Review: The Prison Healer (The Prison Healer #1)

The Prison Healer (The Prison Healer #1)
By Lynette Noni

Published By: Hodder and Stoughton
Publication Date: April 1, 2021
Date Read: May 23, 2021
Genre: YA – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Hardback
Pages: 416

From Goodreads:
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 one goal only: 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 feeling that her trials have only just begun.

From bestselling Australian author Lynette Noni comes a masterful and action-packed YA fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir.

“You’re right, you don’t need me fighting your battles. But… if you’ll let me, I’d like to be standing beside you as you fight them.”

The Prison Healer is a book that I hadn’t heard of before receiving it as the featured book in my Fairyloot April 2021 box. I am so, so glad that this was a featured book because I absolutely loved every moment of it. I’d have been so sad to have missed out on this absolutely phenomenal book! I am already a huge fan of YA Fantasy books and I’ve been a little bit sad to see that there’s been some sort of shift recently to more NA and Adult fantasy books. This sees the return of phenomenal YA Fantasy! This has absolutely everything I love about YA and Fantasy all tied up in an intriguing and heart melting package.

The Prison Healer follows Kiva, she was sent to Zalindov along with her father when she was just a little girl. After her father’s death, Kiva took over as the prison healer and she is tasked with helping all of the other prisoners. When the Rebel Queen finds herself in Zalindov and seriously ill, Kiva volunteers for her Trial by Ordeal. Four impossible tasks. If she survives, they both go free… if she dies… so do both of them. While having to deal with this, Kiva finds herself trying to discover what this mysterious stomach sickness is that is sweeping through the prison. Can she survive long enough to figure it out and help save everyone?

The Prison Healer was amazing. It is everything I adore about fantasy. Phenomenal characters? Check! Intrigue and mystery? Check! Slow burn romance? Check! Twists and turns around every corner? Check! Check! Check! I seriously cannot rave about this book more. It was just superb. I’ve never heard of Lynette Noni before reading this book, but now I am officially a fan. I will definitely be looking at her other work in the future because this book was just phenomenal. She is such a fantastic storyteller. Right from the start I was completely sucked into this amazing world and in love with the characters. I’m already dying to get my hands on book two.

Kiva is such a fantastic character. I loved her. She has grown up inside this prison and has learned the only person she can trust is herself. She is determined not to form any attachments because at Zalindov the prisoners die too often. Enter Jaren, the gorgeous, new prisoner who is determined to get to know Kiva and to protect her in any way that he can. I loved Kiva, she is such a strong kickass heroine and I loved seeing her actually learn to become more vulnerable as the book went on. It showed her growing in terms of being able to finally trust people. It’s the opposite to what I find in other books and I loved that! I absolutely loved Jaren. He is the sweetest guy ever and the more I read it, the more I loved him. I can’t wait to see what happens and where this goes in book 2. I am shipping them so hard and will be heartbroken if Kiva and Jaren don’t get a happy ever after.

The Prison Healer was absolutely fantastic! I loved every moment of it. I was so emotionally invested in this book, I was laughing one moment and then terrified about what was going to happen the next. This book did make me cry and I always say it’s a good one if it evokes that emotional response in me. I am so obsessed and in love with this book. I cannot wait to find out what happens next. I guessed some of the major twists towards the end but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment whatsoever. I was just super excited to find out I was right.

If you’re a big YA Fantasy fan then I cannot recommend The Prison Healer enough. It’s fast paced and action packed. It’s got intrigue, mystery and a dash of heart melting romance. I cannot wait to read what happens to these amazing characters next. Roll on October!

“I don’t expect anything from you, Kiva. I just want you to live. I want you to be free. And for that, you need to survive.”