Another wonderful work from Katherine Arden! This is going to sound pretty weird considering this books is set during the Great War, but the first few chapters had such a cozy sense to me. I very much enjoyed the writing and the way Arden set up the story and Laura's character. It was so easy to get drawn into her perspective.

The book was told in dual POV and I wasn't that big a fan of Freddie's chapters. The way Arden used them to help establish the paranormal elements here only half worked for me. It was heartbreaking to experience the War through his eyes, however, and his struggle to come to terms with it was handled in a sensitive manner.

I didn't really like the figure of the fiddler and Pim's character arc. Those were my only complaints about the book.

The surprise queer characters was lovely, though! It was written in such an organic manner and the way Arden built up that relationship was equal parts sad and so very very sweet. The romance here, in general, was extremely well done in the sense that it felt like a regular part of the story and didn't take away from the horrors of war and/or the plot.