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grace_yin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Confinement, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Domestic abuse
av0universe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
I didn’t expect that ending?!
This book surprised me in a good way. I really like the worldbuilding and Kiva as the main character is interesting, to say the least.
Tipp is the cutest character ever 🫶 and for the most part, I really liked the found family
Seriously, I can’t stop thinking about that ending. It blew my mind even though I guessed most of it. Amazing. The narrator is everything here.
I’m pretty sure I dreamed of this book today
This book surprised me in a good way. I really like the worldbuilding and Kiva as the main character is interesting, to say the least.
Tipp is the cutest character ever 🫶 and for the most part, I really liked the found family
Seriously, I can’t stop thinking about that ending. It blew my mind even though I guessed most of it. Amazing. The narrator is everything here.
I’m pretty sure I dreamed of this book today
Mother is dead.
I’m on my way to Vallenia.
It’s time to reclaim our kingdom.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Slavery, Blood, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Addiction, Rape, Sexism, and Torture
Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Vomit, Violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
shadyinthesun's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really really enjoyed this book. I only have one issue and it’s a spoiler so
I was a bit annoyed by the reveal that Kiva was part of the king lost family line and she has magical powers because of course she is and does. It’s a common fantasy trope. See Throne of Glass. I was just hoping that she wasn’t going to be. I thought with the way the book was going, with no hinting towards her powers, that she might be normal. I was pretty excited for this because it’s not common that in a world with magic the protagonists is powerless. At least in the many fantasy books I’ve read. I wish there may have been a bit more buildup or hinting. Like maybe most of her patients recover more quickly than if it were a different healer or perhaps she’s really good at coming up with healing herb combinations. A little something to earn the reveal at the end.
Overall it’s not that big of a deal. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book or the plot. Like I jokingly said at the beginning “oh what if she’s the long lost daughter instead of Tilda.”
Overall it’s not that big of a deal. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book or the plot. Like I jokingly said at the beginning “oh what if she’s the long lost daughter instead of Tilda.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Violence and Torture
Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm
geb's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Torture, and Slavery
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Self harm
Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Drug use, Addiction, and Cannibalism
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
readabilitea's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
My tolerance for basic writing and plot predictability is pretty high, but I found it difficult to get through this one and in the end resulted to skimming just the speech.
The primary problem for me was how unnecessarily repetitive the writing was. I felt like I was being treated as stupid and as if my hand needed holding all the time, as though without the constant recapping, the stating the obvious, and the incessant reminders of "Don't let her die. We are coming." I would have forgot everything I had read up until that point.
I also felt this handholding and the telling rather showing aspect of the writing was a problem when it came to some of the sensitive issues handled in the book. when Kiva reveals her self-harm to Jaren, and when he reveals his mother's addiction to Kiva, what followed was a lecture encompassing the beginning, middle, and end of a trauma storyline and it left me feeling really icky, as if the author wasn't actually engaging with the topic but using the trauma to add some history to her characters, justified by ending on a spelling out of what to do should you ever encounter these issues in real life.
This book is full of YA fantasy tropes and I see why people like it, after all that's exactly why I picked it up: I wanted an easy, action-packed read that would be difficult to put down. Ultimately though this backfired because I was left with so many questions that regularly took me out of the reading experience. If the prison is regularly overpopulated, why would you just accept kids coming in with the parents? The guards clearly don't mind being cruel so why would you not just forcefully separate children and their arrested parents before getting to the prison? Why are the trials impossible without magic and not just very very difficult? How did Kiva just forget that a stomach bug was what caused her father's death? If we are supposed to believe throughout Kiva is rigid about sticking to her healer code, why does she at one point worsen a guard's symptoms rather than just giving him a less effective remedy?
A slightly more minor point of annoyance was that the pacing was off. It starts off promisingly but slumps majorly in the middle section, which is even more baffling considering the whole appeal of a Trial format is the suspense and danger that propels a story forward. Instead of this, we spend pages upon pages conducting pointless scientific experiments?? And then it picks up at again towards the ending, finishing on a lot of drama and 'revelations' which felt contrived and fell flat.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed in this book and even the desire for plot resolution isn't enough to make me want to read the rest of the series.
The primary problem for me was how unnecessarily repetitive the writing was. I felt like I was being treated as stupid and as if my hand needed holding all the time, as though without the constant recapping, the stating the obvious, and the incessant reminders of "Don't let her die. We are coming." I would have forgot everything I had read up until that point.
I also felt this handholding and the telling rather showing aspect of the writing was a problem when it came to some of the sensitive issues handled in the book.
This book is full of YA fantasy tropes and I see why people like it, after all that's exactly why I picked it up: I wanted an easy, action-packed read that would be difficult to put down. Ultimately though this backfired because I was left with so many questions that regularly took me out of the reading experience. If the prison is regularly overpopulated, why would you just accept kids coming in with the parents? The guards clearly don't mind being cruel so why would you not just forcefully separate children and their arrested parents before getting to the prison? Why are the trials impossible without magic and not just very very difficult?
A slightly more minor point of annoyance was that the pacing was off. It starts off promisingly but slumps majorly in the middle section, which is even more baffling considering the whole appeal of a Trial format is the suspense and danger that propels a story forward. Instead of this, we spend pages upon pages conducting pointless scientific experiments?? And then it picks up at again towards the ending, finishing on a lot of drama and 'revelations' which felt contrived and fell flat.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed in this book and even the desire for plot resolution isn't enough to make me want to read the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment and Violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Minor: Addiction and Drug abuse
helliepad's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
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
4.0
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 ofher 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Grief, Death, Confinement, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Self harm, Domestic abuse, and Addiction
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
maddie_rae_reads's review against another edition
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
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Physical abuse, Death, and War