Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Torture, gore, corpses, duty, love in complex fantasy debut.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Kiva wasn't always THE PRISON HEALER. It was her father who was good at the healing arts, and one day when Kiva was 7, a band of soldiers attacked her family, slaughtering her brother and dragging Kiva and her dad off to a death prison. Ten years later, her father is dead, and she has inherited his job at the prison, helping people but also harming them—as the story opens, she's carving the prison's initial into a young prisoner's hand, without anesthetic. It's part of her job, and part of what she does to survive as she waits, seemingly in vain, for the rest of her family to rescue her. But when two new prisoners—a dying, comatose old woman and a friendly, handsome young man who seems very out of place—land in the infirmary, things get a lot more complicated. And even more dangerous.
Is It Any Good?
Amid brutal violence and growing piles of corpses, a captive teen with a lot of secrets struggles to survive and save who she can in a dark, thrilling fantasy series debut from Australia's Lynette Noni. Expect plenty of gore, intriguing characters, and moral dilemmas as The Prison Healer unfolds, and no one is exactly what they seem. Surprising (though hinted at) reveals and a last-minute plot twist lead to a cliff-hanger ending that sets up the following books.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about stories set in prisons—the struggles to survive, the everyday dangers, the connections formed. What other stories do you know that find people in this situation (with or without magic), and how do they get through it? How does The Prison Healer convey those feelings and perils?
Have you ever been in a situation where you had to protect others from some danger that threatened them? What happened, and what did you do? How did it turn out?
In a situation where there often don't seem to be any good choices, how do you figure out the least bad one?
Kiva shows empathy and compassion to prisoners, even to some who mistreat her. Why do you think this is? Where did she learn this approach? What have you learned about empathy or compassion by watching older people in your life?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship
- Character Strengths : Compassion , Empathy , Perseverance
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Clarion Books
- Publication date : April 13, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 17
- Number of pages : 416
- Available on : Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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