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A review by abbieday01
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
4.0
Okay....so I did not hate this book. I actually liked this book.....then I didn't like it. I liked the story, but the end? Is that a plot twist or a plot unravel? I mean - the end DOES NOT match the inner dialogue of the FMC at all!! I was like - "what, wait, hold up there - you mean your a delusional liar????" I mean what the actual heck???????
Will I read the rest of the series - the other two 600+ page books. Absolutely - because, well, sometimes I am a glutton for punishment.
There are spoilers in this review - I mean there are bound to be spoilers when you spend SIX HUNDRED PAGES reading a story, learning about a character - just to have it ALL undone in the last TWO FREAKING Pages! Seriously - not sure how I feel about this at all.....seems like the 600 (that is my kindle - the book is in print is less, but still it's a lot) first pages really present a lie and then it's like - oh.....here it really is. I mean, Here's the deal....I love a good plot twist but then again, there are hints, there are things that point to it. There IS some point in the story where the reader is like - "oh, maybe??? maybe this, maybe that.....just maybe" But nope - not with this one. It just doesn't even line up. It's like the author was like....hmmmm....how do I tie up 600 pages of this story and make all these subplots come together........Really, honestly, the longer I am from reading the last page of this book the madder I am about the way it is written (an not really in a good frustrated reader sort of way, more in a what the heck just happened, and why - it doesn't make sense sort of way.)
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
First - we are introduced to Kiva Meridan, daughter of Faren Meridan. The kingdom is in unrest - the rebels against the Vallentis Crown. Faren Meridan is arrested for treason (conspiring with rebels) and Kiva is with him - she is 7 years old. So, what do these people do - well logically they throw innocent children into a death prison with their parents to experience the cruelest of conditions, to be abused, malnurished and worked to death. Faren is a healer so he becomes the prison healer, but then he dies and Kiva becomes a prison healer.
All's good - right? We have an FMC that is strong, has survived ten years in a death prison by keeping her head down, aligning herself with the Warden (which wards a certain amount of protection) and not making friends. The rebels, especially their leader, hate Kiva calling her the Warden's whore among other nasty things. She is depicted as a deeply caring person, adhering to the healers code to help everyone. She is lonely, broken, abused, neglected and well....it's just bad. Gotcha - I'm all good with a survivor. I'm all good with someone becoming greater than what is expected. But- REMEMBER the rebel leader HATES Kiva, actually wants her dead!! This will be important when the last page gets read and you're like - well heck that doesn't make sense.
Then a new guard arrives - Naari. And a mysterious, beautiful and strong new prisoner - Jarren who is smitten with Kiva from the start. Kiva is of course like a prickly cactus toward him - "I hate, him, I don't hate him....I don't get close to anyone because everyone dies or will ultimately betray me....being nice with someone means trading favours". But Jarren likes her anyways and wants to get to know her.....even takes on the rebel leader when he hears her calling Kiva the Warden's Whore. Ok - I like Jarren.
Now throw in a captured Rebel Queen, Tilda Correntine.
So here's the deal. Up to this point we learn that the entire kingdom is on the brink of war because the Rebel's are gaining traction....So let me give you the background. Ages ago Sarana Vallentis fell in love with Tarvin Correntine. Only the royals (Vallentis and Correntin) have elemental powers/magic - no one else does. How that happens who knows but there it is. These two fall in love, combine kingdoms. From the POV of Kiva we learn that Tarvin was a healer and his people loved him and he healed everyone but Sarana had the other elemental powers (earth, wind, fire, water). She got jealous (remember this is Kiva's POV) and tried to kill Tarvin so he ran away into hiding. Now ages later his descendent (the Rebel Queen) wants her crown back - or the right to the crown....or whatever. So - two families as mortal enemies. But, it is that simple, is there another side to this coin that Kiva doesn't explore, and why? Is Tarvin innocent, or did his power over the human body and life and death get to his head - you know power unchecked can become evil.....just maybe, a thought.
