Title: The Warm Hands of Ghosts
Author: Katherine Arden
Source: DRC via NetGalley ( ) in exchange for an honest review
Publication Date: February 13, 2024
Synopsis: Goodreads
Purchase Link: Amazon

Why did I choose to read this book?

I have tried to read books by Arden before (The Bear and the Nightingale) but my brain has always gotten bored and I’ve sent the books back to the library. But this one sounded just weird enough that I figured it would hold my interest, so I requested it!

What is this book about?

This book follows Laura and Freddie Iven as they experience World War I from different perspectives. They are are from Canada, Laura is an honorably discharged combat nurse who has been told that her brother was killed in action, when really he was just missing in action. She goes back as a volunteer nurse to look for him and dives right back into the insanity of war. This book is how we bring ourselves and others away from the brink of oblivion and still live with ourselves afterwards.

What is notable about this story?

This is one of the weirdest books I have ever read. The timelines are all criss-crossed, there is a supernatural vampire-ish element(?), and all I can say is that if you have experienced trauma that has left you with PTSD or other mental illness struggles, this book is gonna take you places you might not necessarily want to go. If you are a veteran, you may want to read some more reviews before digging into this one. It’s a metaphor AND literal at the same time and my goodness it is a lot to process. The layers that Arden places through this story are so artfully crafted that sometimes you won’t even know you’re being told something until like, three chapters later and you get hit by it.

This book is a trauma-laced mindfuck. Do with that what you will.

Was anything not so great?

For me, this book went on a bit long. At one point I was like “okay, I get it, it’s a METAPHOR” and that slowed my progress a bit. But in the grand scheme of things it’s a small quibble. If you like your books thoughtful and dense, this will be something that you enjoy.

What’s the verdict?

3 stars on Goodreads. It’s serviceable but I wouldn’t go out of my way to read it because of the subject matter. I could see this as a book that a history professor would assign at the college level for their students to read and analyze. For fun though? Nah.

This was a fantastic book. I have tried many times to get into historical fiction and it is often a bust for me but I really wanted to give this one a try. Katherine Arden did a fantastic job with keeping the readers engaged while adding a bit if magic and suspense. Additionally, she captures the struggles during this time period and allows readers to learn of what our family members and loved ones went through during that time. We all heard stories but never lived it. I will definitely be reading another book by this author.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to have an ARC version of this book.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a historical fiction novel set during World War 1 with and element of magical realism.

Laura Iven is a field nurse serving overseas when she is injured and sent home to Halifax. Her brother Freddie is a soldier serving overseas. Laura's parents are killed in an explosion in Halifax. Shortly afterwards Laura receives, via post, her brother's jacket and ID tags and is presumed dead.

The story follows two points of view. We witness Laura and her trip back to Belgium as she searches for her brother and answers to his disappearance.
We also follow Freddie's point of view as a soldier trapped in a pillbox with a German soldier as they need to work together to survive.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

I adore Katherine Arden and her writing! She has such a wonderful way of transporting you into her books and the time and place of her writing. This book takes place during WWI and I felt like I was in the trenches with Fred and in the makeshift hospitals with Laura. This book is a historical science fiction novel. I loved that it was historical and yet we are dealing with ghosts as well. I really loved this book!

Katherine Arden can make anything fascinating. In the Authors note at the end of the book she talked about how the United States doesn't talk about WW1 and instead put more focus on WW2 and she was totally right. I learned more about the first world war reading this book and then subsequently googling things that intrigued me than i ever did in school - which was my exact experience reading her other books. She has this way of writing that dives so deep into the characters that you are so fully immersed into their minds and the story, that you don't want to leave that world or those people behind no matter what the setting. I believe she could write a story about a trash heap and make it riveting.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is WWI historical fiction but Arden has given the story a speculative twist that makes it unlike any other historical fiction I’ve ever read.

The story follows a brother and sister who are both serving in the war. Laura is a combat nurse, while Freddie is a soldier on the front lines in Flanders. Laura is injured & sent home, and while there recuperating, receives word that Freddie has been killed in action. Something about this doesn’t sit well with her, and so Laura resolves to return to the war to either find her brother or at least learn the truth. Once she returns, she starts hearing strange rumors about haunted trenches and a mysterious hotel owner who offers his guests a wine that promises the gift of oblivion.

