Tag Archives: Knife, Sword & Axe Violence

Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo

Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo

Magic rules the city of Creije Capital and Tavia Syn knows just how many tricks she needs up her sleeve to survive. Selling dark magic on the streets for her kingpin, she keeps clear of other crooks, counting the days until her debt is paid and she can flee her criminal life.

But then, one day, with her freedom in sight, Tavia uncovers a sinister plot that threatens to destroy the realm she calls home. Desperate to put an end to her kingpin’s plan, Tavia forms an unlikely alliance with three crooks even more deadly than her: Wesley, the kingpin’s prodigy and most renewed criminal in the realm… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Indentured servitutde
  • Sexual assault (nonconsensual kiss)
  • Child abuse
  • Estrangement
  • Hallucinations
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging
  • Blood depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Dead bodies
  • Plague mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Death of a brother recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Gang violence
  • Strangulation
  • Physical assault, on-page (fight ring)
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Imprisonment
  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Loss of autonomy
  • War themes & battle scenes recounted
  • Poverty discussed
  • Homelessness recounted

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever. The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavoury hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Sexual assault & threats of rape
  • Child abuse
  • Disownment
  • Arranged marriage
  • Nightmares
  • Self-injury
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a mother
  • Murder, torture & physical assault
  • Knife and gun violence & stabbing
  • Kidnapping, captivity & imprisonment
  • Drowning
  • Cyclones
  • Avalanche
  • Hunting
  • War themes

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

The kingdom of Kandala is on the brink of disaster. Rifts between sectors have only worsened since a sickness began ravaging the land, and within the Royal Palace, the king holds a tenuous peace with a ruthless hand. King Harristan was thrust into power after his parents’ shocking assassination, leaving the younger Prince Corrick to take on the brutal role of the King’s Justice. The brothers have learned to react mercilessly to any sign of rebellion–it’s the only way to maintain order when the sickness can strike anywhere, and the only known cure, an elixir made from delicate… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Epidemic (theme)
  • Blood & injury depiction including detailed dead bodies
  • Medical treatment
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend, off-page
  • Murder of a mother & father
  • Torture
  • Knife violence
  • Explosion
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment
  • Fire
  • Poverty discussed

A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer

A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer

Emberfall is crumbling fast, torn between those who believe Rhen is the rightful prince and those who are eager to begin a new era under Grey, the true heir. Grey has agreed to wait two months before attacking Emberfall, and in that time, Rhen has turned away from everyone—even Harper, as she desperately tries to help him find a path to peace.

Meanwhile, Lia Mara struggles to rule Syhl Shallow with a gentler hand than her mother. But after enjoying decades of peace once magic was driven out of their lands, some of her subjects are angry Lia Mara has an enchanted prince and a magical scraver by her side. As Grey’s deadline draws nearer, Lia Mara questions if she can be the queen her country needs.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Stabbing
  • War themes

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumours circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Although Rhen has Harper by his side, his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers.

Rumoured to be the heir, Grey has been on the run since he destroyed Lilith. He has no desire to challenge Rhen–until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. Her own daughter Lia Mara sees the flaws in her mother’s violent plan, but can she convince Grey to stand against Rhen, even for the good of Emberfall?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Sexism
  • Indentured servitude
  • Child sexual slavery & sex work, implied
  • Arranged marriage discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Dead bodies
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture, on-page
  • Graphic whipping
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Imprisonment
  • Hostage situation
  • War themes
  • Animal death, on-page
  • Hunting

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

The world has no air. If you want to survive, you pay to breathe. But what if you can’t? And what if you think everything could be different? Three teens will leave everything they know behind in Sarah Crossan’s gripping and original dystopian teen novel of danger, longing, and glimmering hope.

Ever since the Switch, when the oxygen levels plummeted and most of humanity died, the survivors have been protected in glass domes full of manufactured air. Protected . . . or trapped? Or controlled? Alina’s a revolutionary who believes we can save the environment. Quinn’s a Premium who’s never had to worry about having enough air. His best friend, Bea, is an Auxiliary who’s never worried about anything but having enough air. When the three cross paths, they will change everything.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Coerced alcohol consumption
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence
  • Physical assault
  • Riot

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

Delayed in London, Ted Severson meets a woman at the airport bar. Over cocktails they tell each other rather more than they should, and a dark plan is hatched – but are either of them being serious, could they actually go through with it and, if they did, what would be their chances of getting away with it?

Back in Boston, Ted’s wife Miranda is busy site managing the construction of their dream home, a beautiful house out on the Maine coastline. But what secrets is she carrying and to what lengths might she go to protect the vision she has of her deserved future?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Cheating
  • Murder
  • Stabbing
  • Car accident

The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton

Juliette loves Nate. She will follow him anywhere. She’s even become a flight attendant for his airline so she can keep a closer eye on him. They are meant to be.

The fact that Nate broke up with her six months ago means nothing. Because Juliette has a plan to win him back. She is the perfect girlfriend. And she’ll make sure no one stops her from getting exactly what she wants.

True love hurts, but Juliette knows it’s worth all the pain…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut-shaming
  • Dubious consent
  • Toxic relationship
  • Emotional abuse
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Murder
  • Stabbing
  • Stalking
  • Kidnapping
  • Blackmail

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Sixteen-year-old Olivia Prior is missing three things: a mother, a father, and a voice. Her mother vanished all at once, and her father by degrees, and her voice was a thing she never had to start with. She grew up at Merilance School for Girls. Now, nearing the end of her time there, Olivia receives a letter from an uncle she’s never met, her father’s older brother, summoning her to his estate, a place called Gallant. But when she arrives, she discovers that the letter she received was several years old. Her uncle is dead. The estate is empty, save for the servants. Olivia is permitted to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Mutism (protagonist)
  • Nightmares
  • Alcoholism, implied
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a brother by knife violence recounted
  • Death of a mother & father mentioned
  • Death of a cousin (on-page)
  • Murder
  • Knife & sword violence
  • Strangulation
  • Bullying
  • Graphic animal death (crow, cat)

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government’s emergency protocols are faltering.

Dr. Ramola “Rams” Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Pregnancy
  • Medical procedures
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a partner
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Home invasion
  • Animal injury
  • Animal death
  • Animal attack