Written by Lynette Noni, “The Prison Healer” has captured the attention of many fantasy lovers with its intriguing plot and lovable characters.
This book features teenager Kiva Meridan, who is sentenced to Zalindov Prison with her father when she is just seven years old. Initially, she has hope that her brother and sister will help her, as they consistently send notes claiming to have a plan for her escape. However, after a decade, her father has long passed and Kiva continues carving “Z’s” into people’s hands, branding them as prisoners at Zalindov for life.
Working as a healer in the prison infirmary, Kiva faces death every day as the inmate’s battle addiction, abuse and difficult working conditions depending on their job assignments. She reacts little with the other prisoners in fear of losing someone just as she lost her father, nonetheless, she portrays a bond with an 11-year-old boy, Tipp, and an unusual guard named Naari. When a mysterious newcomer shows up in the prison infirmary unconscious, Kiva assumes that if he doesn’t perish from his travels to Zalindov, he surely will as a result of his arduous work in the prison tunnels.
However, Kiva soon learns that the prisoner, Jaren, is tougher than she expected, and soon forms an unwanted connection with him as well, as he continues showing up at the infirmary.
In the book, an ongoing feud between two bloodlines creates the conflict: Who should rule the kingdom of Evalon? The Vallentis line contains powerful magic of the elements: earth, fire, water and air, while the Corentine line contains healing magic that is admired and adored by the rebel groups who pose a threat to the Vallentis family that is currently on the throne.
The rebel groups are said to have a queen, Tilda Corentine, who will demand retribution and make the Corentine family the rightful rulers Evalon.
Kiva knows little about the rebel movements, but when Tilda Corentine appears at Zalindov in a mysterious coma that has her on the brink of death, Kiva is tasked by her brother and sister with keeping the rebel queen alive in time for her trial, the Trial of Ordeal. This trial contains four unreasonable tasks, each having to do with an element. Determined to keep Tilda alive in hopes her siblings will rescue both her and the rebel queen, Kiva takes Tilda’s place in the Trial of Ordeal and can only pray to the gods that she will survive, while also investigating the source of a deadly plague that has spread throughout the prison.
With jaw-dropping plot twists, betrayal, a slow burn romance and heart-pounding action, this book is impossible to put down. Read “The Prison Healer” trilogy to follow Kiva on her journey through love, loss and determination.
