Blood & Gore Depiction – Page 138 – Trigger Warning Database

A Dark & Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth

A Dark & Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth

Choose your player: the “ironborn” half-fae outcast of her royal fae family; a tempestuous Fury, exiled to earth from the Immortal Realm hellbent on revenge; a dutiful fae prince, determined to earn his place on the throne; or the prince’s brooding guardian, burdened with a terrible secret.

For centuries, the Eight Courts of Folk have lived among us, concealed by magic and bound by law to do no harm to humans. This arrangement has long kept peace in the Courts—until a series of gruesome and ritualistic murders rocks the city of Toronto and threatens to expose faeries to the human world.

Four queer teens, each who hold a key piece of the truth behind these murders, must form a tenuous alliance in their effort to track down the mysterious killer behind these crimes. If they fail, they risk the destruction of the faerie and human worlds alike. If that’s not bad enough, there’s a war brewing between the Mortal and Immortal Realms, and one of these teens is destined to tip the scales. The only question is: which way?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Toxic relationship
Disownment
Addiction & drug use
Depression & PTSD
Suicide recounted (off-page) & suicidal ideation
Blood & gore depiction and minor body horror
Death of a child
Gun violence
Fire (arson)
Human trafficking
Stalking
Poverty themes

See the author’s note on the trigger and content warnings here.

Nubia by L.L. McKinney

Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney

Nubia has always been a little bit…different. As a baby she showcased Amazonian-like strength by pushing over a tree to rescue her neighbor’s cat. But, despite having similar abilities, the world has no problem telling her that she’s no Wonder Woman. And even if she was, they wouldn’t want her. Every time she comes to the rescue, she’s reminded of how people see her; as a threat. Her moms do their best to keep her safe, but Nubia can’t deny the fire within her, even if she’s a little awkward about it sometimes. Even if it means people assume the worst.

When Nubia’s best friend, Quisha, is threatened by a boy who thinks he owns the town, Nubia will risk it all–her safety, her home, and her crush on that cute kid in English class–to become the hero society tells her she isn’t.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism, racial slurs, anti-Blackness & hate crime
Homomisia & sexism
Attempted sexual assault
Police brutality & racial profiling
School shooting and gun violence
Blood & gore depiction
Bullying

Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf

Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf

In order to protect Prince Lucien d’Malvane’s heart, Zera had to betray him. Now, he hates the sight of her. Trapped in Cavanos as a prisoner of the king, she awaits the inevitable moment her witch severs their magical connection and finally ends her life. But fate isn’t ready to give her up just yet.

With freedom coming from the most unlikely of sources, Zera is given a second chance at life as a Heartless. But it comes with a terrible price. As the king mobilizes his army to march against the witches, Zera must tame an elusive and deadly valkerax trapped in the tunnels underneath the city if she wants to regain her humanity.

Winning over a bloodthirsty valkerax? Hard. Winning back her friends before war breaks out? A little harder. But a Heartless winning back Prince Lucien’s heart? The hardest thing she’s ever done.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Classism
Persecution for witchcraft (theme)
Child abuse recounted
Nightmares
Self-harm (on-page)
Self-sacrifice discussed
Alcohol consumption
Nonconsensual drugging
Graphic blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Cannibalism mentioned
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father recounted
Death of a grandfather mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Torture
Knife violence & stabbing
Poisoning
Fire
Loss of autonomy (mind control)
Imprisonment
War themes (central theme)
Animal cruelty & torture
Animal injury, blood & body parts
Animal attack
Hunting mentioned

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf

Zera is a Heartless – the immortal, unageing soldier of a witch. Bound to the witch Nightsinger ever since she saved her from the bandits who murdered her family, Zera longs for freedom. With her heart in a jar under Nightsinger’s control, she serves the witch unquestioningly. Until Nightsinger asks Zera for a Prince’s heart in exchange for her own.

Crown Prince Lucien d’Malvane hates the royal court as much as it loves him – every tutor too afraid to correct him and every girl jockeying for a place at his side. No one can challenge him – until the arrival of Lady Zera. She’s inelegant, smart-mouthed, & out for his blood.

So begins a game of cat and mouse between a girl with nothing to lose and a boy who has it all. Winner takes the loser’s heart. Literally.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Classism
Persecution for witchcraft (theme)
Fatmisia & body shaming
Child abuse
Arranged marriage
Alcohol consumption
Alcohol abuse & alcoholism recounted
Graphic blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Cannibalism
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a sister
Death of a mother & father
Death of a child mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Torture
Knife violence & stabbing
Explosions
Fire
Kidnapping
Loss of autonomy (mind control)
Death from a fall mentioned
War themes (central theme)
Animal death and dead bodies
Death by animal attack mentioned
Bullying
Poverty themes

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Attempted sexual assault
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injuries, including eyeball trauma
Suicide mentioned
Death of a parent recounted
Murder
Torture
War themes
Animal sacrifice

Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young

The Girls of Innovations Academy are beautiful and well-behaved—it says so on their report cards. Under the watchful gaze of their Guardians, the all-girl boarding school offers an array of studies and activities, from “Growing a Beautiful and Prosperous Garden” to “Art Appreciation” and “Interior Design.” The girls learn to be the best society has to offer. Absent is the difficult math coursework, or the unnecessary sciences or current events. They are obedient young ladies, free from arrogance or defiance. Until Mena starts to realize that their carefully controlled existence… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny, slut-shaming & victim blaming
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Rape culture (theme), including sexual harassment, sexual assault (on- & off-page) and rape of a minor, implied
PTSD, trauma, nightmares & flashbacks
Dieting & food-shaming
Alcohol consumption & drugging
Infertility mentioned
Blood & injury depiction including body horror, dead bodies, consensual & non-consensual medical treatment, graphic use of needles, and human medical experimentation
Murder & attempted murder
Graphic torture
Knife violence
Strangulation
Physical assault
Loss of autonomy (memory & mind manipulation)
Disappearance of a friend

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man – David Martin – makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books, and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner. Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love.

Then David receives the offer of a lifetime: he is to write a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realises that there is a connection between this haunting book and the shadows that surround his home…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Suicide mentioned
Blood depiction
Murder

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Body shaming
Slut-shaming
Slavery
Physical & psychological child abuse
Cheating
Disownment
Nightmares mentioned
Suicide, on-page
Coerced self-harm
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Drug use & drugging
Self-harm (mithridatism)
Death of a pregnant character mentioned*
Blood and gore depiction, including dead bodies & emesis
Graphic physical injuries
Decapitation & dismemberment mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of mother and father, on-page
Death of friend
Death of a sister & brother
Death by a fall mentioned
Drowning
Murder and attempted murder
Knife and sword violence & stabbing
Strangulation
Torture
Kidnapping & captivity
Loss of autonomy (glamour magic)
War themes discussed
Bullying

*Context: The father of an unborn child poisons his pregnant consort in an attempt to murder her and the unborn child.

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.

And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child abuse & neglect recounted
Parental abandonment recounted
Cheating mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Blood and gore depiction
Cannibalism mentioned
Murder
War themes

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best friends-turned-best enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern-day Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets. But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together. What could go wrong?

With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.

And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableist language
Lesbomisia
Racism
Islamophobia
Cheating
Anxiety attacks (on-page)
Depression mentioned
Suicide of a parent
Blood depiction & physical injury
Chronic illness (main character, specifically hives)
Hospitalisation mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father & mother recounted
Physical assault
Plane crash mentioned
Animal attacks, specifically snake and bear attacks