Oakleaf Bearers by John Flanagan

Oakleaf Bearers by John Flanagan

Oakleaf Bearers by John Flanagan book cover

Still far from home after escaping slavery in the icebound land of Skandia, young Will and Evanlyn’s plans to return to Araluen are spoiled when Evanlyn is taken captive. Though still weak, Will employs his Ranger training to locate his friend but soon finds himself fatally outnumbered. Will is certain death is close at hand, until Halt and Horace make a daring last-minute rescue.

But their reunion is cut short by the horrifying discovery that Skandia’s borders have been breached by the Temujai army – and Araluen is next in their sights.

Only an unlikely union can save the two kingdoms, but can it hold long enough to vanquish a ruthless new enemy?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Addiction, including substance addiction (mentioned) and non-consensual drugging (mentioned)
  • Kidnapping
  • Knife violence, murder and attempted murder
  • Physical injuries
  • Suicide by self-sacrifice
  • Animal death and hunting
  • Banishment and exile
  • Slavery
  • War and military themes

*Alternative title The Battle for Skandia

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The Icebound Land by John Flanagan

The Icebound Land by John Flanagan

The Icebound Land by John Flanagan book cover

Kidnapped after the fierce battle with Lord Morgarath, Will and Evanlyn are bound for Skandia as captives aboard a fearsome wolfship. Halt has sworn to rescue Will, and he will do anything to keep his promise–even defy his King. Expelled from the Rangers he has served so loyally, Halt is joined by Will’s friend Horace as he travels toward Skandia. On their way, they are challenged constantly by freelance knights–but Horace knows a thing or two about combat. Soon he begins to attract the attention of knights and warlords for miles around with his uncanny skill. Even so, will they be in time to rescue Will from a horrific life of slavery?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption, addiction and non-consensual drugging
  • Body horror, physical injuries, physical illness and dead bodies/body parts
  • Verbal abuse
  • Hallucinations, delusions and suicide
  • Knife violence, murder and attempted murder
  • Banishment, exile and captivity
  • Blizzard
  • Whipping and flogging
  • