Book Review: The Prison Healer
Lynette Noni's The Prison Healer is a swift departure from her previous work, and yet for fans of YA Fantasy, and Angst and Found Family tropes, it truly feels like coming home. The book’s premise is simple: Kiva is a healer in the death prison of Zandalov, and has been since her early childhood, now skimming the edge of seventeen. When one of her patients is forced to participate in The Trials of Earth, Wind and Water to earn their freedom, Kiva steps in and comes to face to face with her greatest fears.
Whilst the book covers serious topics—touching on themes such as sexual assault, harassment and childhood trauma—Noni never makes the reader feel as though it was her intent to educate or lecture. She's simply drawn you into Kiva's life, and in doing so, you have to embrace each and every aspect of her character: one which Noni crafts to be beautifully flawed. To allow for Kiva's thick skin to be peeled back (in the least gross way possible), a cast of characters that begin to form Kiva's found family are introduced with a grace rarely seen in the YA genre.
Each character allows a new side of Kiva to shine through, and a new element of the story to come to light. Whether it be Tipp's refusal to accept any bedtime story aside from the origin of Kiva's family, Jaren's commitment to making Kiva smile no matter the cost, or Naari's ongoing suspicion of her intent towards her patients.
This book is the perfect introduction into the YA space for new readers, and a breath of fresh air for the veterans who are growing tired of the genre's well-worn tropes. Noni successfully breathes life into her more mature work, allowing for optimism, hope and love to carry the book through its darkest times and most difficult challenges. Whilst I would advise readers to be mindful of the trigger warnings mentioned above, this novel is truly worth the read. Building an incredible world of magic and fun, a prison of despair and entrapment, and a timeframe that forces you to turn the page, Noni's The Prison Healer is worth a read. And a re-read.
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
SCWC 2023 Young Book Reviewer: Violet Fitzsimons
As a fifteen-year-old highschool student, I have travelled extensively from the couch to the fridge. I live in Bowral NSW with my parents and loving/hating sister, as well as our dog Henry who is by far the favourite child. Due to my lack of a social life, I have won numerous writing awards. In 2022 I received the Silver Award in the Queen’s Commonwealth Writing Contest, won the Cambridge International Relations Essay Writing Scholarship, was shortlisted for The Whitlam Institute What Matters Writing Prize and got an A on my To Kill a Mockingbird essay in English.