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kendallashley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, War, and Confinement
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Murder
nimeneth's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, War, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma
julesmae's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Body horror
Minor: Suicide
kirtreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This novel isn’t sad for the sake of being sad. I think Kathrine Arden actually does a great job of capturing the inexplicable and crazy hope that people can have in their darkest moments. However, it still is dark. The ending will crush you, but it is so worth the read.
Graphic: Violence, War, Xenophobia, Suicide, Abandonment, Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Mental illness, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
not_another_ana's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.0
Armageddon was a fire in the harbor, a box delivered on a cold day. It wasn't one great tragedy, but ten million tiny ones, and everyone faced theirs alone.
Laura Iven has been honorably discharged from her position in the medical corps after an injury, and has now returned home where sadly the tragedies don't stop. After losing her parents in a tragic accident she receives notice that her brother, and last living relative, Freddie has perished in combat. However, something doesn't seem right, and these discrepancies drive Laura to return to the front and find out what really happened to Freddie and what supernatural perils haunt the trenches. A year prior, Freddie Iven finds himself trapped after an explosion and his only possible ally, and lifeline, is an enemy soldier. Deciding to trust each other, both men will do anything to survive the battlefield and protect the bond they formed while under the extreme conditions of war, but the road is long, the obstacles insurmountable, and there's a mysterious figure haunting the path with an offer of salvation.
I felt like this book was suffering some sort of identity crisis. At times it was a tale about the horrors of warfare, the hopelessness of the battlefield, and a critique of war. At others, it was a supernatural tale about a mysterious man and this mirage of a hotel that trapped soldiers by offering them a respite from the agony of the trenches. Mixed in there was a tale of family love and the bonds created by living through these kind of situations, plus some sort of religious ideas about the end of the world. It was too much, I was connecting the pieces of what felt like three very different puzzles. This book needed to pick a struggle and stick to it.
The dual POVs only served to cut any tension, the situation would get more high stakes with Freddie and suddenly we were back with Laura who was still wondering if she should head back to the front. This also cause me to form no connection to any of the characters. I was also more invested in Freddie's story than Laura's, and thus all her chapters felt like such a chore to get through. Plus, nothing really happened during her chapters plot wise until around 70% of the book, I was dying for some sort of action. If this had been a book about an unlikely alliance during World War I that critiqued war and exposed its pointlessness with no supernatural elements, I would have eaten it all up. The author does a wonderful job constructing the battlefield and exposing Freddie's moral conundrum, and it's sad when it is pushed aside by this confusing plot with Faland.
Laura had nothing to do and barely a trace of personality. Her plot line was the worst because things just happened to her, it never seemed like her actions were her own. For someone who was supposed to be headstrong and hardened by the war, she let herself be led by the fates a little too much. Everything in this plot was always too convenient. Being always in the right place, with the right connections, with the right people. Things were solved so easily it left me feeling like there was no point in reading the book.
There was also some romance in there that made little to no sense and came out of nowhere, adding to the already crowded plot yet providing little of interest.
Graphic: War, Death of parent, Blood, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Descriptions of World War Ihcgambrell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, War, and Gun violence
knatreads501's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Suicide attempt, War, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
courtknee_bee's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: War, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content
Moderate: Blood and Fire/Fire injury
dunecello's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: War, Violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
uranaishi's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Murder
Moderate: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Gore, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Terminal illness, Vomit, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Classism, Cursing, Deportation, and Sexism