Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

165 reviews

jjamieww's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

It was a pretty basic book to be honest. She was portrayed as having little to no flaws. The love interest was perfect and did everything for her. I am underwhelmed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment

jules09's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

Ok, overall my feeling is: concept 10/10, execution 6/10. It started a little slow and I really thought this would be a 2-star read but the twists in the last third or so of the book bumped it up for me. The concept is what kept me going. I think the writing is pretty so-so, not terrible but there are many instances when things are over-explained, and some of the motivations/dynamics of the characters stretch belief. Dark subject matter was addressed in a very YA way. Kiva is an interesting main, though - the way she views the world through the lens of compassion and generally has an iron control of herself is something I found pretty unique compared to other YA heroines. She has many layers.

I definitely predicted a couple of the reveals, but I also was pretty surprised by some which made for a fun and engaging read once it got going. Interested to read the next one. I’m glad I read this on audio (though the reader was not my favorite) because if I was physically reading, I probably would have given up on it before getting far enough in to be hooked (the 2/3 mark), but for audio it was perfect to have it on in the background of chores, etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

The warnings sound like a lot, and some parts are definitely heavy (they’re in a death prison where abuse of power and dehumanization run rampant), but it’s still ultimately a YA read. I think it’s very comparable to Throne of Glass.

joisaddler's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Death of parent

niamh248's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence

taliaalongi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

bookishbabe431's review

Wasnt invested at all in the characters or the stakes, the world was not interesting nor did the laws or character motivation make sense. Kiva seems like a companion character rather than a protagonist. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault

vcthompson's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

The first twist I *mostly* saw coming but that final twist? I was shook. I don’t believe I’ve ever read a third person limited book where  protagonist purposely hides information and leads the reader to believe a completely different narrative until the final reveal, so that was fun for me. I’ll be going into the second book picking apart the narrative to see if the protagonist is being fully truthful to us the readers, or if she’s leading me into another direction again until her next reveal.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

coffeestarsbooks's review

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

oliviaparc's review

1.5

all she does all book is repeat things that other people have said to her. there has to be some middle ground between ya female characters who fight everything and don't know when to shut up and ya female character who don't do or say a single thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Torture

kylosten's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm sure some people loved this book but I was not one of them. I only thought it was okay. I saw some people compare it to Throne of Glass (I read and hated ToG's first book and never continued the series) and can see some of the similarities. I liked this more than ToG, though.
 Things I liked:
 *Disability representation. There is an amputee and a character with a stutter. I don't have those disabilities to know for sure but to me it seemed like they were represented well and respectfully.
 *Naari- Naari was by far my favorite character and the one I wanted to hear more about. I didn't really care about or connect with any of the other characters.
 *The relationship between Kiva and Tipp. I liked Kiva's being an adoptive big sister to Tipp and their interactions together. 

Things I didn't like:
 *The repetition. I'm not sure if the repetition was supposed to be Kiva having obsessive thoughts or what but it got old fast and it added to the book feeling drawn out and longer than it needed to be.
 *Predictable plot - Sometimes I can handle very cut and dry predictable plots but because of the repetition, underdeveloped characters, and pacing being slower than it felt like it should be, and use of tropes in the same way they've been used countless times before I often struggled to pay attention.
 *The trials were a bit underwhelming. None of them were meant to rely on skill. Just meant to be impossible to make it through, which was the point, but it made them boring. High stakes (make it through or die) but no payoff. 

I may give the second book a shot since it will be after Kiva's time in the prison and because sometimes the first in a series can be rough findung its footing but I'm not in any hurry to do so. I actually thought this was a debut novel, not the first in a series from a best-selling author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault