The Prison Healer

As the first installment in a trilogy bearing the same name, The Prison Healer follows the struggles of Kiva Meridan, a 17-year-old healer who has spent the last 10 years in Zalindov prison. This installment focuses largely on world-building, for the author introduces the political intrigue that plagues the realm of Wenderall, such as the growing rebel movement that creates turmoil throughout the kingdoms. This unrest has a direct effect upon life in Zalindov when the Rebel Queen, Tilda Corentine, is taken prisoner. (The novel later reveals that Tilda, who is secretly Kiva’s mother, is the descendant of Torvin Corentine, a man who married a fellow magic-user named Sarana Vallentis many years ago. When Sarana was corrupted by magic and turned against Torvin, he fled into the mountains.)

Now, Tilda, her family, and her compatriots seek to regain the throne that is still held by the Vallentis family. When Tilda is brought to the prison, she must undergo four element-themed trials; if she survives them all, she will have earned her freedom. To save the weakened Tilda from certain death, Kiva becomes her champion and undergoes the trials on her behalf. While attempting to survive the trials, Kiva deepens her connections with various friends and allies, including Naari, Jaren, and Tipp, who help her to survive both the trials and the dangers of Zalindov itself.

Ultimately, The Prison Healer merely sets the stage for Kiva’s entrance into the wider world of Wenderall. In the novel’s sequel, The Gilded Cage, Kiva travels to the capital with Jaren and enters a complex new chapter of her life as she is forced to contend with the political intrigue of the Vallentis family and navigate her own family’s shifting goals and perspectives on the best course of action to take. Pulled in a myriad of different directions and beset by violence and betrayal alike, Kiva must reevaluate her loyalties and gain the strength to choose her own path, and some of her choices lead both her and her allies to ruin.

In the third and final installment of the series, The Blood Traitor, the events of The Gilded Cage have brought Wenderall to the brink of war. Kiva must now face the realization that her own sister, Zuleeka, has taken full control of the realm’s political arena. Zuleeka also sends Kiva back to Zalindov prison as a tunneller: an assignment that is essentially a death sentence. With the help of Cresta, the rebel leader within the prison walls, Kiva escapes and reconnects with allies and rivals alike in a quest to recover four arcane items that will enable them to remove Zuleeka from power. As the characters endure a barrage of emotional reckonings and literal battles, Kiva struggles to redeem herself from her past mistakes and works to redefine her relationships with those she cares about, thereby redefining her own identity in the process.