The Prison Healer: book review

 

Title: The Prison Healer

Pages: 416

Published date: Aprile 13th 2021

Publisher: Clarion Books

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

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.

When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo 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.

Then a coded message from Kiva’s family arrives, containing a single order: “Don’t let her die. We are coming.” Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom.

But no one has ever survived.

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.

I am finally back with a new review (it took me a month to write it, but better late than neve lol).

The Prison Healer was a great surprise. I needed something easily enjoyable and I found the perfect book. It has some problems, it isn't perfect, but if you're a fan of Sarah J. Maas's books, then you should totally read it.

It talks about Zalindov, a prison where horrors happen daily and no one cares about those who are sent in there. Kiva Meridan is the prison healer, she's been forced to dwell there since she was only seven years old, following her father and leaving the world behind. Since then, Kiva has forgotten what awaits outside Zalindov, but her hope remains solid. She wants to escape the hell she's living, and yet it isn't so easy. No one has ever escaped Zalindov, and even though her family wants to save her, no help seems to come.

When a new inmate arrives and a new disease starts spreading, the Rebel Queen, the head of the rebels and the one who declares the throne as her own, is captured and taken to prison. But she's badly hurt and even though she must face the Trials by Ordeals, there's no hope for her. So Kiva takes her place to protect not only her but also those who are dear to her.

The book starts quite slowly, and yet it instantly captured my attention. Kiva is such a strong character, she has been through a lot during her life, it has been an existence full of injustice and dread, and yet she dared to hope to find her own way. Kiva grows page after page and it's impossible not to empathize with her, but the character that really took my heart was Tipp. A young boy who has lost his mother and that helps our healer. He's in the prison just like Kiva: because none of them wanted to leave their parents.

Kiva protects him at all costs, yet we see her trying to keep a certain distance between them, trying not to grow fond of the child. Sometimes she's very detached from him, but anyone in the prison knows their bond.

Kiva takes the Rebel Queen's place, facing the four Ordeal. But no one has ever come alive from the trials and it's there, when she becomes our Katniss, that we finally jump straight into the action.

We start knowing the secondary characters: Tipp, Nahri, and the charming Jaren. I have to say that the author hadn't built the twists as well as I hoped. I understood everything during the first pages when certain characters were introduced, yet the end caught me off guard, making me want to read the sequel and understand more about Kiva and her motives.

I loved the tension between Kiva and Jaren, their relationship was well written, and yet something was missing. I didn't feel attached to Jaren, he didn't have a real voice during this book. We see him through Kiva's eyes, and if not for his striking beauty, there was nothing that made me empathize with him. Even when we find out his story, I wasn't surprised at all, on the other hand, I found what brought him into Zalindov quite senseless, if I may say so.

Something that really bothered me was how certain important elements weren't deepened during the plot, and it seemed that these things that are sensitive topics were introduced only to make the reader sympathize with Kiva, or so it seemed. There were no repercussions about what happened to Kiva, and in my opinion, it wasn't a fair representation.

The author wrote very well the horrors that happened in Zalindov, and for that reason, if you're interested in reading The Prison Healer, please read all the trigger warnings that are present in the book.

I can't add more information since it's the first book in a trilogy and I don't want to spoil anything important, but if you're reading it, please read until the last page even though the plot twists were extremely predictable because those two last pages are what pushed me to buy the second book.