Thank you to The Children’s Book Council for the opportunity to review this book. This review was originally published on Readingtime.com.au

Note: This review contains spoilers from books 1 & 2)

Love. She needs to focus on love.

The Blood Traitor picks up where The Gilded Cage left off. We find our heroine, Kiva Corentine, back in the prison, Zalindov. She discovers an unexpected ally in the ex-quarrier, Cresta, who helps her through her withdrawal from addiction to angeldust. It seems like the end of the road for Kiva and Cresta as they are sent down to work in the tunnels, where life expectancy is six months at the most.

But of course, it would be a short book if they died in Zalindov wouldn’t it? Before we know it, they have escaped and join forces with all the other characters we have grown to love, as they are on a quest to recover four rings that will give them the power to overthrow Kiva’s wicked sister, Zuleeka.

The beating heart of this series has been Kiva and her strength and resourcefulness. Unfortunately, it falters in this book. Her constant self-pitying inner dialogue starts to grate, as does the way her beloved Jaren treats her – in fact I’d call his behaviour gaslighting. The story shifts from that of an independent female character who is led by her strong moral compass, to the story of a young woman who feels very sorry for herself (although says she wants nobody’s pity) and who’s primary concern is losing the love of a man. Having said that, I’m sure that the intended audience will find the romantic tension swoon-worthy.

Kiva has kept many secrets from Jaren, as she fears he will pity her when he discovers the hardships she has endured. However, she reveals all while under the influence of angeldust. I found this scene particularly disturbing – is this the only way Kiva could speak her truth to her beloved? By being drunk/drugged? Is this a message we want our impressionable girls to absorb?

The quest involves the usual obstacles that readers expect in a fantasy novel. There are unexpected alliances and betrayals and many battles fought before the conclusion is reached. At 439 pages, I felt the book could have benefited from some judicious editing.

I feel Noni missed an opportunity to make Kiva a female character who is not lead by her heart (and hormones); a young woman whose mind is not totally absorbed by her love-life; who doesn’t need a man to feel complete. There are moments where we see the return of the feisty Kiva we fell in love with. As she says to herself: She’d escaped Zalindov prison, not once, but twice. She’d overcome an angeldust addiction, pulled herself out of the deepest darkness, and found the will to continue living. She’s battled in a Jiirvan arena and killed a woman, the horror of the experience having scarred her – but it hadn’t broken her.

Although I have my own reservations (and let’s face it, I’m not the intended audience), I’m sure that teenage girls will love this last instalment of Noni’s incredibly popular trilogy.

Mature themes, including addiction and torture make this suitable for readers aged 14+ years.

Many thanks to The Australian Children’s Book Council for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, which I will share once it is published at readingtime.com.au.

Thank you to the Children’s’ Book Council for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Trigger warnings: Kiva has scars on her thighs, which we learn are the result of self-inflicted cutting. [p. 246] It is sensitively handled, and her explanation of why she did it and how she stopped, is both moving and positive.

There are also numerous references to female characters being attacked and molested by male guards – no details are given; it is left to the readers’ imagination. Older readers will understand that it is referring to rape, younger readers will be left with a sense of menace and unease. It’s subtle, but worth mentioning.
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Kiva Meridan has survived ten years in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer, a position she inherited after her beloved father’s death. She has found that to survive, she must remain aloof from the rest of the inmates, forming no attachments – what is the point when most prisoners are worked to death in a matter of months? If you can imagine the Soviet Gulag labour camps, transposed to a fantasy world, you have an accurate picture. The guards are brutal, the work is brutal, the landscape is brutal.

Kiva has allowed one prisoner to melt her resolve, the young boy Tipp, who reminds her so much of her little brother who had been murdered. When a new prisoner, Jaren, is brought to her for treatment, she discovers that having a friend and ally can be both a comfort and a danger. And then there is the new guard, Naari, who saves Kiva more than once, shifting the dynamic between them. Perhaps Kiva is not as alone as she once thought!

Kiva is yearning for the day when her surviving family will rescue her. After the arrival of a critically ill woman, who is revealed to be Tilda Corentine, the Rebel Queen, Kiva receives a coded message from them: Don’t let her die. We are coming. How can Kiva possibly keep Tilda alive long enough for her family to rescue them? She knows that Tilda would not survive the Trial by Ordeal, a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water, and earth that she has been assigned. In the tradition set by Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, Kiva volunteers to claim Tilda’s sentence as her own.

There is a flood of young adult fantasy books competing for readers’ attention. I predict that The Prison Healer is going to be a best seller, and deservedly so. It has all the right elements. The story is totally engrossing. Noni has created a strong female lead in Kiva Meridan, with whom readers will find easy to identify. She’s feisty, but also vulnerable. Zalindov is a terrifying place, and Noni has made it feel very real. Top marks for the maps by Francesca Baerald, which are well worth the time to pour over before you start to read the book. The story ends with an amazing twist, and an obvious ‘to be continued’. I cannot wait for the second instalment, The Gilded Cage of this proposed trilogy.

Highly recommended for readers aged 15+