Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
The headstrong Nya and the innovative premise...keep readers turning the pages.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
The headstrong Nya and the innovative premise...keep readers turning the pages.
The Horn Book
Nya’s distinctive first-person voice, strongly personable with a wry sense of humor, draws readers in…[the] hard-charging plot makes the pages fly by...Would you save someone’s life at the cost of unbearable pain to someone else?[Readers] will eagerly await the next volume of the Healing Wars.
The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books
The headstrong Nya and the innovative premise...keep readers turning the pages.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
The headstrong Nya and the innovative premise...keep readers turning the pages.
Children's Literature
- Jeanna Sciarrotta
Fifteen year old Nya struggles to find both food and work in her war torn city of Varlatta, where all is not always as it seems. She also struggles to keep hidden a secret that if heard by the wrong ears, could put her in terrible danger. Nya is a "Taker," like many of the other young people in the city. However, unlike the others, who take pain away from the suffering and deposit it—Nya can only shift the pain from one person to another—a skill that the enemy forces would find very useful. Street smart Nya knows that she would be used as a weapon if they ever got their hands on her. In Book One of Janice Hardy's new series, The Healing Wars, she has created a world where healing is the main power source and it is not always put to the best use. The concept itself is intriguing and though the story is slow to develop at times and the reader is left feeling that many aspects of the storyline are revealed too late in the game, the character of Nya will captivate readers as they follow along on her adventure to save her younger sister and ultimately her city. This book will find a home on the shelves of many middle school classrooms and libraries. Reviewer: Jeanna Sciarrotta
School Library Journal
Gr 8–10—In this first book in a planned trilogy, 15-year-old Nya and her younger sister, Tali, who were orphaned during the recent war that nearly destroyed their city, both have the gift of healing. Unlike Tali, though, Nya can't harmlessly shift the pain she takes from the sick and wounded into enchanted pynvium metal. Instead, she must shift it from person to person, a dangerous talent that she keeps hidden from the ruling Baseeri and from the Healer's League where Tali is an apprentice. Scrounging to make ends meet, Nya resorts to odd jobs and the occasional theft to stay alive. When a young soldier discovers her secret and implores her to save his dying father, Nya is forced to choose between protecting herself and acknowledging her ability to save others and perhaps her entire city. First-time author Hardy has written an inventive coming-of-age tale about a likable young woman whom readers will cheer throughout her exploits. Her appealing narration chronicles her expanding worldview as she progresses from a self-interested survivalist to a reluctant heroine to a determined rebel. Fantasy fans and those who just love a good story will enjoy this fast-paced novel and eagerly await book two.—Leah J. Sparks, formerly at Bowie Public Library, MD
Kirkus Reviews
A teen with the power to shift pain from one person to another chooses between saving her sister's life and her principles in this first of a projected series. Orphaned when the Baseer invade and occupy Geveg, 15-year-old Nya and her sister Tali live in an oppressed world where pain is controlled by a Healer's League that trains "Takers" to transfer human pain into a substance called pynvium. The League charges to remove pain, pain merchants buy pain to enchant weapons and anyone able to "shift" pain is subject to "death, prison, maybe even experiments." Nya suppresses her shifting power until Tali and other League apprentices mysteriously disappear and a pain merchant threatens to make her a pawn in his plot to subvert Geveg. In the tradition of strong-willed adventure heroines, Nya rallies, unleashing her powers as she faces complex moral dilemmas. Her first-person narration is suffused with the agony of deciding who will live or die. Timely ethical exploration in the guise of high-action fantasy. (Fantasy. 10-16)\
