The Blood Traitor
Prison Healer series, Book #3
Lynette Noni
2022
Penguin NZ

July 15, 2022

When I first saw this book for review I was so excited, because I had read the first two books of the Prison Healer Trilogy by Australian YA author Lynette Noni and they were so good I just couldn’t put them down.

The Blood Traitor, true to its name, is filled with traitors, spies, backstabbing, and twists that are so mind blowing and intriguing that you will do anything to hide from your chores so you can finish it. The exhilarating battles put you on the edge of your seat, filling you with anticipation and uncertainty. It truly is a wild ride of action and emotions.

For the past ten years, Kiva’s only goal was to reunite with her family and destroy the people responsible for ruining their lives. But now that she has escaped Zalindov, her mission has become more complicated than ever. After what happened at the palace (in book two – The Gilded Cage) Kiva is desperate to know if her friends and family are safe and whether they are willing to forgive her.

Outside the city walls, tension is brewing among the rebels, along with whispers spreading of a growing threat from the northern kingdoms. Kiva’s allegiances are more important than ever, but she’s beginning to question where they truly lie. The kingdoms are closer to the brink of war than ever before. Mortal enemies and uneasy allies are forced to fight side by side, racing against the clock, to save not only their lives, their home, but the whole of Wenderall. Kiva must fight for what she believes in, for who she believes in. The question lingering in the back of her mind is who can she trust? And more importantly, who can she not trust?

Lynette Noni describes her characters in such a compelling way, making them easy to relate to and making you want to be a part of the story. An example of this is Caldon, the prince’s cousin, a strong and enthusiastic fighter but also comforting and forgiving is a humorous character who is hard not to be drawn to, with his unique personality and cunning, quick witted replies.

I love the author’s style of writing. Her words always seem to give you a picture in your head of what is happening. Like the following sentence: ‘the following days continued much like the first, the only change being the scenery shifting from Mirraven’s craggly landscape to Caramor’s barren, windswept plains’ or you feel what the characters are feeling: ‘As the days passed Kiva’s body ached relentlessly from being in the saddle for hours on end, only to toss and turn on the hard ground at night.’

I think The Blood Traitor is a great read that I would absolutely definitely recommend to any readers who love twists, changes in the story plot, action, backstabbing traitors and lies. The entire Prison Healer trilogy is amazing, but The Blood Traitor is definitely the best of the three, wrapping up the whole story with a conclusion filled with justice and love.

• Amelia is 12 years old and lives in Whakatane.