A review by hagwife
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is truly something else.

Set in WWI as it is, I went in with some expectations about how difficult and how emotional this read would be, but Arden's characters and writing pushed the book far beyond my expectations. It is both a war story and a story set during war and the level of accuracy and attention to detail is intense. Which is a good word for this book overall: intense. I could probably talk anyone's ear off for hours about this book, but its really hard to put in words. 

The one thing that I can articulate is how much I adore the fiddler.
Faland might be my favourite written conceptualization of the Devil because he's custom designed for this story. He slips in at the edges, a soldier like so many, and a lost soul like all on the battlefield. Arden picked just a few of the many threads and spun them into quite a wonderful construction – Faland isn't evil, he just is, because he takes nothing that is given. It doesn't mean he didn't cajole or manipulate to get his mark to there, but his motives aren't clear-cut. And he takes his time. The soldiers he pulls into his bar are different marks than Freddie or Pim. The level of care he puts into his personal favourites is quite something. Not to mention the fiddle, the music, it's just all kind of unreal. Arden created a version of the Devil, the fiddler, perfect to her exact needs and setting, tailor made. It keeps the focus on the characters and their struggles, and not everything else that usually comes with a divine being from the Christian tradition.
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