Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

12 reviews

sophs_mood_reading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Kiva the resident healer has survived 10 years at the kingdoms death prison waiting to be saved by her family on the outside or die, whichever comes first. She’s hated by the other prisoners for being the warden’s tool and informant and treated like scum by the guards (so life’s not great). 

When the rebel queen arrives in a state close to death the warden and the prison rebels both demand one thing of her: Keep her alive. 🤦‍♀️
 
So now she must do the impossible, all why trying to figure out what strange deadly stomach sickness is spreading throughout the prison as well as not be too distracted by the new handsome and charming inmate. 

A little slow in parts and I did predict a major plot point fairly early on, I still really enjoyed this start to the trilogy. 

Read if you like:
Found family
Hidden identities 
Slow burn romance 
Elemental magic
High stakes challenges 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Child death, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Grief, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death, and Confinement

dwinn5's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

PLOT TWIST!!
No (unmarked) spoilers, but I almost can’t believe I didn’t see some of the stuff in this book coming. The beginning hooked me so well that I could barely put it down; the characters and world are easy to get invested in quickly. The middle got a little slow for my taste for a while there, but it picked back up toward the end and then shocked me so much that I put the book down and stared at the ceiling for a little while. The plot twists and some of the world-building stuff made me feel a way that I haven’t since the 2010s dystopia days, which I loved. 

Spoiler

I do agree with some people about the ending- the plot twist was so insane because it felt very out of character and not entirely true to the rest of the story. It was a masterful build up in some ways, and you could see certain pieces fall into place, but I think even some tiny, internal hints that she had a more personal connection to Tilda/the rebels would have helped. It still would have been a complete shock, but without seeming quite as out of left field.

Overall, such a fun read!! Had to rush out to buy the next two, cannot wait to find out where this is going. I just know it’s going to hurt 😁

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Misogyny, Medical trauma, Medical content, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Blood, and Violence

laurenevlyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I loved this book! Read in one night. Only downside was that the (absurd amount of) plot twists felt a bit rushed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Medical trauma, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Murder, Sexual assault, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Animal death

stephaniemcuervo's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual assault, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Torture, and War

izzy_mckeough's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-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

3.5

Written by Lynette Noni, one of my favourite fantasy authors, I had very high expectations for this book. I have to say, I was slightly disappointed by the lack of compelling plot and very slow pace. However, the book did have good characters who were believable and 3-dimensional (my favourite being Naari). The last few pages also revealed some huge plot twists which confused me at the time, but thinking back on it there was some (very subtle) foreshadowing. Overall, in my opinion one of Noni's weakest books but I'll persevere through to the second novel and hope it can add some more interesting plot to a fairly well-developed setting with good characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Medical content

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Blood

sarahsbookss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Vomit

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.

Spoiler

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

julienicole1106's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Child death

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

jessannderson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

I did start getting frustrated with Kiva’s repetitive thoughts but it all makes sense now…damn that ending was so good! amazing plot twist, literally making me doubt everything I just read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

dariusmortee's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.25

First things first: I love Naari, Tipp and Mot to death and will protect them however I can. 
This is why I said I did find the characters to be loveable. 

Kiva herself wasn’t the worst main character but I think she could’ve been better. Jaren annoyed me. 

I did enjoy reading this book! Although it really does fall into some tropes it is an orginal story. A story with a very dark undertone, for which I am a sucker. I am curious to how this story proceeds and will be buying the second one, but I am however also scared for the clichés it could possibly walk into. 

Overall: good story, loved the side characters but it has to watch out not to fall into the clichés. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Torture, and Child death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt