Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Prison Healer

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.

Content Warnings

alielaine's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

4.0

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sallie_ees's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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cchar_'s review

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adventurous funny tense 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

3.5

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laurenleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Kind of a bit of a slow start for me, but wow was I hooked by the end! I picked up the sequel immediately, which is kind of rare for me these days. This is definitely YA fantasy, but it’s still set in a deathly prison, so pretty dark at times. It’s not quite like anything else I’ve read, which is always a plus. The last 100 pages are wild and there were multiple twists that I absolutely did NOT see coming. Quite remarkable! It will be so interesting to see how this plot progresses over the next book and how the world building will deepen.

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candyjay19's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I got so invested in this book and its characters. I thought I had guessed the plot twist and was just riding that wave but I never expected those revelations.
I have NEVER read a book with a plot twist that was well hidden and put together so flawlessly that I left my guard down and genuinely stopped breathing.
I just can't think of any words to describe what I'm feeling right now...

Content Warnings

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

Content Warnings

christygsp's review against another edition

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4.5

I was surprised at how much I actually loved this book. The entire plot centres around the elemental trials and life in this crazy dangerous prison.
Our main characters are engaging, interesting and encircled by such an interesting world.
The ending……. I went out and got the next two books on almost that alone. I GOTSTA know what happens next!
Careful of content/trigger warnings (I will list below) but the author didn’t go tooooo far with those so just be aware.

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