Okay - now this rebel queen comes to the infirmary where Kiva is tasked to "keep her alive....we are coming" (an encoded message to Kiva from her family - who btw have been sending "we are coming" messages to her for TEN years!!) I know not realistic but, hey....give the girl a reason to live - right? But - get this at no point - ABSOLUTELY NO POINT do we see any recognition between Tilda and Kiva!! Nothing!! I think this is what makes me so mad - the last page she sends a coded message "Mother is dead" - What the actual freaking heck is that? I don't know this sick woman, I'm going to comfort her by telling her the story my dad told me about meeting my mom, I have to keep her alive- well because I am the prison healer and it's according to my ethics. I will serve in her place during the trials because she's sick and if I can save one person it's worth it. Just really has me boiling on the inside!!! No real emotions at the fact her stinking mother is lying almost dead in the infirmary. AND seriously does she need a stupid coded message to keep her alive - I mean stands to reason that she'd want to keep her OWN MOTHER ALIVE!! And then the rebels - threaten her saying if she dies you die. Hello did the rebel cause not think to tell their peeps that the stupid PRISON HEALER was a member of the rebel cause. Oh - but wait.....get this because its absolutely peachy - Kiva has been giving all the info she gains on the rebel movement over the last ten years to the Warden!! YES you just read that right. So the entire SIX HUNDRED PAGES we think oh Kiva just wants to survive - she's not with the rebels.......BUT HEY really she is the rebel leaders daughter - she IS actually Kiva Correntin and she IS after the crown!! STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID
Okay now back to Jarren - who btw saves Kiva in EVERY SINGLE TRIAL. And then in the water trial she learns his true identity (the crown prince of Vallentis) and she's mad. HOLD UP girl - because your a liar! Your even deceiving the reader. I think you may even be a bit of a delusional, sick twisted girl!! All this inner dialogue of never being seen, loved, taken care of - "oh I might be falling for Jarren" then - "You should have told me!!" I hope, I seriously hope - he destroys you when he finds out what a Duplicitous person you actually are!! Because it seems Kiva wants to have all the honesty but doesn't want to give any at all.
So...the end. Jarren SAVES Kiva. It is Jarren who gets her out of the prison and gets Tipp out (the boy Kiva takes care of). Jarren!! You get this Jarren the crown prince takes care of a woman he found "virtue" and "truth" in, someone he admires and even loves, he laid it ALL on the line for her , including subjucating himself, and allowing himself to go into the abyss and suffer beatings and abuse for her!!! I AM SO ANGRY!! He deserves better, he certainly deserves better.
The last thing she sends to her family.
Mother is dead.
You can find me in Vallentis
time to take back the crown.
You Stupid Conniving, evil, lying, awful person!!! Was 600 pages worth reading about how you survived??? How you serve others out of the healers code? I can't even right now.
and then.....he doesn't know who he is willingly taking into the castle.
SMH......So....IDK.....
Kiva Meridan - the prison healer. Holds no elemental powers (oh wait, nvm on the last few pages you learn that she actually has the power of healing like - wait for it - Tarvin Correntin. Kiva is actually Kiva Correnine. And she uses her powers to save someone in the end because she couldn't save her brother because the guards wouldn't let her touch him. So she had to watch her father (very non-magical) press his hand to the wound as her brother bled out and died. Talk about childhood trauma.
Tarvin - Kiva's great-great-great-whatever great grandfather. Healer gone mad.
Faren Meridan - Kiva's father, just a normal man.
Tilda Correntin - the Rebel Queen. Mother of Kiva, wife of Faren. When Faren was captured she ran with her two oldest children while the guards captured her husband and killed Kiva's twin brother. And apparently Kiva did not recognize her despite the fact that she last saw her when she was seven years old. And apparently even when she said her name in one of her lucid waking moments, was still not recognized by Kiva.....hmmmmm...I don't know about that. And at least in the last two pages we understand why Tilda kept moaning "Kiiiiiiiivvvvvaaaaaaa" Are we serious now???
Jaren Vallentis - poses as a prisoner in the hopes of gaining inside information on the rebel movement. Falls in love with Kiva. Actually is the ONLY reason the stupid girl survives the trials. Apologizes for lying about his true identity AND invites her to live with him in the castle and gives her all his protection. Wonder what will happen when he finds out how deceived he's been?
Tipp Peridon - the boy whose mother Kiva could not save but vows to protect. In the last few pages she uses her magic to alive him after he stops breathing from bleeding out with a gut wound but before his heart stops beating. I wonder how he will feel when he figures out how much of a liar and deceiver Kiva is.
