Review: The Prison Healer

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I'm still reeling from the final plot twist!!!

"Attachments were dangerous at Zalindov. Caring only led to pain."

Zalindov prison houses criminals and innocents alike, from every Kingdom of Wenderall. The only thing all the prisoners have in common is this: they are all struggling to survive the awful conditions. Kiva Meridan, the prison healer, has survived ten years avoiding the worst of it by spending most of her time in the infirmary, hoping that one day her family will rescue her. But with these two new arrivals, her life is more at risk than ever before.

The Prison Healer is a tale of survival, magic, political uprising, and a medical mystery. I enjoyed the mystery the most, because it kept me guessing about who could be behind it all. Kiva's friends were cute, Tipp especially. I thought that Jaren was really sweet too. Kiva's ordeals were nail-biting experiences to read! I guessed some plot twists, but others completely blew my mind!

One thing that bothered my was that the main character seemed full of contradictions. She swears that she doesn't have any friends because it is too painful, and yet she clearly has several friends. She claims to heal everyone no matter how evil they are, and yet there is one she intentionally injures, and she tells a new prisoner that he now goes by his ID number and yet for the rest of the book everyone goes by a name instead of their number. These things left me shaking my head wondering if they were overlooked by the author or if it is one of Kiva's character flaws.

This was my first time doing a buddy read and I really enjoyed it! It made the experience of reading so much more fun when you have a friend in the same spot as you in a book. I highly recommend doing a buddy read some time if you haven't done it before! I enjoyed the book overall, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I'd recommend looking up the content warnings before starting this one!