The Prison Healer

 

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni  416 pp.

Kiva Meridan is the healer at the notorious Zalindov Prison. She inherited the position from her father who died during an epidemic when she was just a child. The prison is a gory place and Kiva does what she can for the injured and sick. When the Rebel Queen is captured and brought to the prison, Kiva is charged with keeping the seriously ill woman alive but only until she dies during the Trial by Ordeal, a four part challenge involving the elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth to which only the most dangerous criminals are sentenced. She receives a message from her family which reads "Don't let her die. We are coming." Kiva volunteers to take on the trials in the Rebel Queen's place (shades of Hunger Games). But she also has a fatal epidemic among the prison community to contend with along with the Rebel prisoners who are against her. This isn't a bad story but it drags on too long. There are two more books in the series and I have no desire to continue this story. I listened to the audiobook which probably is the only reason I finished it.

Conjure Women

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora, 400 pages

During Slaverytime, Rue learned how to be a conjure woman and healer for the slaves at Marse Charles' cotton plantation. Rue's mother, May Belle, helped keep the older slaves healthy and helped usher many new babies into the world, while concocting several "hoodoo conjures" and "curses" for the slaves and masters alike. No matter that these conjures and curses pretty much amounted to satchels of herbs or funny sticks--what mattered is that the people who asked for them believed in their power.

Now that the Civil War has ended though, Rue is on her own trying to help the former slaves have babies and recover from all sorts of illnesses and injuries. But two people are making it mighty difficult for the former slaves to believe in Rue's ministrations: traveling preacher Bruh Abel and Bean, a light-skinned, black-eyed child that everyone believes is a familiar of the devil. Between these two, Rue has enough trouble, but throw in a few complicating secrets, and she has quite the task at hand.

Told in chapters that hop back and forth between Slaverytime, Freedomtime, and Wartime, this debut novel weaves a complex Civil War-era story in which the war itself serves only as a way to mark time and all the action focuses on the residents of a single former plantation. It's a fantastic look at the lives of African American women during the war, and I highly recommend it.

Wild Seed

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler  306 pp.

Wild Seed is the first book in Butler's "Patternist Series". The main characters are Doro an immortal entity who can change bodies with those he has killed. He gathers slaves to selectively breed them to enhance the powers they inherit from him. Anwanyu is also immortal and a healer and shapeshifter Doro meets in 17th century Africa. He takes her as a wife and transports her along with his slaves to America. Anwanyu is powerful in her own way and becomes both lover and adversary of Doro. Doro's plans include breeding Anwanyu to some of his children in hopes that they gain some of her power and temper the bad characteristics they inherit from himself. The story is rich with many themes including race, slavery, gender, sexuality, and eugenics. The story ends with many possibilities open to the imagination. Now I need to read the rest of the series.