It's both rare and delightful when I find a novel, YA especially, that surprises me. The Prison Healer was that novel for 2020.
Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer. She has kept herself alive hoping her family will come for her. Her life becomes more complicated when she meets a rather handsome new prisoner and then again when the Rebel Queen (a woman believed to have a claim to the throne) is brought to the prison to undergo the dangerous "Trial by Ordeal." With a prison riot brewing and the high priority prisoner to keep alive, Kiva's life is about to get even more dangerous.

I was in from the first page. Noni's writing grips and won't let go. I love the characters and can see the influence of Sarah J. Maas, which I found very awesome. I was hooked and left wanting by the stellar ending, you HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!!

*I received an eARC from the publisher through NetGalley. This does not affect my review.*

RTC once I've caught my breath after this exciting rollercoaster of feels!!

⤴ See that? It's been a few days, and that still sums up my feelings on this book! 😍 Like Whisper, much of this book relies on secrets and 'going in blind' so I'll keep this short. I loved the writing and characters in this one, and with that ending and how the story progressed....this one isn't even out yet, and I'm already eagerly awaiting the sequel!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, in fact, it is one of my favorite reads of the year!🙈😍
It follows a young Kiva, the seventeen year old Prison Healer at Zalindov, a prison for the worst of criminals. (Or so accused😉) One day, the Rebel Queen shows up at the prison, extremely ill and in order to save her, Kiva takes her place in the Trial by Ordeal, a series of elemental trials. Essentially if you pass all four trials you are innocent and can be freed.

Jaren, the handsome, mysterious prisoner who shows up is keen to help Kiva and honestly he is such a babe! I love him and their dynamic.

So many other amazing characters like the prison guard Naari and the young boy prisoner, Tipp. He has a stutter and is completely adorable and always positive.

The cast were diverse and frankly wonderful. The world building was great and not overly complex.

Its a fast paced read, the trials are exciting and THAT ENDING!?! CLIFFHANGER MUCH!? Anyway I loved it all and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next one!

The Prison Healer is a fast-paced and enthralling YA fantasy, reminiscent of Sarah J Maas' Throne Of Glass series. It has magical trials, a rebel uprising, shocking reveals and a kickass heroine, who you can't help but root for. I will definitely be purchasing copies of this book when it is released and I can see it being a huge hit with my YA fantasy readers.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS.



The book wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't great. There wasn't a lot of world building outside of the prison where the main story took place, and even then there wasn't much of a description other than a really quick tour at the beginning when a new inmate comes. I found the main character somewhat annoying and didn't really understand why she was in prison until near the end of the book. I could have done without the coded messages as they were unnecessary to the story other than to say she sent a coded message; didn't need to show the garbled message. I also was really annoyed by the ending as it just set up the next book in the series, so it felt like there wasn't real closure to the story and that the book should have continued on.

This was a great fantasy. I loved that Kiva was a healer. She was a strong main character that I really found myself rooting for. I also loved every supporting character in this book. The story itself is unique, and I loved the prison setting and the trials.

Basically, this book has everything I love - strong female characters, witty banter, swoony men, and mystery. I think anyone who likes any of those will too!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this early!

Kiva is a healer in a death prison, where no prisoner leaves once they arrive. In such a harsh environment, healing is incredibly difficult. Still, she does what she can using the knowledge her father passed on. Kiva’s world changes when the Rebel Queen is taken captive and she finds a coded message from her family telling her to keep the queen alive at all costs. The gravely ill Rebel Queen is sentenced to endure elemental magic trials, which no one has ever successfully completed. Kiva ends up volunteering in her place and risking it all. If she wins, both of them can finally leave the prison. But first Kiva must find magic she doesn’t have and locate the cause of a mysterious illness sweeping the prison.

