Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

258 reviews

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No

3.25

I've been looking forward to reading this book ever since I first heard of it and I finally did read it as a buddy-read. When I started this book I could barely remember what it was about, I just knew I used to really want to read it.

My thoughts on this book are quite complicated. I did not love the majority of the book. Most things that happened felt either like complete coincidences or out of our protagonists control. She was just there for the ride and the few decisions she did make did not make a lot of sense to me. She constantly needed to be saved and I just felt like I didn't have enough information about anything. A huge part of this book is 1. descriptions of the prison and how horrible it is in there and 2. Kiva trying to find a cure for this mysterious illness spreading around the prison.

When she finally finds out what happened to the dying prisoners it is by pure coincidence.

A very important part of this book are the 4 trials Kiva has to survive. I hoped that these would be interesting but instead it just felt like we're waiting for them to finally happen. The trials themselves are basically just Kiva being put into a situation that is impossible to survive, and then getting rescued.

The majority of the time while reading I was almost bored and waiting for something unique and surprising to happen. I did not understand any of the main characters or their relationships and we got barely any information about them. Things seemingly happened at random just to make a good story and to drive the plot forwards. Kiva also always made wrong assumptions about everyone to the point where you can pretty much assume all her assumptions are false.

BUT all of this boredom and indifference change in the last 50(?) pages. We finally get answers and information that make the whole story make sense. Certain actions get explained so they don't seem as random anymore and it's honestly very intruiging and I was hooked. My problem is that those last few pages don't make up for how I felt throughout the rest of the book.

I really liked the relationship between Kiva and Tipp. It was the one that made the most sense to me and I found it really sweet. I also liked Naari even though we got so little information and I always knew that there was something missing which made it frustrating to read. The same also goes for Jaren. For me personally the idea of keeping all relevant information until the end for the big 'aha' effect did not work out at all because it just made me more frustrated. At the end it just felt like I was being lied to throughout the entire book because important information has been kept from me which was the reason I did not understand what was going on or why people are reacting the way they do. So all in all it kind of feels like this book tried to be smarter than it is.

I think 3.5 stars is very justified considering all that. Still, now that I'm intruiged and I FINALLY know what's going on I will be reading the sequel as well. I hope it will keep up the intruige and perhaps I will really like the second book. It definitely has the potential to be good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, 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

ettaviereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

0.5🌶️ 

This book was phenomenal! I was hooked from the first page until the final plot twist on the final page. The story follows Kiva in a deadly prison as the prison healer and the many things that go on behind the walls. 

She makes decisions that lead to her participation in the Trial by Ordeals and it is just about as intense as it can get. Each trial had me questioning what would happen next. 

I also fell in love with the three other main characters: Tripp, Naari and Jaren as the story progressed and things got more and more intense. 

There were a few plot twists that I didn’t see coming at all and Lynette Noni did a phenomenal job at their reveals. While thinking back on the various twists included in the plot, Lynett Noni does drop very subtle hints into what was going to happen but as a first time through, it will likely catch the reader off guard. 

I am glad this is a completed trilogy cuz I’m so ready to find out what’s going to happen next!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Medical content, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Murder, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lebibliothequedevivi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved this book! Such a unique setting paired with an eclectic group of characters made for a very memorable read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug use, Self harm, Violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, Torture, and Medical trauma

Minor: Addiction and Sexual violence

myahthebookfiend's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

oh. my. god. I adored this book with every fiber of my being. the writing style was perfection. the characters were perfection. the plot was perfection. the end was perfection. this book was perfection. it took me longer than most books I read to finish for whatever reason, but that doesn't diminish how great it was. I thought the beginning and part of the middle were kind of slow, but given the whole plot line, it makes sense. that slowness doesn't account for any negatives. I saw people praising this book up and down and left and right, so I thought, "Hey, why not give it a shot?" take it from me: the praises weren't lying. I'm 100% reading the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Grief, and Sexual harassment

btheb's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

1.0

The book disappointed me a lot. The plot twists were predictable and the MC sadly wasn't enjoyable. Good premise bad execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Confinement

Minor: Death of parent

elenahthanks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

karinreadsalot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, and Death of parent

tinybluepixel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

matildag00's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

CRAZY!!!!! My head was turning left and right the ending 30 pages or so! Reveal after reveal! I liked all the characters, the setting was interesting and nothing I have read about before, the politics, the backstory everything just fits! Im ordering the second one like right now, im not kidding I need to keep reading!

Kiva Meridan the woman you are!
*4.5 because it took a bit to get into, i wasnt rushing home to read you know (during the beginning of the book) *

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, and Rape