“Their story didn’t end as it should have. But I know for a fact that they’d live it all over again, even the ending, as long as they could keep their beginning.”
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The Prison Healer is well in contention for my favorite read of the year so far. In the harsh environment of the world’s fiercest prison lives the small healing light of Kiva. When she was a young girl who was brought to the prison when her father was captured. Zalindov is a place where no one lives long, the conditions are brutal and she does what she can to care for the prison’s inhabitants as the healer. Her heart is pure and she works tirelessly to treat everyone within it’s walls despite her feelings for them or how they treat her.
Her life is thrown into turmoil with the arrival of two new prisoners to the prison, one is the rebel queen who arrives ill but must face a series of challenges as punishment for her rebellion and another is a mysterious prisoner who she finds herself drawn to despite her vow to keep to herself. As she struggles to keep the queen alive, she must also unravel the mystery of a mysterious plague killing fellow prisoners.
This novel takes place in a brutal prison and there are many scenes of horror that unravel around Kiva, but her sense of purpose and drive to be the savior of those around her is really beautiful. Her relationship with Jaren has a great arc where we see her learning to love and trust again with some unimaginable consequences. I loved the healing aspects of the novel, the herbs and treatments Kiva employs and the scientific method she uses to try to find the origin of what is causing the illness. The world building was unique and the reveal on the last page shows just what a master the author was at hiding the greatest secret at all through the novel. I can’t wait to read the next book now!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this novel. All opinions above are my own. This one publishes on Tuesday so get your pre-orders in!
Do you think you could survive in prison?
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