Kiva is a smart and scrappy character, which I love! While she guards her heart closely, it’s very satisfying to watch her form relationships with several other key players in the prison. There were several cunning twists that I didn't see coming, but made me shriek with delight! The prison is a dark and evil place, where survival is extremely difficult, so I was consistently curious about how Kiva was going to attempt to win the trials. Full disclosure, I felt a little wary about reading a story where illness is such a central aspect, as we’re all living through a pandemic. However, I did not experience any issues that impacted my enjoyment of the story. There are a number of dark elements and potential triggers (self-harm, abuse) so definitely be aware of that and feel free to ask if you have any questions!

The Prison Healer is well-paced, full of secrets, and I’m SO ready for the next book after that thrilling ending!! It’s clear there is a much larger story to be told and I’m excited to see how the story continues in the sequel. If you enjoy mysterious characters, plot twists, and elemental magic- you need to check this out! The Prison Healer releases April 13, 2021. Thank you so much to Lynette Noni, HMH Books for Young Readers, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on the publication date and I will publish it on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble etc.

Very action packed, very mysterious in certain parts of its writing and it was a very easy read that was engaging the entire time. I almost got the feel of The Tattooist of Auschwitz in certain scenes, but I loved this book and cannot wait for the next installment.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the chance to win this early E-ARC.

This has to be my favourite Lynette Noni book to date.

I've been a huge fan since I picked up her Medoran Chronicles books and devoured every singe page, and this book was no exception.

I love Noni's writing style and the way she make you feel all the emotions of all her characters.

Kiva is a character who you as the reader really end up rooting for and you find yourself just wanting her to succeed.

There are some subjects that were briefly touched upon in this book that I thought could have been addressed more, but as this is the first book in the series hopefully these points will be expanded upon in later books..

Overall this was one of my favourite reads so far and I will definitely be reading this again upon release next year.

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC copy of this book.
Where to begin...
It was a good book, but lacking some of the flavour of previous books Noni has written. It dragged in places and felt a little bit stagnant -but that can be expected, they are, after all, stuck in a prison. This may just be my own preferences breaking through. The Trials all felt secondary to the plot, and they felt like they were rushed in terms of the ideas for the trials and the writing (they were over quickly, and didn't seem to hold much too much weight. Other things were prioitised more, but this may have been the intention).. There was a little too much telling instead of showing. For example, the characters may have been thinking or feeling a certain way that was fairly obvious in the description of their body language and how they verbally or physically responded to other characters/situations, but then Noni would make this even more obvious by stating what the character was feeling, even though we were already shown - again, this may be the writing style/purposeful intention of the author. I have noticed that similarly to Noni's other books the main character has basically the same personality as in her other books, with the secondary and other mains showing similar, if not the exact replica personalities as other character Noni has created, just with different backstories. But this isn't too bad, Noni's characters are enjoyable to read about. If the dragging points can be eliminated, I think the tension of the overall story and the stakes will be raised making it a more enjoyable and impacting read for your audience. Please don't take offense at these criticisms, I am only suggesting possible improvements - feel free to shoot them down if they are untrue or if they don't align with the original intention.
The plot and ending were fairly predictable, but Noni did a great job with the ending leaving us asking for more and in suspense/anticipation for what might happen in the next book.
If anyone out there is a fan of Lynette Noni books I would recommend this to them, just come in with a different perspective.

Three days later and I FINALLY finish this book.

I was just not impressed, and I wasn't interested either. Kiva is the prison healer, threatened by the inmates and guards alike, and just trying to keep her head down and do her job. She's barricaded behind walls of standoffish stoicism that growing up in the trauma of prison has built. Until... one day... a new prisoner (handsome, kind, optimistic, persistent) arrives.

It's more complicated than that. There is, in theory, political drama, a mysterious plague, and also some magical trials. In reality, though, most of this book seems to happen in the dead space between all of these things. Kiva worries. She thinks about carefully curated scenes from her past. She does her job. She is unfriendly to the Kind New Guy. The little boy who works as her assistant is thrown in frequently for an added wrenching or heartwarming effect.

