The Warm Hands of Ghosts - Katherine Arden - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Katherine Arden

GENRE: Historical Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: February 13, 2024

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A character-driven historical fantasy set during WWI. A lot more historical with just a smattering of fantasy. Interesting characters, slow pace, (surprisingly) religious undertones, fabulous atmosphere, underdeveloped plot. Might work for those who like character-oriented fiction and don’t need likeable protagonists.

Plot Preview:

1918. Nova Scotia, Canada. Laura is back home after serving as a combat nurse and discharged from the medical corps because of an injury. Having lost her parents in the Halifax explosion of 1917, Laura’s only surviving family member is her younger brother Freddie, who is still fighting in Flanders. But when a telegram arrives containing his personal effects, there's something strange in the parcel that makes Laura go to Belgium to look into what happened to him. Is Freddie dead, or missing in action, or has there been some other confusion?

The story comes to us in Laura's third person perspective from 1918 and Freddie's third person perspective from 1917 onwards.

With a plethora of stories set during WWII, a book focussing on the ignored but equally deadly WWI is always welcome. But I wish the execution of this novel had been more satisfying.

Bookish Yays:

🎖️ The titular “ghosts” have several manifestations in the plot, ranging from personal ghosts to actual ones. It’s an apt title for the story.

🎖️ No fake glorification of war or of the indefatigable bravery of soldiers. Rather, the story offers a gritty portrayal of the on-field struggles of ordinary soldiers stuck in deathly circumstances because of political policies. The raw unfiltered reality of the on-ground scenes is so visceral that it generates shivers down the spine.

🎖️ The atmosphere is brilliant throughout the book. The writing really brings out the setting as well as the emotions.

🎖️ Freddie is a good representative of how twenty-one-year-olds behave. Uncertain, impulsive, scared, and vulnerable, his reliance on and conflicting feelings for the German soldier who is also stuck with him in no man's land is convincingly written.

🎖️ The medical and historical research is fabulous. I especially appreciated learning about the Halifax Explosion of 1917, though it was mentioned only in passing. I'd love to read more stories on this incident.

🎖️ Laura is mostly stoic in her feelings and firm in her work interactions. This could go either way for readers, but I liked the uncommon writing choice. Not every lead female character has to be melodramatic or loveable! And considering how annoyingly grating Frankie’s over-the-top melodrama was in Kristin Hannah’s The Women (That book has scarred me for life, I swear!), Laura, with her muted feelings and pragmatic approach and readiness to accept assistance, is more realistic and far better sketched. Perhaps readers who expect an greater display of emotions from main characters would be disappointed in Laura’s seemingly aloof demeanour, but I can just say, not all of us sob or fume during tough times.

🎖️ The key secondary characters are memorable. Pim shows how our main motivation in life is love, Mary demonstrates the power of a determined woman, and Dr. Jones highlights the dedication of a committed doctor who chooses professional passion over personal glory. Hans, in his limited role, also leaves a mark.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

⚔️ The plot has two distinct storylines, but as each is so discrete in its plot, characters and approach, it is tough to reconcile the two as belonging to the same book. Laura’s story had typical historical fiction content for the most way. The differentiating factor was Freddie’s narrative, which is much more gripping. I might have liked the book better if it had focussed mainly on his experience and kept Laura secondary, instead of vice versa.

⚔️ The intriguing decision of writing the story from two timelines just a few months apart was interesting. So though Laura is in the dark, the reader knows what happened to Freddie, BUT not in "current time". However, this also means that we see all twists and turns of the plot way before Laura. We need to be patient to wait for Laura to catch up with what we already guessed many chapters ago.

⚔️ The two romance tracks in the book stay quite lowkey, which I appreciate as they don’t overpower the core narrative of Laura’s search for her brother. However, I am not convinced that the romance tracks were needed in the first place. One felt included only for the sake of inclusion and the other felt like it was shoved in because a platonic relationship might dissatisfy readers. (So incorrect!)

Bookish Nays:

💣 As someone who had totally forgotten the blurb and hadn’t read this author before, I didn't foresee the sudden veer into fantasy. However, for a work by an author who specialises in fantasy, the fantastical content of this book is mostly muted, coming in bits and pieces without being explored to the fullest potential possible. Faland’s character was especially intriguing but we simply don’t get to know the truth about him, despite several assumptions going around. (Actually, it is fairly easy to guess who Faland might be as that trope is somewhat common in horror fiction, but it would have been good to learn more from the plot itself.)

💣 I didn’t expect such a strong religious undertone to the proceedings. While a tiny part of me was fascinated by how the author correlated the apocalyptic details of the Book of Revelation with the Armageddon that was WWI, using the word “Christian” to depict this was a misnomer. The “Christianity” used in this book is primarily that followed by Jehovah's Witnesses, whose beliefs as well as whose Bible are different from those of other Christian denominations. While JWs did refer to themselves as Christians, the term might be misleading to those who don’t know the deeper tenets of mainstream (Latin/Orthodox) Christianity, and might assume such beliefs to be representation of all Christians. Generalisation is such an easy trap to fall into!

💣 The chapter titles are also fragmented lines (but never complete quotes) taken from the Book of Revelation, which might suit some chapters but hardly make broader sense, especially to those who wouldn’t know the source material. I wouldn’t even have guessed this, had some of the “titles” not felt familiar. I don’t think this stylistic choice served its purpose aptly.

💣 While the overall pacing is on the slower side (quite common in character-driven plots), the middle of book really drags. After a point, I felt bored as the plot was going nowhere. Only the final few scenes shook me out of my reverie.

💣 The ending is overly positive and smooth for such a dark narrative.

All in all, I did like the story but I felt like it could have done so much better. The author certainly knows how to create an excellent atmosphere and imagery with her words. I just wish the pacing and the fantastical content had been more finetuned. The author's note offers much clarification on some of her writing choices. It helps us understand her perspective, and hence the content, better.

I suppose I should be grateful that this was my first try of Arden’s work. I went into it with no pre-set expectations and was hence fairly satisfied. Considering the high ratings of her earlier novels, things can only improve from here. (Fingers crossed!)

Recommended, but not with gusto. This might work better for those who enjoy slow-paced atmospheric historical fiction and don’t mind religious content or an unlikeable main character.

My thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for providing the DRC of “The Warm Hands of Ghosts” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.