Darksoul by Anna Stephens

Darksoul by Anna Stephens

The Wolves lie dead beside Rilpor’s soldiers, slaughtered at the hands of the Mireces and their fanatical army. The veil that once kept the Red Gods at bay has been left in tatters as the Dark Lady’s plans for the world come to fruition. Where the gods walk, blood is spilled on the earth.

All that stands between the Mireces army and complete control of the Kingdom of Rilpor are the walls of its capital, Rilporin, and those besieged inside. But hope might yet bloom in the unlikeliest of places: in the heart of a former slave, in the mind of a soldier with the eyes of a fox, and in the hands of a general destined to be king.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Torture
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Godblind by Anna Stephens

Godblind by Anna Stephens

The Mireces worship the bloodthirsty Red Gods. Exiled from Rilpor a thousand years ago, and left to suffer a harsh life in the cold mountains, a new Mireces king now plots an invasion of Rilpor’s thriving cities and fertile earth.

Dom Templeson is a Watcher, a civilian warrior guarding Rilpor’s border. He is also the most powerful seer in generations, plagued with visions and prophecies. His people are devoted followers of the god of light and life, but Dom harbours deep secrets, which threaten to be exposed when Rillirin, an escaped Mireces slave, stumbles broken and bleeding into his village… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Sexual assault of a minor
  • Genital mutilation
  • Graphic torture
  • War themes
  • Animal death
  • Animal injury
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The Stone Knife by Anna Stephens

The Stone Knife by Anna Stephens

For generations, the forests of Ixachipan have echoed with the clash of weapons, as nation after nation has fallen to the Empire of Songs – and to the unending, magical music that binds its people together. Now, only two free tribes remain. The Empire is not their only enemy. Monstrous, scaled predators lurk in rivers and streams, with a deadly music of their own.

As battle looms, fighters on both sides must decide how far they will go for their beliefs and for the ones they love – a veteran general seeks peace through war, a warrior and a shaman set out to understand their enemies, and an ambitious noble tries to bend ancient magic to her will

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Cannibalism
  • Death of a child
  • Torture
  • Animal death
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The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart

The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart

Sep, Arkle, Mack, Lamb and Hadley: five friends thrown together one hot, sultry summer. When they discover an ancient stone box hidden in the forest, they decide to each make a sacrifice: something special to them, committed to the box for ever. And they make a pact: they will never return to the box at night; they’ll never visit it alone; and they’ll never take back their offerings.

Four years later, the gang have drifted apart. Then a series of strange and terrifying events take place, and Sep and his friends understand that one of them has broken the pact.

As their sacrifices haunt them with increased violence and hunger, they realise that they are not the first children to have found the box in their town’s history. And ultimately, the box may want the greatest sacrifice of all: one of them.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Homomisia
  • Death of an animal
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The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism (theme)
  • Forced servitude
  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
  • Physical injuries
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Death of a friend
  • Animal death & dead bodies
  • Animal injury
  • Animal attack
  • Hunting
  • Poverty themes, including threat of eviction
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Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula by Bram Stoker

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client’s castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman’s neck; and a lunatic asylum inmate raves about the imminent arrival of his ‘Master’.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Antiziganism (g slur)
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Blood depiction, including transfusions
  • Murder
  • Animal death
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The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne by Jonathan Stroud

The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne by Jonathan Stroud

Set in a fragmented future England, The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne introduces us to a world where gunfights and monsters collide, and where the formidable outlaw Scarlett McCain fights daily against the odds. When she discovers a wrecked coach on a lonely road, there is only one survivor – the seemingly hapless youth, Albert Browne. Against her instincts, Scarlett agrees to escort him to safety. This is a mistake. Soon, new and implacable enemies are on her heels. As a relentless pursuit continues across the broken landscape of England, Scarlett must fight… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Medical experimentation
  • Incarceration
  • Electrocution
  • Explosions
  • Animal death
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The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

The Devil & the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

It’s 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world’s greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.

But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered.

And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcoholism
  • Physical & emotional domestic abuse
  • Rape mentioned
  • Immolation
  • Murder
  • Animal death
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Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

Perfect Parker Fadley isn’t so perfect anymore. She’s quit the cheerleading squad, she’s dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she’s failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she’s playing games, but they don’t know that the real reason for this whole mess isn’t something she can say out loud. It isn’t even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault. If she can just remove herself from everybody–be totally alone–then everything will be okay…

The problem is, nobody will let her.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape (on-page)
  • Alcoholism & alcohol abuse
  • Depression
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Self-harm
  • Overdose
  • Abortion
  • Teen pregnancy
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Death of a pet
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Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie

Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie

Bone Crier's Moon by Kathryn Purdie book cover

Bone ​Criers have a sacred duty. They alone can keep the dead from preying on the living. But their power to ferry the spirits of the dead into goddess Elara’s Night Heavens or Tyrus’s Underworld comes from sacrifice. The gods demand a promise of dedication. And that promise comes at the cost of the Bone Criers’ one true love.

Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become the matriarch of the Bone Criers, a mysterious famille of women who use strengths drawn from animal bones to ferry dead souls. But first she must complete her rite of passage and kill the boy she’s also destined to love.

Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Yet when he finally captures one, his vengeance will have to wait. Ailesse’s ritual has begun and now their fates are entwined—in life and in death.

Sabine has never had the stomach for the Bone Criers’ work. But when her best friend Ailesse is taken captive, Sabine will do whatever it takes to save her, even if it means defying their traditions—and their matriarch—to break the bond between Ailesse and Bastien. Before they all die.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abandonment
  • Pregnancy discussed
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Grief depiction
  • Death themes
  • Death of a father, on-page
  • Death of a mother, on-page
  • Murder
  • Attempted murder
  • Knife violence
  • Torture
  • Strangulation
  • Kidnapping
  • Captivty
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Graphic animal death
  • Graphic animal dead bodies and dismemberment
  • Hunting
  • Poverty themes
  • Child homelessness
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