Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Prison Healer

I already loved the aspect of a prison healer being just and doing whatever it took to survive but to find out this is a villain origin story is the best thing I could have found out.

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evebananas's review

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dark slow-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

2.75

The first half was pretty good, with all the world building and whatnot. But the whole middle- probably from 40% to 85% through- was boring. The dialogue was so boring and predictable and felt very YA. The last ten percent or so was just an info dump:

jaren is the prince, Naari is his guard, and Kiva has magic to conveniently save Tipp. Oh and wait- she’s actually the rebel queens daughter!! Which makes no sense, because she acted like Tilda was a stranger the entire time.

I’m frustrated with the ending. The whole book felt very very YA and I wasn’t expecting it. Maybe if I were 13 I’d like it better.

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kottengoesbork's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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alsri's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A dark ya fantasy that caught me off guard with the twist at the end.

I was truly hooked in, though my interest did start to wane in the second half and the middle seemed to drag on for a little too long leaving the end feeling a little whiplash-y (though not enough to feel overly rushed).

I had guessed that Kiva was related to the rebel queen somehow but had assumed it would be a distant bloodline that she was unaware herself

The ending took me a little by surprise with the big reveal, though we’d gotten hints throughout.

While the romance subplot is definitely ya fitting the darker themes in the book are one to check out before reading

Overall an excellent read and I’m intrigued to read the next.

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beeleaf's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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sophs_mood_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Kiva the resident healer has survived 10 years at the kingdoms death prison waiting to be saved by her family on the outside or die, whichever comes first. She’s hated by the other prisoners for being the warden’s tool and informant and treated like scum by the guards (so life’s not great).

When the rebel queen arrives in a state close to death the warden and the prison rebels both demand one thing of her: Keep her alive. 🤦‍♀️

So now she must do the impossible, all why trying to figure out what strange deadly stomach sickness is spreading throughout the prison as well as not be too distracted by the new handsome and charming inmate.

A little slow in parts and I did predict a major plot point fairly early on, I still really enjoyed this start to the trilogy.

Read if you like:
Found family
Hidden identities
Slow burn romance
Elemental magic
High stakes challenges

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katelynnreads's review against another edition

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5.0

That was so EPIC. 10/10.

“you’re right, you don’t need me fighting your battles. But if you’ll let me, I’d like to be standing beside you as you fight them”

“Our scars define us. They tell a story of courage and survival. They tell of who we are at our deepest being, of the challenges we've faced and overcome”

I devoured this boon on our trip to Canada. It was beautiful & full of horrors at the same time.

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