Category Archives: Genres

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

To regain a throne he never wanted, Prince Yarvi first must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea itself. And he must do it all with only one good hand. Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could. Will the usurped become the usurper?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism, internalised ableism & slurs (theme)
  • Arranged marriage
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Death of a brother, father & husband
  • Murder
  • War themes
  • Bullying

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Queerphobia & mentions of disownment from queerphobic parents
  • Transphobia, internalised transphobia, misgendering & deadnaming
  • Biphobia & internalised biphobia
  • Coming out themes
  • Racism & racist microaggressions
  • Parental abandonment
  • Emotional parental & domestic abuse mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Top surgery recounted & Hormone Replacement Therapy
  • Needles & injections (on-page)
  • Scars
  • Bullying
  • Cyberbullying, cyberharassment, catfishing & doxxing

The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah

The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah

This title is also known as When Michael Met Mina.

Michael likes to hang out with his friends and play with the latest graphic design software. His parents drag him to rallies held by their anti-immigrant group, which rails against the tide of refugees flooding the country. And it all makes sense to Michael. Until Mina, a beautiful girl from the other side of the protest lines, shows up at his school, and turns out to be funny, smart — and a Muslim refugee from Afghanistan. Suddenly, his parents’ politics seem much more complicated. Mina has had a long and dangerous journey fleeing her besieged home in Afghanistan, and now faces a frigid reception at her new prep school, where she is on scholar… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Islamophobia
  • Racism
  • Death of a brother & father

Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch

Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch

It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Sexism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injuries
  • Hospitalisation & mentions of surgery
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Death by train

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. Except now that she’s in middle school everything feel. A mutilated body in Crawley. Another killer on the loose. The prime suspect is one Robert Weil; an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man? Or just a common or garden serial killer? Before PC Peter Grant can get his head round the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & antiziganism (g slur)
  • Sexism
  • Disfigurmisia
  • Suicide and coerced suicide by train discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Bombing
  • Gun violence
  • Building collapse
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • Animal fight rings mentioned

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and once girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism & ableism
  • Alcoholism (secondary character)
  • Hallucinations
  • Drugging
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Involuntary medical treatment & procedures, including amputation & needles
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic physical injuries & serious illness of a loved one, including burns, loss of hearing, and discussions of scars
  • Graphic emesis, multiple on-page
  • Cannibalism recounted & discussed
  • Graphic food and water scarcity, including mentions of death from starvation & dehydration
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend & child (on-page, multiple)
  • Death of a father & husband recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder by stabbing and strangulation
  • Fire & explosions, on-page & recounted
  • Whipping mentioned
  • Poisoning
  • Avalanche mentioned
  • Police brutality mentioned
  • Poverty
  • Rebellion & war themes
  • Graphic animal death & hunting including graphic description of skinning & butchering
  • Animal attack & death from animal attack, including death from a wasp attack and graphic scene of a child being eaten alive by a wolf
  • Attempted murder of a pet cat recounted