Lynette Noni, The Blood Traitor (Prison Healer, #3), Penguin Random House, May 2022, 464 pp., RPP $24.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760897543
(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.
Reviewed by Gaby Meares