Naari - Jarren's golden guard. But hmmm.....can't help but think she will end up wanting Kiva's head. I mean the woman practically begs Kiva to forgive Jarren for lying about his identity, not knowing that Kiva is after his crown and wants his entire family dead. I can't imagine she will take that too lightly.
hmmmmm.....just, yeah, hmmmmm....
Will I read the rest of the series - the other two 600+ page books. Absolutely - because, well, sometimes I am a glutton for punishment.
There are spoilers in this review - I mean there are bound to be spoilers when you spend SIX HUNDRED PAGES reading a story, learning about a character - just to have it ALL undone in the last TWO FREAKING Pages! Seriously - not sure how I feel about this at all.....seems like the 600 (that is my kindle - the book is in print is less, but still it's a lot) first pages really present a lie and then it's like - oh.....here it really is. I mean, Here's the deal....I love a good plot twist but then again, there are hints, there are things that point to it. There IS some point in the story where the reader is like - "oh, maybe??? maybe this, maybe that.....just maybe" But nope - not with this one. It just doesn't even line up. It's like the author was like....hmmmm....how do I tie up 600 pages of this story and make all these subplots come together........Really, honestly, the longer I am from reading the last page of this book the madder I am about the way it is written (an not really in a good frustrated reader sort of way, more in a what the heck just happened, and why - it doesn't make sense sort of way.)
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
First - we are introduced to Kiva Meridan, daughter of Faren Meridan. The kingdom is in unrest - the rebels against the Vallentis Crown. Faren Meridan is arrested for treason (conspiring with rebels) and Kiva is with him - she is 7 years old. So, what do these people do - well logically they throw innocent children into a death prison with their parents to experience the cruelest of conditions, to be abused, malnurished and worked to death. Faren is a healer so he becomes the prison healer, but then he dies and Kiva becomes a prison healer.
All's good - right? We have an FMC that is strong, has survived ten years in a death prison by keeping her head down, aligning herself with the Warden (which wards a certain amount of protection) and not making friends. The rebels, especially their leader, hate Kiva calling her the Warden's whore among other nasty things. She is depicted as a deeply caring person, adhering to the healers code to help everyone. She is lonely, broken, abused, neglected and well....it's just bad. Gotcha - I'm all good with a survivor. I'm all good with someone becoming greater than what is expected. But- REMEMBER the rebel leader HATES Kiva, actually wants her dead!! This will be important when the last page gets read and you're like - well heck that doesn't make sense.
Then a new guard arrives - Naari. And a mysterious, beautiful and strong new prisoner - Jarren who is smitten with Kiva from the start. Kiva is of course like a prickly cactus toward him - "I hate, him, I don't hate him....I don't get close to anyone because everyone dies or will ultimately betray me....being nice with someone means trading favours". But Jarren likes her anyways and wants to get to know her.....even takes on the rebel leader when he hears her calling Kiva the Warden's Whore. Ok - I like Jarren.
Now throw in a captured Rebel Queen, Tilda Correntine.
So here's the deal. Up to this point we learn that the entire kingdom is on the brink of war because the Rebel's are gaining traction....So let me give you the background. Ages ago Sarana Vallentis fell in love with Tarvin Correntine. Only the royals (Vallentis and Correntin) have elemental powers/magic - no one else does. How that happens who knows but there it is. These two fall in love, combine kingdoms. From the POV of Kiva we learn that Tarvin was a healer and his people loved him and he healed everyone but Sarana had the other elemental powers (earth, wind, fire, water). She got jealous (remember this is Kiva's POV) and tried to kill Tarvin so he ran away into hiding. Now ages later his descendent (the Rebel Queen) wants her crown back - or the right to the crown....or whatever. So - two families as mortal enemies. But, it is that simple, is there another side to this coin that Kiva doesn't explore, and why? Is Tarvin innocent, or did his power over the human body and life and death get to his head - you know power unchecked can become evil.....just maybe, a thought.