The truth about Freddie is that he and a German solder somehow found themselves both trapped under an overturned pillbox during heavy fire. The only way to survive is to work together and so they form an unlikely alliance. Neither man wishes to return to war and when they find a mysterious hotel, they take refuge there and are offered a chance to make everything they have been through disappear. At what cost though is the big question...

Arden does an incredible job capturing just how horrific war is. The way she describes the front line made me feel like I was right there in the trenches with those who were fighting.

She has also created a poignant story about family and loss as much of the story focuses on the siblings trying to find their way back to each other because, with the deaths of their parents during a bombing, they are all each other has left.

The speculative element was what pushed this to a 5 star read for me. This mysterious fiddler out on on the battlefield who lures people to him, almost like a Pied Piper. Is he meant to be the Devil or something else entirely? Whatever he is, he truly embodies the soul crushing nature of war.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a haunting read that is going to stay with me for a long time.

I went into this pretty much blind, as I tend to do with books once I add them to my list. I liked that this book examined the mental ramifications of war even more than the physical, while still using period-appropriate language and diagnoses. (It's clear that Arden put in a lot of research on that front.) And while the story was overall very dark and depressing, we do end with a semblance of hope. I usually struggle to get into historical fiction, and this one was no exception, but the audiobook was a great help. I can't exactly put my finger on what was missing, but this didn't quite reach 5 stars for me. Regardless, I fully recommend. This has me looking forward to The Winternight Trilogy, the first book of which has been sitting on my shelves for years now.

Big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is one of those books with the right amount of action to keep me entertained and is a historical fiction set in WW1 and scratches a part of my brain that I thoroughly enjoy The sibling love through war brought tears to my eyes. Absolutely loved this book and I will keep a lookout for more books by this author in the future.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
⭐ ⭐ ⭐

I didn't know what to expect when I began The Warm Hand of Ghosts. For starters, I didn't read the blurb. Then, to top it off, I might be the only person on the planet who didn't enjoy the Winternight Trilogy (I know, I know, for shame). I enjoy Arden's writing, especially her ability to create lush atmospheres, but I rarely care about her characters. Unfortunately, this remained true in The Warm Hands of Ghosts.

Set during the final years of World War I, Arden transports readers to 1917 Belgium after the Battle of Passchendaele. After the devastating loss of both her mother and her father, Laura, a discharged war nurse, returns to the Western Front to search for her brother, Freddie, who is presumed killed in action.

At its heart, The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a story about the horrors of war and asks, what if the devil came to play in Hell on Earth? It's an intriguing premise, and if executed well, one that could result in necessary conversations about the impact of war on both sides of the line and soldiers and citizens alike. However, Arden's surface-level attempt at an answer ultimately fails to leave a lasting impact.

My overall issue is that Laura's storyline is uninteresting, unfocused, and honestly unnecessary. I found Freddie and Hans' storyline more imaginative, and had Arden focused most of her time here - I think it could have been a more successful story. Farland, Arden's devil character, is essentially wasted. Arden shoves you face-first into the violence and wastefulness of war, but you come out clean. It sorely lacked in emotion and vulnerability.

Now, the reviews for this book are very strong, and knowing that I didn't like Winternight, may mean this is more of a me thing and not a book thing

This book is small but nightly and I didn’t realize how much I adored these characters and how invested I had been on their happiness until the last few chapters of the book.
Winter and Freddie were my favorite part of this story. Their meeting, their journey and the way they end up falling for each other just seized my heart and did not let it go. I was squealing when they finally kissed.
Laura was a force for her brother and I felt for her journey so much.
The concept of ghost and the devil during the events of world war 1, world war 2 and the civil was even is not a foreign concept and has been explored before but I love the spin that Katherine put on it. It was heartfelt, it was well researched and it was an incredible story.

