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alicia_rausch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, War, Violence, Death, and Drug abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Torture
tegzy95's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Addiction
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Drug abuse, and Torture
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
kottengoesbork's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War
Minor: Death and Torture
czoltak's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts
lotte5322's review
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, War, Torture, Murder, Addiction, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Violence, and Physical abuse
polly_zilhaver's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use
sankta_aleena's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Addiction, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Drug use, Slavery, Violence, War, and Vomit
goldyyy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- 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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Addiction, Blood, Physical abuse, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and War
Minor: Death of parent and Torture
maple_dove's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I have to admit, the more I read this book, the more I lost interest. I think this might be because I read the first book of The Prison Healer Trilogy a while ago, and perhaps my interests have changed.
Also, I feel like polyamory was put in a bad light for a brief moment in the book. :(
The first book in The Prison Healer Trilogy will always be my favorite. :)
THE PART WHERE IT'S REVEALED THAT JAREN DRUGGED CALDON SO HE COULD BE ALONE WITH KIVA WAS GREAT! :D I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT! XD
Also, I feel like polyamory was put in a bad light for a brief moment in the book. :(
The first book in The Prison Healer Trilogy will always be my favorite. :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Drug use, and Death
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Torture, Death of parent, and Sexual content
A little bit of polyphobia (explained in review)steffandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.5
While the other two books have a main plot, like the first one surviving the prison and the Trial by Ordeal, the second one surviving outside the prison and the relationship with the Vallentis family and Kiva‘s siblings, the third one focuses on multiple things. Thus, a lot is happening in only 430 pages, but it was still written very well.
We start the third book right were we left off in the second one. Kiva is back at Zalindov and she is angeldust addicted, has no will to live and was assigned to work in the tunnels. I love, love, loved how Cresta was a part of her life in the prison and later on also outside the prison. Loved her strong personality and how she was able to get Kiva through this very difficult time. Cresta’s character development was outstanding and I love her humor so much! She fit right into this little family.
Then Kiva gets swept out of the prison just to land in another one and it‘s revealed that she has to marry King Navok, which I kind of suspected as soon as his soldiers came to get her. At the king’s castle, we meet Ashlyn (finally!) and they escape again while taking Galdric (yes, he’s still alive) with them. They arrive at Stoneforge, which is a military base, reuniting with everyone else. Then the heartache starts. Jaren is pissed. Tipp is pissed. Naari is still unconscious and Caldon is Caldon.
From there, the found family starts their quest throughout all of Wenderall to get the so called Hand of the Gods, the opposite of the Eye of the Gods. In each city they go to to get the parts of the Hand, they have to undergo certain challenges. Slowly, Tipp forgives Kiva, Jaren is still pissed and they clash together one morning, breaking my heart all over again. The time in Ersa was my favorite, I liked how everything got out and how Kiva had to challenge herself, again.
The reunion with Jaren in the next city, however, was quite underwhelming in my opinion. He forgave her and while I understand how he explains that he never hated her and how he was more disappointed that she didn’t trust him enough to reveal her identity, I couldn’t forget how he basically stabbed her in the heart with his words merely two days prior. He did say that he lied about that, I, on the other hand, wasn’t quite satisfied with it. I also didn’t like that he basically said he never blamed her for anything and that she is only blaming herself and should forgive herself, like, what do you expect? Although his explanations that it was never Kiva in anything made sense, I was like everything she did still led to everything that happened. Also, his last words in the second book “How could you” were never questioned again and I missed an explanation for that because those were the words Kiva thought about the most in the beginning of the books.
Then the ending was also not to my liking. Although I understand it makes sense that Kiva loses her magic and she’s quite content with it as she never wanted to have it in the first place, I was thinking about their future because, in the end, her healing magic is obviously quite of use and I can only imagine that someone dear to her would die in the future because normal healers can’t repair the damage. And I would also liked to have seen Jaren with his full powers back and Kiva with her healing magic on the throne. Just like the whole story started with Sarana and Torvin, only with a happy ending this time.
Last point I need to mention why this book doesn’t get 5 stars from me is the queer representation. Lynette created diverse characters, we have asexual one, we have bisexual characters and we also have a lesbian relationship but then in the end, we basically only had hetero relationships, which kind of pisses me off because Caldon and Torell would have been perfect! Instead she puts him with Ashlyn, which is kind of cruel as well, her being the sister of Caldon. There were so many opportunities and I just feel like Lynette didn’t do anything with it.
All in all, this was a fitting ending for the series. I enjoyed the world, the found family, the romance, the plot and literally everything else in this series so much! I do recommend everyone to go read it!
Then Kiva gets swept out of the prison just to land in another one and it‘s revealed that she has to marry King Navok, which I kind of suspected as soon as his soldiers came to get her. At the king’s castle, we meet Ashlyn (finally!) and they escape again while taking Galdric (yes, he’s still alive) with them. They arrive at Stoneforge, which is a military base, reuniting with everyone else. Then the heartache starts. Jaren is pissed. Tipp is pissed. Naari is still unconscious and Caldon is Caldon.
From there, the found family starts their quest throughout all of Wenderall to get the so called Hand of the Gods, the opposite of the Eye of the Gods. In each city they go to to get the parts of the Hand, they have to undergo certain challenges. Slowly, Tipp forgives Kiva, Jaren is still pissed and they clash together one morning, breaking my heart all over again. The time in Ersa was my favorite, I liked how everything got out and how Kiva had to challenge herself, again.
The reunion with Jaren in the next city, however, was quite underwhelming in my opinion. He forgave her and while I understand how he explains that he never hated her and how he was more disappointed that she didn’t trust him enough to reveal her identity, I couldn’t forget how he basically stabbed her in the heart with his words merely two days prior. He did say that he lied about that, I, on the other hand, wasn’t quite satisfied with it. I also didn’t like that he basically said he never blamed her for anything and that she is only blaming herself and should forgive herself, like, what do you expect? Although his explanations that it was never Kiva in anything made sense, I was like everything she did still led to everything that happened. Also, his last words in the second book “How could you” were never questioned again and I missed an explanation for that because those were the words Kiva thought about the most in the beginning of the books.
Then the ending was also not to my liking. Although I understand it makes sense that Kiva loses her magic and she’s quite content with it as she never wanted to have it in the first place, I was thinking about their future because, in the end, her healing magic is obviously quite of use and I can only imagine that someone dear to her would die in the future because normal healers can’t repair the damage. And I would also liked to have seen Jaren with his full powers back and Kiva with her healing magic on the throne. Just like the whole story started with Sarana and Torvin, only with a happy ending this time.
Last point I need to mention why this book doesn’t get 5 stars from me is the queer representation. Lynette created diverse characters, we have asexual one, we have bisexual characters and we also have a lesbian relationship but then in the end, we basically only had hetero relationships, which kind of pisses me off because Caldon and Torell would have been perfect! Instead she puts him with Ashlyn, which is kind of cruel as well, her being the sister of Caldon. There were so many opportunities and I just feel like Lynette didn’t do anything with it.
All in all, this was a fitting ending for the series. I enjoyed the world, the found family, the romance, the plot and literally everything else in this series so much! I do recommend everyone to go read it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War
Moderate: Blood, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts