Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

12 reviews

x_rosered's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Self harm

missgarceau's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book hooks you immediately! It’s a really easy and binge worthy read. The plot twists are very fun. The puzzles and quest for answers is very intriguing. 

It’s dark and checking TW’s is recommended- but it’s not shock value graphic or unnecessarily brutal in descriptions. The author paints the picture without overdoing it, and I appreciate that.

I had a few mild annoyances but those were mostly “me” problems that I don’t think would bother most people.
1) The plants/science:
It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine when high fantasy uses real world elements inconsistently along with high fantasy elements unique to the world. The world building was really lacking for me in this regard. 
2) How I met your mother: 
Another pet peeve of mine is pop culture references in high fantasy. This just 🤦🏼‍♀️ All of it was so pointless or could have been done in a way that didn’t make me cringe at the very obvious ode to/copy cat of the show. 
3) miscommunication trope/ betrayal trope/ secret identity trope/ enemies to who knows- just all my least favorite tropes.
4) Space invasion: 
Some very intimate moments for the main love interest happened in a very unlikely moment and very cringe worthy scenario considering the circumstances and it completely undid all the butterflies/ character development I felt up to that point.

My biggest issue is probably world building & character development- but it’s very addicting. Despite my grievances, I find myself itching to read the second book ever though I will probably hate it, based on where the plot is going. 

Is this a romance with an HEA? The answer might determine my willingness to continue- honestly.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

chiruruchi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

bookrecsplease's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.0

This is written definitely in a younger YA style than I typically enjoy. The narrative frequently gets redundant from over-explaining, and basically anytime something is shown, it’s then immediately told as well. Although a lot of the subject matter is definitely mature, the audience is definitely more of a mid-teenage group, and is really successfully written for that target audience. 

Still, I came to really fall in love with the characters and Noni did a really good job of introducing lots of different mysteries/questions as the narrative went on, even if most of the answers were obvious to me as an adult reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Torture, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and War

artsycupcake's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

The twist at the end of this book sold absolutely everything for me.

I already loved the aspect of a prison healer being just and doing whatever it took to survive but to find out this is a villain origin story is the best thing I could have found out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

pasta_sauce's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book has pages where I was laughing at banter, on the edge of my seat with worry, and engrossed in the story all the way through. There were plot twists and things that I didn’t expect, and a few times I expected the main character to die. Fully recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, and Blood

marenm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

those plot twists were actually insane. i never knew what was happening. i’d recommend this book sorely off of how cool the premise was, but it’s such a fun read. 4.5/5!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

n0elle's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

chamaeleontis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This book was great. It had so many amazing, and natural plot twists. I only guessed 1 of them, and part of 2 others. Nothing was set up that wasn't followed through on. The characters are all 3D, and morally realistic, which I personally really enjoyed. That's not even to mention the writing. Lynette Noni's style is spectacular. It flows so naturally, and is very enjoyable.

The one nit-picky thing was a plot point I personally didn't like, which is why it's 4.75, rather than 5.

It bothered me that we never got to know Tilda despite her being right there. I would have had a problem with it regardless of her being Kiva's mom, but that made it more frustrating. In the same vein, I get why it was done, but I feel that there could have at least been one full sentence exchanged

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who loves fantasy but is sick of repetitive plots. There's a few common tropes, but they are well done, with unique takes. I'm really looking forward to the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail