Scan barcode
sheekapatak's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, and Violence
epellicci's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? No
3.0
This book somehow felt both slow and rushed. While I expected it to be uncomfortable, with most of the book taking place within an unregulated prison environment, the brutality felt poorly fleshed out. There is constant reference to physical, sexual and mental abuse suffered by the prisoners at the hands of the guards, but it never goes anywhere. Kiva’s internal monologue often refers to how at any time there are people who can take advantage of her, and yet it felt shallow and unbelievable.
While the aim it to increase the drama of the big reveal at the end, I found Kiva hard to root for when her motivations seemed so all over the place. She takes on the horrific ordeal of the Rebel Queen’s sentence and punishment, yet maintains throughout that she is only mildly sympathetic to the rebel’s cause – instead driven by her oath as a healer. When in the very last pages, it was revealed that there was much more to it than that, I found it hard to believe that the cool, manipulative Kiva who had just been revealed was the same person as the hopelessly naive one who still believed after a decade that her family were on the way to recuse her, and who broke all her rules about forming relationships because Jaren had a pretty face.
Unfortunately, I can see fairly obviously where the next two books are going, and am not invested enough in the characters to watch it play out. Despite this being a pretty quick, easy read, that ultimately did no harm, it reminds me of all the things I didn’t like about ACOTR, and so I won’t be bothering with the rest of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Self harm
Moderate: Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Confinement
Minor: Child death, Rape, and Addiction
lordfroggington's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Blood, Self harm, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Child death
Minor: War and Fire/Fire injury
sunniva174's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Child death
delandjessica's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Child death, Vomit, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Romance is present, but doesn't get physical.bint_idris517's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don’t usually write reviews on here but this book…this book deserves one! The constant plot twists had me spiralling and I got to the end and was left gobsmacked…need to read the second book ASAP!!! I can’t believe what just happened🫢🫢😭😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Addiction, Self harm, and Sexual assault
queen_melliott's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
In the beginning, this seemed very much like Throne of Glass: A 17 YO girl being imprisoned, then catching the interest of a prince, strong hints that there may be more to the girl’s identity, only for the very last page to reveal that she’s the long lost rebel princess with a claim to the throne . Also, prisoners working as slaves in the mines, even the map looked quite similar to eastern Erilea where ToG is set… Honestly, the similarities had me expecting a cheap ToG fanfic, so I didn’t have high hopes at first. Luckily, I ended up loving it.
It’s funny how sometimes I cannot warm up to the characters throughout the whole book and don’t care if they live or die. And then other times, as it was with The Prison Healer, I am so invested in the characters from the getgo. Kiva, Jaren, Naari, Tipp, Mot, I just loved them all. Watching their bonds grow stronger over time, watching their banter, growing trust and support of one another made me grow ever fonder of them. It all felt very realistic for the setting. Also, the romance was built up slowly despite the initial spark between Kiva and Jaren, which I was very relieved about. An insta-love-y romance might have ruined it for me.
Another thing that was developed slowly and tastefully was the world building. It was continuously woven throughout the story and felt organic.
The story orders never got repetitive or boring, despite being set in only one place for 500 pages (in German). There was a lot going on with the friendships, romance, trials, the rebel Queen’s mysterious illness, the plague and overall dynamic at the prison. However, all the stories were woven together organically and made sense, so it never felt like there was too much going on all at once.
One aspect I do have to complain about was the extremely foreseeable plot twists. It’s also not too difficult to imagine where the story might go, but I still can’t wait to get my hands on the sequels.
It’s funny how sometimes I cannot warm up to the characters throughout the whole book and don’t care if they live or die. And then other times, as it was with The Prison Healer, I am so invested in the characters from the getgo. Kiva, Jaren, Naari, Tipp, Mot, I just loved them all. Watching their bonds grow stronger over time, watching their banter, growing trust and support of one another made me grow ever fonder of them. It all felt very realistic for the setting. Also, the romance was built up slowly despite the initial spark between Kiva and Jaren, which I was very relieved about. An insta-love-y romance might have ruined it for me.
Another thing that was developed slowly and tastefully was the world building. It was continuously woven throughout the story and felt organic.
The story orders never got repetitive or boring, despite being set in only one place for 500 pages (in German). There was a lot going on with the friendships, romance, trials, the rebel Queen’s mysterious illness, the plague and overall dynamic at the prison. However, all the stories were woven together organically and made sense, so it never felt like there was too much going on all at once.
One aspect I do have to complain about was the extremely foreseeable plot twists. It’s also not too difficult to imagine where the story might go, but I still can’t wait to get my hands on the sequels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Physical abuse
Minor: Confinement, Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Child death, Death of parent, Rape, Vomit, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
one_more_chapter96's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? No
5.0
Considering I know mostly read NA fantasy, this was the first YA fantasy I’ve read in months that I’ve devoured and absolutely loved. Challenging and really realistic themes from real history at times in the book reminiscent of WW2 labour camps. But over and above that, the characters and their personalities, the world building and the twists & turns were fantastic! I half predicted things but not in the way I thought, so I am super excited for the 2nd book!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, War, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Addiction
dontwanthvn's review
emotional
tense
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Blood, Confinement, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Rape, Child death, Suicide, Physical abuse, Vomit, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
emilylovesgoodbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Torture, and Physical abuse
Minor: Self harm and Sexual assault