The Prison Healer

Title: The Prison Healer
Author: Lynette Noni
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Year: April 2021
Pages: 403

Series: The Prison Healer #1
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Reading Time: 26 Sep - 3 Oct
Binding: Fairyloot Hardback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★☆

Blurb:

 Here at Zalindov, the only person you can trust is yourself.

 Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan is a survivor. For ten years, she has worked as the healer in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, making herself indispensable. Kept afloat by messages of hope from her family, Kiva has one goal and only one goal: stay alive.

 Then one day the infamous Rebel Queen arrives at the prison on death's door and Kiva receives a new message: Don't let her die. We are coming.

 The queen is sentenced to the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water, and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals. Aware the sickly queen has little chance of making it through the Trials alive, Kiva volunteers to take her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom.

 But no one has ever survived.

 And with an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva's heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can't escape the terrible feelings that her trials have only just begun.

Review:

 As I've said before, I avoid reading blurbs of books I receive in book box subscriptions, it leaves more room for surprise. Typing out the blurb for my blog I realise quite how much is given away. Interesting indeed and makes the main reason this didn't get 5 stars (the pacing) seem even worse. Towards the end I looked back and realised how slowly this book seemed to develop and now I realise if I'd read the blurb I'd probably have been seething waiting for things to develop past the blurb.

 There are more characters to hate than like in this book but then what can you expect from a prison setting filled with murderers, rapists and thugs? Kiva is a driven character, driven by her role as a healer and driven by her ambition to get out of Zalindov. She is unliked by other prisoners and generally appears to be a relatable character until she appears to dive in to a pool of stupidity in volunteering for the Trial by Ordeal. Someone taking their job a little too seriously. . . Tipp is a wonderful young character bringing some energetic youth and a stutter to our otherwise dreary setting. Then come Jaren, Naari and even Mot. A mix of characters that are somewhat crazy, reliable, mysterious, teasing and more than they seem.

 The fantasy element to this book is subtle. It's briefly explained, with further background given part way through the book. We don't see an awful lot of the magic in this book but the foundations are there for expansion. I think the concept is strong and really enjoyed seeing how this all started and also gave a background to the wider setting of the world.

  We don't go outside of the prison, Zalindov, in this book so there is a small amount of world building given the lack of news coming in to the prison. It's appropriate and allows more detail to be given to the setting we're actually in for the majority of the book, time to expand later.

 All in all, it's quite a long book for the amount of content, there are the beginning of a really good series and I'm excited to see how it develops. My enthusiasm and the rating may not have been adequately explained by the above but the twists towards the end gave the whole book the elevation it needed for me.