Lynette NoniFantasy · Young Adult
The Prison Healer
Synopsis
Kiva Meridan has survived ten years inside Zalindov, the most notorious death prison in the kingdom, by making herself indispensable: as the prison's healer, she treats the sick and the dying while never letting anyone see how much she is simply enduring, waiting for the family that promised to come back for her.
Then the captured Rebel Queen is dragged through Zalindov's gates, gravely ill and sentenced to the Trial by Ordeal — four elemental trials that no prisoner has ever survived. When a coded message arrives from Kiva's family — "Don't let her die.
We are coming." — Kiva makes a desperate choice: she volunteers to take the Queen's place and face the trials herself.
Now she must stay alive against impossible odds while a deadly plague sweeps the prison, a rebellion stirs beyond the walls, and she can no longer be sure who to trust — including the charming fellow prisoner Jaren and the watchful guard Naari.
The first book in Lynette Noni's Prison Healer trilogy, this is a tense, twist-filled YA fantasy of survival, secrets, and hard choices.
How it reads
Prose complexity 4/10
Content warnings (2)
ViolenceAbuse
- 4.5 Stars This book was really fun to read, I enjoyed the storyline and characters. Kiva is a really fascinating character to read about, especially when you learn more about her as the book progresses. By far my favourite characters are Tipp and Naari. Tipp is one of the purest characters and his connection to Kiva is truly heart-melting. I actually kind of wanted to see Naari and Kiva together, I think that would have been a fantastic arc to the plot and would have diverted from the traditional scope of the novel. With that said, I do like Jarren but his character was rather cliche and typical for the genre. The end plot twist is what really did me over, I have to admit I didn't see it coming but with that said the more I reflect on some of the occurrences within the book, it starts to make sense. Why she volunteered for the ordeals, etc. However, I do feel like the logistics are slightly unrealistic. I am not sure if it is because I did not see it coming, I honestly thought that when she received the note about "keeping her alive" Kiva's family were unaware of her fathers passing and that the "her" was actually Kiva. There was also the lack of emotion from Kiva regarding Tilda, which made it more shocking when the twist occurred because it lacked what one would assume would occur when faced with their . Overall, I did really like the book and am excited to move on and read the next one.
- I can't define what I think about Prison Healer. I like it, it's fluid, it's not difficult and the characters are enjoyable. But , the first part is kinda tiresome... I mean, nearly nothing happened. But the second part was great !! Hopefully the twists were not guessable, so I manage to be really surprise to learn about powers, true identity and secrets. So, in all, it was a good read and I'm looking forward to read the second book.
- 3.5/5