Reviews with content warning for Death - The Warm Hands of Ghosts

This is probably my most surprising book of the year. I started the book thinking it was slow, not interesting and that I would end up giving it like 3 stars. But I grew attached to our characters: Laura, Freddie, Winter, and Jones, and I cared about what happened to them. I’ve read many World War 2 novels, but this was my first World War 1 novel and the setting is heartbreaking. In the author’s note, the author says that World War 1 is overshadowed a lot by World War 2, but World War 1 was still just as devastating. What the author did with the setting was just brilliant. Also, in the author’s note, she talks about the character Faland, and how he is basically supposed to be the devil. In the book, she tries to answer what would the devil do if he was irrelevant because the war is doing his work for him essentially? And I think she answered that question brilliantly. The book just has so much depth, and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Me chronically never reading blurbs to never knowing what I’m getting into is just my vibe.

Anyway the only thing I knew about this was like ghosts(?) and something about a violin which is what sold me initially.

But it’s a commentary for sure on war. It’s set during WWI and I actually really enjoyed the authors note at the end which talked about all the research she did and gave some more context for her reasons to write this book. I just love a good
Authors note.

It’s told in dual pov between Laura in the ‘present’ 1918 and her brother in the past a few months before. It was interesting to read a book that centered a brother sister relationship. It generally reads very much historical fiction with some fantasy/odd things sprinkled in.

Speaking of, I will say I was a bit confused even at the end with the whole plot line of this mysterious sort of evil character (name is escaping me so that maybe shows how memorable it was) who is sort of feeding off the emotionally weak. The violin ended up being just a part of what this nefarious being uses to manipulate people. I think maybe if the plot had leaned in to it a bit more it would’ve felt more integrated, but as I said it reads really more like hist fiction. Which if that’s your genre you’d probably love this. It just didn’t quite work for me.

That being said there was some beautiful prose and I did overall enjoy the story. There’s a little romance in there which I really enjoyed. The stern doctor was one of my fav characters

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lily_of_veritas's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Almost everything resolves in a nice way, that tugs on the heart strings.

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Interesting story. Mostly loved it was about WWI. Seems like there are very few stories about that one, and I’m a bit burned out on WWII.

Was a little surprised homophobia went unaddressed given the time frame it was written in.

Pace of progression was a little fast for me. Seemed like little time passed between all the events and that ordinarily, such said events would take longer to develop. However, I liked it overall.

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kymuir's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

I devoured this book in one day.

I wrestled over whether or not I’d read this. I tend to avoid WWI historical fiction, but I loved Arden’s Winternight trilogy so much that I knew I had to give it a shot.

This tale is about a nurse trying to find her brother, a Canadian soldier missing from the frontlines in WWI. Much like The Bear and the Nightingale, The Warm Hands of Ghosts offers a deeper commentary on morality and the flawed systems we exist within, and the role that hope and perseverance play in survival and life beyond survival.

Arden’s prose is hauntingly beautiful, and you can see how her writing has sharpened with this latest book, especially the dialogue. The writing is atmospheric, the plot kept me turning the page, and I felt for the unique characters and their heartbreaking conflict. She also weaved in fantasy elements in a way that was supernatural and creepy, it felt like more of a terrifying extension of the reality we know than a reimagined world you’d escape to. All of the religious Armageddon references (including the chapter titling, so freaking clever) definitely contributed.

I’ll be thinking about this book for weeks. Thank you for another brilliant book, Katherine. You’ve officially become a must-read author for me. 🤝

TW: gore, death, intense descriptive wartime scenes

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juanat77's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was a total cover buy. It wasn’t what I thought it was. After all these years I still haven’t learned to not judge an actual book by its cover. Historical fiction with paranormal touches. During WWI. 1917 to 1918. Two POVs (brother and sister) told in alternate timelines. It was a very different way to tell a war story. I really liked the premise but I had difficulty connecting with the characters. When I read I like to immerse myself into the story and think about the characters when I’m not reading and when I’m done with the book. I found myself rushing to get through the story. I enjoyed that it had a relationship between a brother (Freddie) and sister (Laura) as opposed to a romance as it is often done. I was more invested in Freddie’s chapters than Laura’s as his were more emotional and his character was deeply developed. It is beautifully written and the history was thoroughly researched.

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

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toriwatson's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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beckfest's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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