Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, surviving on the debris of its long-dead progenitors, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new, is Stefan Advani, rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor. This is his testament, an account of the journey that took him into the blazing desolation of the western deserts; that transported him east down the river… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Graphic blood & injury depiction including body horror and dead bodies
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Death of a friend, on-page & recounted
  • Death of a girlfriend in a stampede recounted
  • Murder, mass murder & attempted murder, on-page
  • Tank accident
  • Physical assault, on-page
  • Gun violence, on-page
  • Shipwreck
  • Drowning discussed
  • Torture
  • Whipping mentioned
  • Knife violence & stabbing, on-page
  • Riots, on-page
  • Police brutality & violence, on-page
  • Fire & immolation
  • Graphic penal labour & inhumane imprisonment (theme)
  • Homelessness recounted
  • Animal death
  • Animal attack

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling

Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him that apparently he’s the last to know. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord’s curse when Harry was just a baby, and which he somehow survived. Leaving his unsympathetic aunt and uncle for Hogwarts, a wizarding school brimming with ghosts and enchantments, Harry stumbles upon a sinister mystery when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. Then he hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers which could be valuable, dangerous – or both. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Classism
  • Racism
  • Graphic emotional, verbal & physical child abuse
  • Child neglect
  • Nightmares
  • Self-sacrifice
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Minor blood depiction & physical injuries
  • Infirmary
  • Blood drinking
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Explosion
  • Car accident mentioned
  • Genocide and war themes recounted
  • Animal cruelty
  • Animal death
  • Bullying

If you choose to support this novel or author, please reconsider. You can read about the harmful cultural appropriation here, about how she is endangering trans people here, and donate to the queer Indigenous charity Black Rainbow here.

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism and ableist language
  • Racial discrimination
  • Sexual assault, specifically nonconsensual kissing and unwanted touching
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Body horror
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Coma-like state
  • Grief depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Death of a stepmother
  • Death of parents
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a partner
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Mass murder
  • Physical assault
  • Explosions
  • Gun violence
  • Imprisonment
  • War themes
  • Bullying
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The Woods, Vol. 1: The Arrow by James Tynion IV

The Woods, Vol. 1: The Arrows by James Tynion IV & illustrated by Michael Dialynas

On October 16, 2013, 437 students, 52 teachers, and 24 additional staff from Bay Point Preparatory High School in suburban Milwaukee, WI vanished without a trace. Countless light years away, far outside the bounds of the charted universe, 513 people find themselves in the middle of an ancient, primordial wilderness. Where are they? Why are they there? The answers will prove stranger than anyone could possibly imagine.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Death of a friend & classmate
  • Murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Imprisonment
  • Animal attack
  • Bullying
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Check, Please! #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu

Check, Please! Vol. 1: #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu

Helloooo, Internet Land. Bitty here!

Y’all… I might not be ready for this. I may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It’s nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking. And then, there is Jack—our very attractive but moody captain.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Coming out themes
  • Panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hazing
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Children of the Whales, Vol. 16 by Abi Umeda

Children of the Whales, Vol. 16 by Abi Umeda

In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, cut off from its own history by the shadows of the past.

Orca is known as the God of Death, a cold and emotionless soldier who has no qualms about using his little sister as a pawn in his game against the empire. But now Chakuro has seen into the very heart of the pain that motivates Orca’s bloody quest. Can a shared history of loss bridge the differences between them? Or is the pull of death too strong for even love to overcome?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Body horror
  • War themes & military violence
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Children of the Whales, Vol. 15 by Abi Umeda

Children of the Whales, Vol. 15 by Abi Umeda

In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, cut off from its own history by the shadows of the past.

Chakuro, Suou and Shuan ventured the battleship Karcharías, hoping to convince Orca to release Ouni and Lykos. But instead of rescuing their friends, they are now caught up in Orca’s plan to destroy the Mud Whale and all its residents in order to unleash an apocalypse that will overthrow the Nouses and create a parallel world where humans will never again feel pain or sadness. When words prove useless against Orca’s sophistry, will the team from the Mud Whale be forced into violence?!

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Genocide mentioned
  • War themes & military violence
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Children of the Whales, Vol. 14 by Abi Umeda

Children of the Whales, Vol. 14 by Abi Umeda

In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, cut off from its own history by the shadows of the past.

Lykos and Ouni have been captured by Orca, but instead of organizing a rescue, Suou has ordered the Mud Whale to set sail for their new homeland. Chakuro won’t just abandon his friends, though, and he’s determined to find a way to save them. But Orca has just declared independence from the empire, and any rescue attempt will end up right in the middle of his cataclysmic plans!

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Genocide mentioned
  • War themes & military violence
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Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableist language
  • Sexual harassment
  • Parental abandonment
  • Suicide
  • Suicide attempt
  • Gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Death, central theme
  • Death of a family member
  • Murder
  • Mass death/murder
  • Explosions
  • Torture
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World After by Susan Ee

World After by Susan Ee

World After by Susan Ee book cover

When a group of people capture Penryn’s sister Paige, thinking she’s a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken. Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels’ secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go. Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can’t rejoin the angels, can’t take his rightful place as… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism, on-page
  • Sexism
  • Parent with paranoid schizophrenia
  • Hallucinations & delusions mentioned
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Dead bodies
  • Involuntary body modifications
  • Medical experimentations
  • Cannibalism
  • Torture & psychological torture, on-page
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun & sword violence
  • Physical assault
  • Imprisonment
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Explosions
  • Building collapse recounted
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