The Prison Healer Trilogy by Lynette Noni

❝ 𝙎𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚, 𝙄’𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢. ❞

- The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

Genre: YA Fantasy

Overall rating: 5/5

# books in series: 3

Tropes: found family, strangers to lovers

Song: I couldn't choose just one; here's a TPH playlist I made on Spotify!

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer.

When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water, and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals.

Then a coded message from Kiva’s family arrives, containing a single order: “Don’t let her die. We are coming.” Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom.

But no one has ever survived.

With an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva’s heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can’t escape the terrible feeling that her trials have only just begun.

My Review:

I don’t even know where to start with how much I loved this series.

Lynette Noni truly is a master storyteller. With phenomenal writing, excellent pacing, thrilling plot twists, and a found family that deserves the world, the TPH trilogy landed a spot on my top 5 favorite fantasy books of all time.

𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. Words cannot express how much i loved them ALL. They’re dynamic, endearing, have the best arcs, and overall just so well written. But the part that stands out from other books is that the secondary characters are given space to be completely developed, in a natural way that doesn’t take away from the MCs, or get boring because the reader isn’t interested. Finding a supporting cast like Tipp, Caldon, Cresta, Torrell, and more definitely proves a challenge.

𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀. This book is Six of Crows-level found family. Watching the characters grow and change in their dynamics with each other over the course of three books was such a delight, and probably the best part of the series. Both Kivajaren and all the secondary romantic storylines were, for lack of a better word, adorable. Kivajaren is an excellent example of the love-cynic-stone-walls-around-my-heart gf x hopeless romantic bf trope being used in a healthy way. The miscommunication trope in The Blood Traitor (#3) would be my only tiny complaint, but honestly it had been such smooth sailing until then a little angst definitely was called for. Every love story needs conflict to have an impactful ending. But if i’m being honest, the platonic relationships take the cake here. They’re top tier and brought many tears to my eyes. Caldon and Kiva are reminiscent of Juliette and Kenji from Shatter Me, so if you love them, you will love Caldon and Kiva's dynamic.

𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀 and messages of hope and healing are like the wrapping paper holding all the other good stuff together in this absolute gift of a book series. Noni doesn’t shy away from things that are hard to talk about, but handles them in a sensitive and impactful way. Also, The Gilded Cage (#2) doesn’t suffer from second-book syndrome at all - I’d go as far as to say it was my favorite of the three.

The amount of heart woven into this story is truly incredible. The book series that have you crying at the end, even if it’s happy, just because you don’t want it to be over have a special kind of magic.

Click here for my fancast of this series!

Add The Prison Healer to your Goodreads TBR here (also The Gilded Cage and The Blood Traitor)!