I received an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. This novel is very interesting and filled with well developed characters. It was a bit slow moving for me over the first half of the story, but once the characters returned to the front in Belgium, the story picked up and was much more captivating. The supernatural elements were interesting, but not as fascinating for me as the overall storyline and characters. I would give it 3 and 1/2 stars, as the slower pace of the story made it difficult for me to stick with this novel all the way through. But it is definitely well written, and a treat from an exceptional author.

First off, I want to say Katherine Arden clearly has a way with words. The descriptions and atmosphere are beautiful. It’s apparent she spent a lot of time doing the work to research this book.

What didn’t work for me is the pace and the characters. I didn’t understand exactly what was happening and why I should really care about either character’s point of view. I wanted to get to the action faster, but it was a brutal slog to even get to the fiddler.

The fiddler as a villain was too much and over the top for me as an atheist, so reading about a watchtower deity just wasn’t for me.

Overall, this is just a book that was not for me. I think it can really work for those who like a depressing war story that’s historically accurate with an element of speculative.

Just not my type of story and that’s okay.

I DNF’d this at about 65%, but not because there was anything wrong with it- it just wasn’t my vibe right now. Arden is a great writer. Her characters were engaging, real, and I cared about them. I just didn’t care very much for the setting. This is very historical fiction with gothic interwoven and lining the pages. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this kind of story, but it just didn’t flow in a way that made me want to keep reading it right now. Granted, I’m really busy at work right now, so that could be it, but it wasn’t enough to grip me in the midst of those busy days. At least not right now.

If historical and gothic are your vibes, this is going to be a good one for you. The mix of gothic elements with the very real and gritty side of war in the early 20th century is phenomenal. Arden doesn’t shy away from the scars and traumas of that time, and it makes the setting incredibly real while still having these paranormal gothic elements that were also all the rage at that time too. It’s a very well done book.

Arden just doesn’t know how to write a bad book. She knocked this one out of the park.
Her presentation of an overshadowed point in history displayed her deep research and understanding of the time period but didn’t overwhelm the reader in the dry facts.
Her handling of the question “what would an old god/devil do in this rapidly changing world?” was masterful.
As always, the prose was heartbreaking and beautiful.

Thanks NetGalley and DelRay for the ARC!

A brand new book by the one and only Katherine Arden who is known for her beautiful writing and atmospheric stories. In this novel we follow Laura, an injured WWI nurse, who wants to find her brother, a missing soldier and this leads her to finding help in unexpected places. It's a mix of history and fantasy and grief amid war, it was very different from the Winternight trilogy as I don’t really know what to expect plot wise but it was great and emotional!

At the outset, I must admit to some bias in my choice of book and this review. Katherine Arden wrote one of my favorite historical fantasy series ever, starting with The Bear and the Nightingale, and so when she announced her next book I was first in line.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a historical fiction novel with some speculative elements. We follow three characters, Laura Iven, Freddie Iven, and Hans Winter, as they deal with the horrors of the Battle of Passchendaele. Laura is an injured combat nurse who has come back to the front in search of her missing brother, Freddie. Freddie finds himself in a bombed out pill box with German soldier Hans Winter and the two develop an unlikely partnership through their escape. But will they reunite? Between the bombs and the mysterious violin player who seems to haunt the battlefield, or at least the soldiers, the prospect seems unlikely.

Arden writes in her author’s note that she chose World War I as her setting for this story because of the contradictions inherent in the times, for example, the widespread use of long-range artillery compared to armies communicating via messenger pigeon.

She was also fascinated by the psychological remnants of this time on the survivors. “Europeans in 1914, rich with plundered colonial wealth, believing wholly in their cultural supremacy, discovered that they were capable of sending their children off to live in holes and murder each other.” What sort of scar does this decimation of previously essential beliefs bring to those who survive?

Katherine Arden is a master of atmosphere, so I knew when she took on the ghastly World War I trenches that the results would be devastating. I was not disappointed. I heard every bomb whistle and felt the mud cover my body with Freddie and Winter, and tasted the antiseptic of Laura’s hospital. And that was just the background. When I understood the implications of the title of this book, I cried.

