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

Reviews tagging 'War'

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

94 reviews

mr_ryancowboy's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

califrey99's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book is fantastic--it depicts wartime trauma with respect and accuracy. The paranormal side isn't overbearing--it doesn't take away from the fact that humans were responsible for WWI instead of a supernatural force. The scale was smaller than I expected, but worked so well. It's about the people rather than the larger conflict. Ending could have been drawn out a little longer, but I understand why it didn't.

Content Warnings

agathajanemaud1908's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy are some of my favorite fantasy books, but this one might be even better. Both this book and the trilogy was wrenching and dark and beautiful, but I can’t imagine the years of research she put into this book. It felt like I was in WWI France witnessing the horror of it.
I don’t have adequate words to review this book, but word of warning: it’s accurate to the war, so it’s very dark and violent. Make sure to be in a good headspace before reading.

Content Warnings

kendallashley's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

hannahmariebrankley's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring 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

4.0

I had never read anything by Katherine Arden before this. I know her “The Bear and The Nightingale” series is very well-loved on Bookstagram. But when I saw this in the coming soon section on Waterstones, it intrigued me.

“In this historical fiction/fantasy novel, Canadian nurse Laura Iven, discharged and sent back to Halifax in 1918, learns of her brother Freddie’s death in WWI but senses something amiss. Determined to uncover the truth, she returns to Belgium. Meanwhile, in 1917, Freddie survives an explosion and bonds with a German soldier in No Man’s Land. Together, they encounter a mysterious fiddler with the power to make their war-torn reality vanish, but at a significant cost.”

There is no doubt in my mind that Katherine Arden is meant to be a writer. She never shied away from the realities these characters face being at war and never shied the reader away either. The emotional rollercoaster that this book takes you on is unreal and opens you up to the importance of familial relationships. When reading, I found myself slowing down and then after some chapters and finishing, having to sit with what my thoughts were.

I studied both World Wars at length during my school years. And, I like a historical fiction book with a paranormal/fantasy twist. But in this instance, I found not only did I not expect it from the blurb written, but that it also didn’t seem something too out there to have happened. During World War One, there was a rise in Spiritualism. The horrors of war and the desperation of people to want to speak to their loved ones after death. It wasn’t what I expected but it’s 4 Stars from me.

Content Warnings

jlboro's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.75

Katherine Arden swung for the fences in this novel and I believe she really knocked it out of the park.

Don’t go into this book if you want “more like the Winternight Trilogy”. These two works really can’t be compared and if you do, you’ll be disappointed because it’s extremely different - from scope and scale, writing style, time period, vibes, etc. I love it when artists do this and I’m here for anything Arden throws our way from here on out.

The first half of this book is visceral and dark. This is literally in the trenches of WWI and dealing with PTSD from multiple disasters. The second half is when our cast of characters really begin to weave and diverge together and the ending result is solid all around.

My only complaint is I would have liked more of the second half of the book, maybe more of a 1/3 to 2/3 dynamic and more time with our characters post “resolution”. Maybe even some more information at the end on resources, photos, etc. in how she found her inspiration for this story.

I’m so glad this story happened - thank you Katherine Arden and team for taking a risk in a climate and industry that doesn’t always reward that behavior.

Content Warnings

woodsie24's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

Very unique

Content Warnings

amybabuka's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.25

Liked this one a lot. I liked how the family element, the fantasy element, and how there were romances present, but they weren’t spoon fed to you.

Content Warnings

nimeneth's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

julesmae's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? Yes

5.0

Another hauntingly composed work of mythology and history from Katherine Arden who is quickly cementing herself aiming my favorite authors of all time.

Content Warnings

More...