightingale or even Small Spaces.

While this world wasn't as engulfing as The Winternight Trilogy's, I think it's a very good standalone novel. I love the pairing of this grieving, changing world with the paranormal aspects of the story. I didn't love the third act, which was unfortunate, but I appreciated that this was more a story of familial love than a romance. We don't see those as often.

Thank you, NetGalley for an opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Katherine Arden's "Winterlight" trilogy is one of my favorite book series ever. When I saw she was publishing another novel, I jumped at the opportunity to read it. Though the story was slower in the beginning and took me a while to get into, Arden's ability to craft language to express emotion and tell a story is unmatched. This story is set during WW1 so be prepared for vivid descriptions of war and wartime injuries/illnesses. I would definitely recommend for anyone who enjoys a historical fiction read with a touch of the supernatural.

This book killed me, and this read is going to stay with me for a long time.

Thanks to the publisher Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Haunting. Very dark but captivating all the same. One of the most realistic war stories I’ve ever read. Toed the line between realism and the ethereal. I will definitely recommend this to readers.

Historical fiction isn’t a genre I usually read and while this wasn’t a particularly long novel, it took me awhile to warm up to the story. Which is fine - I was perfectly content to take my time with this read and enjoy branching out with my reads. After about the 15% mark that all flew out the window and I couldn’t stop reading.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is one of the best books I’ve read this year. In addition to being beautifully written, I truly believe this book has something for everyone. If you enjoy historical fiction the author does a wonderful job of transporting you to Europe during World War I. If you enjoy complex characters you will fall in love with Freddie, Laura, and all of their comrades along the way. There are also some supernatural elements, a bit of mystery, and even some unexpected romances. Arden tackles a lot with this novel, but she does it all so well. I can’t wait to read her entire backlist as soon as possible.

Thank you to Ballantine/Del Rey and NetGalley for a review copy.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a spectacular book where Katherine Arden deftly weaves a haunting tale of longing amidst the backdrop of The Great War.

All the characters in this book are longing for something in their lives from a lost sibling to a lost child to finding a place to belong in a world no longer recognized because of the horrors of war. Each of the characters, no matter how small their part, are fully fleshed out and integral to the story. There is a lyrical and haunting quality to the storytelling that leaves both the reader and characters feeling disoriented. As you're reading you can actually hear Faland and his violin, which was just as much of a character in this as Laura was. This speculative element added an air of unease that kept you compelled and fully invested in the story.

Told through alternating timelines between our two main characters, Laura and her brother Freddie, we face the horrors right along side them as Arden refuses to shy away from the realities of war. It's this brutality and honesty that adds an urgency to the story as you desperately hope for the reunion and safety of these characters.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts was both tragic and hopeful as these characters are not only haunted by their pasts and presents, they are haunting each other as well.

Thank you so much to Del Rey, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC, this was my favorite book of the year so far.

This book is beautiful and compelling and haunting. It is haunting both in the sense that war is terrible and the consequences of war are terrible, but also in the way that it feels like ghosts are everywhere. This book was also gripping, I wanted to keep turning the pages to figure out what happened to Freddie.

Arden really did her research on WWI and you can tell. I highly recommend this title!

Katherine Arden blew me away with "The Winternight Trilogy" - her way with words, her ability to blend myth and history, and her layered characters made me fall in love with her writing and storytelling. So, to say that I was looking forward to "The Warm Hands of Ghosts" is an understatement. But, it seems that my expectations worked against me here, and while this is still a good book, I can't help feeling disappointed.

It's January 1918, and Laura embarks on a journey to find out what happened to her brother (who she thinks is dead). Meanwhile, her brother's journey is to find the will to live, and to not lose himself after everything he's been through. Will the two finally meet? What challenges will they need to overcome along the way? And what does all of this have to do with book's title? It's an intriguing setup, to say the least, but the book doesn't really do it justice. Firstly, there was something about the writing style that just didn't feel like it was the same author I've read before. There was a choppiness there, a lack of flow that occasionally even made me reread paragraphs to make sure I wasn't missing something. Perhaps, this was intentional, representing the feeling of chaos the war brings, but it was getting in the way of the narrative. Second, the characters were surprisingly bland, which was the last thing I expected after "The Winternight Trilogy". Took me a while to even remember the names, which is never a good sign. Faland was the only real standout for me, although Winter almost got there as well - I really wish that character was explored further. Both of them are secondary characters though, while the leads are a lot less compelling. Even the story itself had so many echos of other books I've read and movies I've seen that it just didn't feel fresh.