Okay - now this rebel queen comes to the infirmary where Kiva is tasked to "keep her alive....we are coming" (an encoded message to Kiva from her family - who btw have been sending "we are coming" messages to her for TEN years!!) I know not realistic but, hey....give the girl a reason to live - right? But - get this at no point - ABSOLUTELY NO POINT do we see any recognition between Tilda and Kiva!! Nothing!! I think this is what makes me so mad - the last page she sends a coded message "Mother is dead" - What the actual freaking heck is that? I don't know this sick woman, I'm going to comfort her by telling her the story my dad told me about meeting my mom, I have to keep her alive- well because I am the prison healer and it's according to my ethics. I will serve in her place during the trials because she's sick and if I can save one person it's worth it. Just really has me boiling on the inside!!! No real emotions at the fact her stinking mother is lying almost dead in the infirmary. AND seriously does she need a stupid coded message to keep her alive - I mean stands to reason that she'd want to keep her OWN MOTHER ALIVE!! And then the rebels - threaten her saying if she dies you die. Hello did the rebel cause not think to tell their peeps that the stupid PRISON HEALER was a member of the rebel cause. Oh - but wait.....get this because its absolutely peachy - Kiva has been giving all the info she gains on the rebel movement over the last ten years to the Warden!! YES you just read that right. So the entire SIX HUNDRED PAGES we think oh Kiva just wants to survive - she's not with the rebels.......BUT HEY really she is the rebel leaders daughter - she IS actually Kiva Correntin and she IS after the crown!! STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID
Okay now back to Jarren - who btw saves Kiva in EVERY SINGLE TRIAL. And then in the water trial she learns his true identity (the crown prince of Vallentis) and she's mad. HOLD UP girl - because your a liar! Your even deceiving the reader. I think you may even be a bit of a delusional, sick twisted girl!! All this inner dialogue of never being seen, loved, taken care of - "oh I might be falling for Jarren" then - "You should have told me!!" I hope, I seriously hope - he destroys you when he finds out what a Duplicitous person you actually are!! Because it seems Kiva wants to have all the honesty but doesn't want to give any at all.
So...the end. Jarren SAVES Kiva. It is Jarren who gets her out of the prison and gets Tipp out (the boy Kiva takes care of). Jarren!! You get this Jarren the crown prince takes care of a woman he found "virtue" and "truth" in, someone he admires and even loves, he laid it ALL on the line for her , including subjucating himself, and allowing himself to go into the abyss and suffer beatings and abuse for her!!! I AM SO ANGRY!! He deserves better, he certainly deserves better.
The last thing she sends to her family.
Mother is dead.
You can find me in Vallentis
time to take back the crown.
You Stupid Conniving, evil, lying, awful person!!! Was 600 pages worth reading about how you survived??? How you serve others out of the healers code? I can't even right now.
and then.....he doesn't know who he is willingly taking into the castle.
SMH......So....IDK.....
Kiva Meridan - the prison healer. Holds no elemental powers (oh wait, nvm on the last few pages you learn that she actually has the power of healing like - wait for it - Tarvin Correntin. Kiva is actually Kiva Correnine. And she uses her powers to save someone in the end because she couldn't save her brother because the guards wouldn't let her touch him. So she had to watch her father (very non-magical) press his hand to the wound as her brother bled out and died. Talk about childhood trauma.
Tarvin - Kiva's great-great-great-whatever great grandfather. Healer gone mad.
Faren Meridan - Kiva's father, just a normal man.
Tilda Correntin - the Rebel Queen. Mother of Kiva, wife of Faren. When Faren was captured she ran with her two oldest children while the guards captured her husband and killed Kiva's twin brother. And apparently Kiva did not recognize her despite the fact that she last saw her when she was seven years old. And apparently even when she said her name in one of her lucid waking moments, was still not recognized by Kiva.....hmmmmm...I don't know about that. And at least in the last two pages we understand why Tilda kept moaning "Kiiiiiiiivvvvvaaaaaaa" Are we serious now???
Jaren Vallentis - poses as a prisoner in the hopes of gaining inside information on the rebel movement. Falls in love with Kiva. Actually is the ONLY reason the stupid girl survives the trials. Apologizes for lying about his true identity AND invites her to live with him in the castle and gives her all his protection. Wonder what will happen when he finds out how deceived he's been?
Tipp Peridon - the boy whose mother Kiva could not save but vows to protect. In the last few pages she uses her magic to alive him after he stops breathing from bleeding out with a gut wound but before his heart stops beating. I wonder how he will feel when he figures out how much of a liar and deceiver Kiva is.
Naari - Jarren's golden guard. But hmmm.....can't help but think she will end up wanting Kiva's head. I mean the woman practically begs Kiva to forgive Jarren for lying about his identity, not knowing that Kiva is after his crown and wants his entire family dead. I can't imagine she will take that too lightly.
hmmmmm.....just, yeah, hmmmmm....