Reviews with content warning for Death - The Prison Healer

There was a point in the middle of this that I just wanted to put the book down bc it started getting miserable and I totally forgot this had magic halfway through. I love the story and even though I suspected that Kiva was

from the Corentine line

from the start, the emotional impact of

her mother the Rebel Queen DYING under her care

was insane to me and it still hit. Two more books is too long for me though idk if I'll finish the series. Though the story is really good and I love

secret identity

stories so that was nice.

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guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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maddie_rae_reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Epic YA Fantasy at its finest! While it does touch on dark themes such as death and abuse (in ALL its forms), the story itself refrains from graphic descriptions or harsh language. Lots of diverse characters, some that are easy to hate and others you aren’t sure what to think.

We follow Kiva, the Prison Healer (thus the name) as she encounters new problems at the prison she’s lived at for 10 years. Taken with her father for a crime neither committed, she’s been acting as the prison healer in her father’s footsteps after his death. Because of harsh prison life she rarely forms close connections with anyone in order to spare her tender heart. All except Tipp whom she cares for like a younger brother/surrogate mother.

As the protagonist you may think she has powers that she suddenly has and can wield flawlessly to help her, but that is not the case. I found that so refreshing!!! She is smart and quick to learn, which continues to help her along her journey.

Following the author’s breadcrumbs, I was able to guess several of the big reveals, but I was still taken off guard by the last page! Definitely jumping into book 2 as soon as I can.

Includes:
⚔️political intrigue
⚔️hidden identities
⚔️shared bed
⚔️fantastical powers
⚔️strong women

Title: The Prison Healer
Author: Lynette Noni @lynettenoni
Series: The Prison Healer, 1
Spice: 2/10
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Kindle Unlimited: No
Deseret Bookshelf: No

#bookstagram #audiobookstagram #theprisonhealer #aestheticreel #maddieraereads2023

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marenm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

those plot twists were actually insane. i never knew what was happening. i’d recommend this book sorely off of how cool the premise was, but it’s such a fun read. 4.5/5!

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jessieslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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delandjessica's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I both loved and didn't love this book. I loved the idea of having this character, Kiva, be the healer in this horrible prison and the focus on her doing her best to take care of the other prisoners. I especially liked the detective element as she's trying to figure out where a mystery illness is coming from. But I didn't feel like the main element of the plot, the Trial by Ordeal, was really even necessary. Not once did Kiva manage to accomplish anything in the trials on her own, being saved by others every single time, and it honestly just felt super gimmicky anyway, used as a flashy lure in the book blurb to get readers to pick up the book. It makes no sense that a prison would go through the effort of putting on such a pointless and time wasting performance just to kill a prisoner, since that's the whole point of the trials is for the person to die spectacularly, especially when there's already the Abyss where problematic prisoners are sent to but never return from. It all just smelled like plot convenience to me and could have easily been written out of the book, which would have made both the plot and Kiva's character stronger.

I also had a huge problem with Jaren. He starts hitting on Kiva from the moment he sees her, continues to pursue her romantically and touches her constantly despite her repeatedly telling him to stop, and he has no real personality other than being attractive and good. I'm not sure how that's supposed to be interpreted as being romantic. I also struggled with Tipp. His character was sweet, but though I appreciate that the author wanted to introduce more character diversity, Tipp's extreme stutter really slows down the reading experience. The author could have reduced the stutter by at least two thirds per dialogue exchange and it would have conveyed the same idea without making it so difficult to get through. The stutter also didn't add anything to Tipp's character that wasn't already there, so I would have liked to see the author either give a purpose for the stutter or remove it entirely.

However, despite all the overexplanation and insufficient description and Kiva's wishy-washy grasp of who she herself even is (she's always saying that she never or always does things and has for the last ten years, but then turns around and is doing or not doing them anyway), I absolutely loved the whole ending and the twist at the very end. It was unexpected but suddenly made the entire book make so much more sense in hindsight. Twist endings are so difficult to pull off, but this one was handled perfectly and I'm eager to see what happens with Kiva next.

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jennfs10's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It was a slow start for me and while I liked Kiva’s character, I wasn’t immediately engaged. I kept hearing that the plot twist was the best part. I think that was the biggest reason why I I kept reading at a steady pace and this was a Reading Society book club read for March. I will admit, by the end I thought it’d end as a typical YA fantasy HEA but the plot twist completely turned it into an unexpected but much more interesting character arc for Kiva. I’ve already started the second book!

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