Category Archives: BIPOC Lit

Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao

Pawned by her mother to the King of Hell as a child, Lady Jing is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit and all sasshole. As the King’s ward, she has spent the past ninety years running errands, dodging the taunts of the spiteful hulijing courtiers, and trying to control her explosive temper – with varying levels of success. So when Jing overhears the courtiers plotting to steal a priceless dragon pearl from the King, she seizes her chance to expose them, once and for all. With the help of a gentle mortal tasked with setting up the Central Bank of Hell, Jing embarks on a wild chase for intel, first through Hell and then mortal Shanghai… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Panic attacks
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Bullying

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface. Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Those festering secrets are now out in the open and ready to tear the town apart. As Titus investigates…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • White supremacy & racism
  • Death of children in a school shooting

Ghost Book by Remy Lai

July Chen sees ghosts. But her dad insists ghosts aren’t real. So she pretends they don’t exist. Which is incredibly difficult now as it’s Hungry Ghost month, when the Gates of the Underworld open and dangerous ghosts run amok in the living world. When July saves a boy ghost from being devoured by a Hungry Ghost, he becomes her first ever friend. Except William is not a ghost. He’s a wandering soul wavering between life and death. As the new friends embark on an adventure to return William to his body, they unearth a ghastly truth―for William to live, July must die.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a mother and wife in childbirth recounted
  • Near-death of a friend and child (on-page)
  • Mentions of death of a pet dog.

Gone Wolf by Amber McBride

In the future, a Black girl known only as Inmate Eleven is kept confined — to be used as a biological match for the president’s son, should he fall ill. She is called a Blue — the colour of sadness. She lives in a small-small room with her dog, who is going wolf more often – he’s pacing and imagining he’s free. Inmate Eleven wants to go wolf too―she wants to know why she feels so Blue and what is beyond her small-small room. In the present, Imogen lives outside of Washington DC. The pandemic has distanced her from everyone but her mother and her therapist. Imogen has intense phobias and nightmares of confinement. Her two older brothers… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery & forced labour
  • Racism (theme)
  • Anxiety & agoraphobia
  • Death of siblings
  • Mentions of the real murders of Black Americans by the police
  • Death of a pet

Snowglobe by Soyoung Park

Enclosed under a vast dome, Snowglobe is the last place on Earth that’s warm. Outside Snowglobe is a frozen wasteland, and every day, citizens face the icy world to get to their jobs at the power plant, where they produce the energy Snowglobe needs. Their only solace comes in the form of twenty-four-hour television programming streamed directly from the domed city. The residents of Snowglobe have fame, fortune, and above all, safety from the desolation outside their walls. In exchange, their lives are broadcast to the less fortunate outside, who watch eagerly, hoping for the chance to one day become actors them… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emesis
  • Mentioned of gun violence & kidnapping
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned

Fox Snare by Yoon Ha Lee

While on a mission to cement peace between the Sun Clans and the Thousand Worlds, Min the fox spirit and her ghost brother Jun get stranded on a death planet with Haneul the dragon spirit and Sebin the tiger spirit. To survive, the young cadets will have to rely on all their wits, training, and supernatural abilities. And let’s not forget the Dragon Pearl.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Explosion (spaceship)

City of Wishes by Christina Soontornvat

During the New Year break, Plum and her friends travel to fancy, fashionable Nakhon City. There they’ll stay with Sam and his mother, the powerful Lady Ubon. At first, Plum is dazzled by how big and exciting Nakhon City is. She’s never experienced anything like it! But under the glittering surface, secrets lurk. A storm is brewing, and Plum will have to harness all of her growing powers to survive it.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Building collapse from an earthquake
  • Cave-in

Vengeance of the Pirate Queen by Tricia Levenseller

As an assassin working for the pirate queen, eighteen-year-old Sorinda is surprised when Alosa’s next task for her is not to kill a new target, but to captain a handpicked crew on a rescue mission. Unfortunately, her sailing master is twenty-year-old Kearan. He may be the best helmsman the pirate queen has, but Sorinda finds him a real pain in the arse. Sadly, there are few places on a ship to hide from an attentive man. As the crew of the Vengeance faces dangerous waters and deadly sea creatures, they accidentally awaken the King of the Undersea, a being who can control… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol abuse recounted
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Knife, sword & gun violence
  • Murder by drowning mentioned

Finally Heard by Kelly Yang

When ten-year-old Lina Gao sees her mom’s video on social media take off, she’s captivated by the potential to be seen and heard! Maybe online she can finally find the confidence she craves. Whereas in real life she’s growing so fast, she feels like microwave popcorn, bursting out of her skin! .With the help of her two best friends, Carla and Finn, and her little sister, Millie, Lina sets off to go viral. Except there’s a lot more to social media than Lina ever imagined, 1. Seeing inside her classmates’ lives! Is she really the only person on the planet who doesn’t have a walk-in closet? 2. Group chats! Disappearing videos! Will anyone.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety & disordered eating
  • Minor cyberbullying

The Ruined by Renée Ahdieh

The Sylvan Vale and the Sylvan Wyld are at war. Now that the unsteady truce between them has been broken, lines must be drawn. In an effort to protect the weakened Winter Court, Bastien rallies powerful allies and friends in New Orleans to come to their aid. Meanwhile, under protection alongside her injured mother in the Summer Court, Celine is uncertain of whom to trust. She cannot get word to Bastien, and does not understand why he has not returned. When she realises war between the fey courts is imminent, she journeys with Ali in an effort to find the time travelling mirror and change their fate… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & neglect mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption (secondary characters)
  • Blood-drinking
  • Attempted murder by poisoned arrow and knives
  • Murder by gun violence
  • Graphic torture
  • Accidental explosion resulting in mass death
  • Graphic battles scenes with cannonballs and gunfire