Hi everyone
The Warm Hands of Ghosts is the second book I’ve read by Katherine Arden. I read this on my e-reader.
"January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?
November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.
As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely."
This book really went half and half for me.
Similarly to my experience with The Bear and the Nightingale, I never felt a real curiosity or need to keep reading; it was easy to put aside and do something else. However, Laura’s POV was the half that worked for me, while Freddie’s didn’t.
Laura was an amazing main character. She has professional pride, compassion, and a genuine caring for others, and she felt realistic. I could easily imagine her as a real person in a very trying time. She just gets on with it, and I love a non-dramatic female heroine.
I loved the setting. Reading about my own country (Belgium), places I’ve been to, grave sites and battle sites I’ve visited, and a time in our history that left a huge mark on the world was incredibly immersive. I loved how Katherine Arden doesn’t paint the soldiers as heroes but as real people; scared, mad, vulnerable, and sometimes cowardly. She wrote those scenes amazingly well, and I felt like I was right there beside them. It’s a very atmospheric book, and the historical elements like the nursing practices were true to the time, which I greatly appreciated.
While the setting was amazing, I really didn’t like the plot. It felt very underdeveloped. I think this whole novel would have worked better as a historical novel, so without the ghosts and supernatural elements. It was exactly these elements, mostly in Freddie’s chapters, that I disliked the most. And once Freddie left the battlefield, and thus the supernatural elements were introduced, his chapters became utterly boring and quite pointless.
The ending was overly sweet. There was no need for both Laura and Freddie to end up in a relationship. It felt too fairy-tale-like and unnecessary. The story itself wasn’t focused on romance, which is exactly why it felt so out of place at the end.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts had so much potential, but the supernatural elements and underdeveloped plot held it back. Still, Laura’s character and the historical setting made it worth the read.
Have you read The Warm Hands of Ghosts? Did you enjoy it more than I did, or did you feel the same way? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Happy reading!
Helena