I know, at this point I'm starting to sound like I didn't like the book at all - I actually did. I thought it was generally fine, and I would be lying if I said the ending didn't get me all kinds of emotional. I wouldn't say anything about the novel was particularly bad, it's just that it wasn't particularly outstanding either, and it's not a book that's going to stay in my mind for too long.

Arden herself mentions in her Author's Note how difficult it was for her two write this, and maybe this is what comes through in the writing here. She talks about how awful WWI was, how apocalyptic it seemed, but you can't really feel it on the pages of the novel. In a way, all of her characters here already feel like ghosts, while the mysterious Faland is the one that feels the most alive (he really did save this novel for me). Yes, the journey the story takes you on is ultimately satisfying and beautiful, but it lacks depth and it lacks some sort of spark to make it truly memorable. The building blocks are there, the setting is there, it's all almost great. Almost. "The Warm Hands of Ghosts" had a lot of potential, but it just never fully reached it.

Katherine Arden, author of the captivating Winternight trilogy, here shares a mysterious, haunting historical fiction story with a speculative twist, set against the backdrop of the trudging, brutal destruction of World War I.

<blockquote>Armageddon was a fire in the harbor, a box delivered on a cold day. It wasn't one great tragedy, but ten million tiny ones, and everyone faced theirs alone.</blockquote>
I loooooved the mix of vivid historical setting and magical elements in Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy (see links to my rave reviews below).

In The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Arden presents the story of Laura, a combat nurse who is searching for her brother Freddie in the confusion, relentless mud, and grim destruction of the Great War.

Freddie is reported as having died, but strange and unnerving clues indicate to Laura that something more mysterious may have happened to him. Others keep sighting Freddie, and Laura herself feels that he is near.

A German spy is on the loose in a small French community, and sources tell Laura that he may be linked to Freddie. Meanwhile Laura and a companion have an inexplicable, haunting experience in a fabled hotel with a sinister violinist who seems to control their emotions--and tempt them with forbidden, lost loved ones.

The story's pacing felt quite slow and the tone extremely dark and hushed for the majority of the book, so that my attention frequently wavered. The slog of fighting and of the horrifyingly deadly war is conveyed with vivid, crushing, uncomfortable detail. I was glad when Laura began to allow herself to be vulnerable toward the end of the novel, and I very much liked the resolutions of the story.

I received a prepublication edition of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group--Ballantine, Del Rey.

Arden is also the author of the Winternight trilogy, which I loved: The Bear and the Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower, and The Winter of the Witch. I mentioned these books in the Greedy Reading Lists Six Wonderfully Witchy Stories and Six More Wonderfully Witchy Stories to Charm You.

the warm hands of ghosts is easily one of the best books i’ve read this year. following two siblings—a field nurse who’s been discharged and is now home in halifax, and a soldier believed to have died in combat in flanders—during world war 1, katherine arden’s latest is an incredible story of family, sacrifice, and loss that i’ll remember for a long time.

to start off, arden’s writing is stunning and has a kind of clarity that gives her the ability to make you feel exactly what her characters are feeling. their hopes and fears become so palpable that they almost rise off the page, and the love between them—their determination to find each other, to help each other, to simply see each other safe and happy—builds into something that actually feels tangible. i feel like i’ve read a lot of books that fall flat despite the authors throwing in obnoxious amounts of dramatic dialogue and flowery metaphors; in contrast, there were countless scenes where the warm hands of ghosts had me in tears with a single sentence, sometimes even a single phrase. i’m not super familiar with arden, but after the bear and the nightingale (and now this) it’s pretty safe to say i’m in awe of her.

i also liked the use of dual pov in this book. i loved both laura and freddie, and the way their two storylines began to really intersect and fall into place around the middle was very well-written; there was a lot of attention to events and smaller details that brought everything together seamlessly. however, i honestly thought the ending felt a bit abrupt compared to the rest of the book. i definitely didn’t dislike it, but i do wish it was a little longer.

reading this book was truly an unforgettable experience, and by that i mean i cried about fifty gallons of tears and ended up going to bed at four in the morning (as the result of reading the last 70% in one night). it’s a breathtaking story that’s bound to be a favorite of many and clearly something arden put a lot of love and care into. i can’t recommend it enough and i’m looking forward to reading more by her!

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing this arc.