This story is a story of familial devotion in the face of unimaginable tragedy, and yet it is also a story of memory and how we remember our own histories when the foundations of our world seem to collapse. It is also an analysis of how much we might give up of ourselves to forgo the pain of remembering. What bargains might we make with what devils in the face of such death and disaster?

Katherine Arden has created a world of terror and trauma with characters that are so beautiful that the disparity between the two is heart-rending. This book is a beautiful ode to humanity in the darkest of times and is worth not only a read, but a re-read.

“Why did you stay?”

“Can you ask? We were dead together, we were born together. I cannot live without you.”

Katherine Arden does it again!! I lived for the Winternight trilogy so a new adult book by Arden needed to be in my greedy little mitts immediately. I picked this book up as someone who is really NOT into historical fiction anymore (I binged historical fiction as teen and burnt myself out so bad) but also knowing that an Arden book couldn't do me wrong. And I was RIGHT!!!!!!!

Arden writes about a young brother and sister during WWI - one a combat nurse and one on the front lines. The author makes this book feel so deeply intimate that I thought less about WWI and more about War in general and the ravages of it.

One of my favorite things in books is when authors write about past and present from chapter to chapter, especially when it feels like the past tense is racing to meet our present tense chapters. We have Laura Iven in the present, going back to the war in the present after the death of her parents and the mysterious disappearance of her brother in hopes of finding that she has someone left. In the past, we have lost Freddie Iven, doing his best to hold on to himself and the people he loves with the help of the enemy (or enemies...). Arden writes beautifully dynamic characters full of complex emotions dealing with love and grief and hope and joy during a time that felt like Hell.

Speaking of Hell, we have our sprinkle of magic that always sets Arden's books even farther apart. Anywhere there are soldiers, there are stories of a man, an almost mystical violinist, who will ply you with wine for a night and make you forget. Once you leave him, you will never find him again. This man is nowhere and everywhere you might look for him and the Ivens become tied up with him from the beginning. The magic in this book is so believable, spiritual and mythological instead of feeling like any kind of fantasy.

On top of the gorgeous writing, intricate plot, and complex characters, Arden gives us these beautiful relationships throughout the book. The Ivens, Pim, Winter, Mary, Jones. I have so much love for all of these characters and I loved seeing the slow development of their care for each other.

I would recommend this book to EVERYONE but especially if you have liked Arden's previous books or something similar to The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

I may have found my favorite book of the year, and it's only February!

I chose to read this book because I loved The Bear and the Nightingale by this author. However, I was also a little nervous because it's a very different type of book. I should not have worried. It was just wonderful.

Laura Iven was a battlefield nurse in World War I until an injury sends her home. She has now received word that her brother, Freddie, is either missing or dead. She needs to know what has happened to him and why there is confusion about it, so she heads back to the war as a volunteer nurse, to see if she can get answers. This all seems like a straight forward historical fiction, but there is also a supernatural element that adds another (pretty frightening) layer.

The story is told in two timelines. Laura's story begins in January 2018; Freddie's is from November 2017. Katherine Arden really helps the reader understand the horrors of war and the effects it has on everyone involved. Laura suffers from PTSD just like the soldiers do. You will find yourself pulled in and feeling everything alongside the characters.

I highly, highly recommend this book. Absolute perfection.

I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey in exchange for an honest review.

This is a perfect example of why it’s important to read outside of your preferred genre. I am NOT a fan of historical fiction. While there are definite fantastical elements in this story, I have read historical fiction mixed with fantasy and it is not always my jam. So this was a win.
This story is haunting, delicate, and gorgeous. The descriptions are poetic. The characters are beautiful and damaged. And everyone is just trying to decide if it’s worth it to keep living or should they just join their ghosts.
I went in blind because I heard good things about the author and I loved this cover/title. I’m honestly glad I did. So I will not give a summary in this review because I know I cannot do this story justice by talking about its plot when this book is so engrossing and much more than just a plot.

A big thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book! It was stunning!

Taking place during WWI, Laura, a combat nurse who was discharged from her time as a nurse surgeon due to an injury, makes her way back to the war zones of Europe to find out what happened to her brother after receiving a package that leaves her with questions.

This story was heart-wrenching, haunting, and beautifully written. A fantastic read!