Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

21 reviews

livcashmere's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Addiction, Police brutality, Confinement, Sexual assault, War, Rape, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

mrobin14's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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? No

2.0

The writing at times is very immature. Often thoughts would be scattered paragraphs away from where it started, or events would become repetitively told to the reader within the same chapters. Some events that transpired don’t make sense to have been included, it feels like they were cheap shots at making a “diverse” and “deep” cast. Pages were clearly taken from Lemony Snicketts writing in silly chapter set ups, but it just makes it feel like a poorly written YA novel. Feel as though the story idea is good, but needed a more stern publisher to steer it in the right direction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Blood, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Police brutality, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Self harm, and Suicide

gcjay1994's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This one snuck up on me - in the end I realized what a good time I had. A lot darker than anticipated in some spots. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Self harm, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship

artsycupcake's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The twist at the end of this book sold absolutely everything for me.

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Self harm, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Body horror

evebananas's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Medical content, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Death, Confinement, Drug abuse, and Addiction

kottengoesbork's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, War, and Gore

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Murder, Rape, and Drug use

smuttymcbookface's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Violence, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

laurenleigh's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Drug abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

csmall73's review

adventurous challenging dark funny slow-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? Yes

3.0

This book was a little bit of let down. I feel sufficiently confused by the events that take place in this part of the story. But I am also intrigued enough to read the next installment. Kiva definitely got poop end of the stick in life and family. Left for an unreasonable amount of time, she becomes the prison healer. Takes insane amounts of crap from the filth of several countries. An impulsive and rash royal invites himself to prison as a way of getting information and intelligence gathering on a notorious rebel that happens to also be royal. We are up to three. Kiva takes the do no harm way to far and volunteers to take the place of her patient in trials. Basically give me liberty or give me death. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Slavery, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexism, Self harm, Mental illness, Medical content, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Death, Child abuse, Murder, War, Torture, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jennfs10's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Sexual assault, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape