Title: The Prison Healer
Author: Lynette Noni
Page Count: 416
Series: The Prison Healer, Book 1
Publishing Date/Publisher: April 13, 2021 by HMH Books for Young Readers
Format: eBook
Review: This book is being marketed to fans of Sabaa Tahir and Sarah J. Maas, so it was an obvious pick for me. And I have to say, for the first book in a series, this was a real slam dunk for me. Right from the beginning it had an engaging storyline and characters. The setting seems to be rather heavily inspired by Russian gulags, which combined with magic, creates a rather appealing combination of history and fantasy.
The only time I found this story lacking was when it came to the trials. I was hoping for something a little more realistic. It is clear that these trials are not survivable without magic, and I would have liked if she could have survived at least one using her wits alone.
The ending though made up for any minor disappointments. I thought I knew how it would end, and though I wasn’t entirely wrong, it played out very differently than I expected. It’s rare to completely catch me off guard with a plot twist, and I have to admit I was a little surprised that the author so masterfully pulled a sneaky on me with her unreliable narrator gambit. With that cliffhanger of an ending, I am really looking forward to a sequel.
Reader: Bekah
Rating:
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