I’d requested The Gilded Cage (the second in the series) before realising that it was part of a series…cue a hasty purchase of book one, and now I’m feverishly hoping that I’ll get my request authorised as waiting until October will be tough.
There were elements to The Prison Healer that were reminiscent of other fantasy series moments/characters, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This won’t be to everyone’s tastes, and even though a fair few of my predictions came to be correct this was a book I couldn’t put down once I’d started.
When we first meet Kiva we learn of the day her family are attacked, and she is taken to Zalindov. Ten years later we discover she is still in Zalindov prison, her father has died and she has found herself working as the prison healer. Her life is tough, she is under constant pressure and she dreams of escaping and finding her remaining family.
The story centres on the events after the so-called Rebel Queen Tilda is captured and brought to prison. She is to face a barbaric torture – the four trials – and all Kiva knows is that she has been tasked with keeping this prisoner alive so that rescue can come.
Without giving important details away, Kiva vows to do whatever she needs to in order to protect those she cares about. She takes on the sickly queen’s trials herself…and though nobody has ever survived these four trials Kiva is determined to give it her best shot.
Of course we know these trials are a device to create tension and that Kiva will, ultimately, succeed. She is forced to rely on help from some new friends – which is a tough call for a girl who has had to be so self-reliant. The tension came from the little details that were revealed through the process, and the hints at the bigger picture that was largely ignored throughout the book. There is a rather shocking revelation at the end (though it was nice to have my predictions confirmed in some aspects) and it has made me even more desperate to get my hands on an ARC of book two. I can’t wait to see what is in store next…