Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

37 reviews

ceredonia's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

abby_can_read's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

📖
This was a beautiful book. It was emotional and captivating. I liked the two different narratives and how they overlapped and connected. The characters were amazing and the relationship with great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

lou_christie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kendallashley's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

This book was absolutely beautiful, tragic, hopeful, heart-wrenching, and everything in between. Bringing a supernatural bent to a story set in the battlefields of WWI was a genius move. It brought the horrors of the war to life in a captivating and unique way. This is a book I’ll be thinking about and unpacking for quite a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

nimeneth's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is one of those books that I don't even think I can explain why I liked it. It was grim, and dark, and unsettling for the middle half, and yet it was fantastic at the same time. Maybe it's that it's almost madness given form. Maybe it's that Arden didn't shy away from just how ugly war can be, but did it in such a way that it didn't make it unpalatable, just stark and inescapable. Whatever it was, once Laura got to France I couldn't put it down and wound up plowing through the bulk of this in an afternoon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and War

courtknee_bee's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

5 stars

A phenomenal, awe-inspiring book. Arden's The Bear and the Nightingale] trilogy is one of my favorites, so I had very high expectations for The Warm Hands of Ghosts. This is much a different novel: bleaker and sadder, as one might expect from a book about WWI. But there was so much hope, too. There are magical elements, Paradise Lost allegories, and maybe even some references to the Bear trilogy if you squint. 

This isn't exactly an escapism book, but the story is so moving. There's hints of romance, but this book is about familial love at its core. I loved it. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood and Fire/Fire injury

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Vomit, Pregnancy, Classism, and Deportation

meg_turnsthepage's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

bnashley's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Using WWI and the Halifax Explosion of 1917 as a setting, The Warm Hands of Ghosts explored trauma, PTSD, grief, and the question of “self” through the lens of magical realism. 

The premise was interesting and well done, but it relied on some very common themes that made the book predictable/low stakes/thin. However, it was very touchingly written, and I cared a great deal about the characters, who were well done.

I did get the impression that the author had a much bigger story to tell but couldn’t quite incorporate everything into a cohesive narrative and pared the story down significantly. This was unfortunately very distracting because I kept imagining the missing pieces. 

I really enjoyed the care taken with the the setting. The historical setting and time-based language is accurate and detailed, and the author includes the kinds of little tidbits/trivia that make the setting feel alive. There were a few places where the prose got clunky/repetitive but it did not detract from the overall affect.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lauriej's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail