Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Prison Healer

This is written definitely in a younger YA style than I typically enjoy. The narrative frequently gets redundant from over-explaining, and basically anytime something is shown, it’s then immediately told as well. Although a lot of the subject matter is definitely mature, the audience is definitely more of a mid-teenage group, and is really successfully written for that target audience.

Still, I came to really fall in love with the characters and Noni did a really good job of introducing lots of different mysteries/questions as the narrative went on, even if most of the answers were obvious to me as an adult reader.

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empire_of_sun_and_nightmares's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

Ugh I kind of hated the end, the author just dropped major character twists at the end. I suppose I don’t like the unreliable narrator thing. Feels like important information was deliberately withheld from the reader. Also elements seem to rip of ACOTR

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cepbreed's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

3.0

This book disappointed me in the beginning, I’d say up until 60% in I wasn’t hooked. It’s all so cliche, the most classic YA tropes converging in one novel. You’d think that’d at least make it entertaining from the get go but it just felt so overly familiar there was no intrigue left to get me invested. I will say that once the action picked up I couldn’t stop reading (but I was also on a plane so it’s not like I had many other options). Naari is the best character in my opinion, what a badass. Kiva and Jaren I could honestly care less about. Speaking of Jaren, what kind of name is that in a fantasy setting (yes I know it gets explained but still). Only one character actually annoyed me rather than being subjected to indifference: Tipp. I HATE written stutters with such a passion and I don’t know why.

The myriad of plot twists weren’t always the most creative

(I mean Jaren as the prince was obvious early on)

but the last twist was lacking in the opposite sense. The earlier twists were predictable thanks to tenants of the genre, but the last one lost me. I mean there was hardly any build up. Of course Kiva

has to be a “chosen one” of some sort but I prefer her as a healer only, but that may change if I read the second book.

Recently I’ve had such an issue with never continuing series, there are just too many books I want to read. To my credit I started this thinking it was a standalone.

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that_awkwardbook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I haven't read anything similar before. And I'm in awe. Everything came through beautifully in the end. I can wait to read the next book.

This book is about a young girl, that has been in prison for the last 10 years. She is the prison healer, but keeps mostly to herself and stays out of trouble.

A must read. In my opinion.

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margauxhdz's review against another edition

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3.0

I wasn't planning on continuing with the series but the very last seconds of the book made me reconsider.

I liked Kiva as a main character, I thought that she had a nuanced internal dialogue.

I liked that she really wasn't that special and survived the trial thanks to cheating and outside intervention, especially after learning that she is actually special.

I didn't really care for the romance but I rarely do. The characters don't spend much time together but it makes sense, they're both working. For once I also think it makes sense that our MC would not want to get close to him.

I think that this book tries to be political and it fails at that. We should really know more about the workings of the outside world in order to understand the rebellion. It feels like it's only existing because it's a battle between two families for the throne, but why would commoners join? Does the current system oppress them? I feel like the rebellion should be really popular in prison given that a lot of prisonners are innocent or in prison for being rebels. I wish we would have been told about the structure of the outside world more.

Now let's talk about Jaren. Absolutely fucking stupid that he would be there, sorry. Who raised you? I feel like if you're raised to be the King you should never want to be the one to get down to business even if you're hotheaded and kind or whatever he's supposed to be. And you would never love a commoner. I know every fantasy world is different but I could not believe for one second this is how it would happen, he never felt believable as a character.

I think my main problem with this book is that I have grown out of ya and have expectations for books that cannot be met by ya.

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becksbecks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.5

devoured this book in one day, very entertaining with several twists (one predictable and one not!), but sometimes the writing was repetitive (particularly over backstory) and dragged.

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ashlyncherie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad fast-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? No

4.75

THAT ENDING! Holy cow. I haven’t had a plot twist do me like that in a while. I freaking loved this!! It had everything I could have wanted.

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