I just... didn't feel a single emotion about any of it. My strongest feeling is that I'm glad it's over so I can move on to something more fun, and also IRRITATION at the ending. It struck me as incredibly cheesy, and was just the cherry on top of an overall unenjoyable experience.

I knew I was going to enjoy this story when I heard it was about elemental magic, kingdoms with feuding royalty and a prisoner's survival instinct.

I liked the protagonist, Kiva, from the start. Her words and actions were those of a realist whose trauma has hardened her edges – much as you'd expect from a wrongly-sentenced inmate living a death prison – but her kindness towards others and defiant hope of escape had me rooting for her all the way. I liked that her loyalties and past experiences shaped every decision she made.

The elemental trials Kiva is forced to complete in order to win her freedom had me racing through the chapters. The well-built characters, from friendly guard Naari to creepy but helpful morgue-worker Mot, kept the spaces between trials interesting too. I have mixed feelings about Jaren, the love interest, and all his secrets. I felt he forced his help on Kiva at times, when she was often capable of handling things herself, but at other key moments he was there to say and do the exact things she needed.

And as for the plot twist at the end...well, I for one did not see that coming. I would definitely read a sequel, so hopefully there will be one soon!

Full review on Goodreads.com
2.5/3 stars
This one has things I skimmed and things I loved. It’s really hard to write a review for it. I’m hoping they make some changes to improve it before it gets published bc it has the potential to be a good book. Right now, it falls a little short.

Prison Healer is a good basic fantasy. The relationships within the prison are well developed. The ending was a bit of a surprise and I really look forward to the sequel.

This book was fantastic! The ending blew me away. I finished the book and immediately went "Oh! When is the next book coming out?" and then realizing this book hasn't even come out yet!

I highly recommended this book and I can't wait for the next one to come out.

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
I enjoyed this dark YA fantasy by Lynette Noni. The main character, Kiva, is a seventeen year old healer who has lived in Zalindov prison for ten years. When the Rebel Queen arrives, she is near death and Kiva works to heal her and save her by undertaking the Rebel Queen's sentence in the Trial by Ordeal. A couple surprises await the reader and I'm going to be waiting for the next installment.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

3.75 stars.

Ms. Noni knows how to capture an audience and knows how to keep everyone on their toes. I do wish more emphasis was put on the trials as a whole instead of prison life, but overall the effect was still strong.

Most of the revealing plot points were pretty predictable but the characterization and the overall dialogue was enough to mask the flatness. I do think this book is mostly as a transition to more prominent things in the second book (if you know you know), but nonetheless, The Prison Healer is a superb hook for the rest of the serious and I can not wait to see what else Ms. Noni has for us.

*Spoilers ahead*
What's in this book?
Romance (developing)
elements competition
Enemies
unreliable narrator
A plot twist

Well hello, gorgeous. When I picked up this ARC I had no doubts I would fall in love with it. I mean come on... Lynette Noni is the author! She blew my mind with her fantastic imagination in the Medoran Chronicles, so why would it be any different in The Prison Healer?!

Kiva is such an inspiring heroine. Kind, brave, loving. She isn't selfish and really cares for her fellow prisoners, whether they deserve it or not. She's everything a healer should be.
When the rebel queen is sentenced to the elemental trials, Kiva volunteers as her champion because the queen is too sick and can't compete herself. Kiva finds it to be her duty, as the queen's healer, to fight for her freedom. See? Brave.

I only wish we got more of an outlook on the kingdoms and the world outside of the prison. We barely get a peak into it in the first book, but based on the way the it ended (Mind. Blown.), a lot of things will come to light in book two.

I applaud you, author. This was a great start to a new series! And thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Highly intense read with surprise twist ending that will have you scanning back into the meat of the book to figure out the clues you missed. Beautifully written and engrossing. Cannot wait for this book to be published plus read the next book in the series! Insane read!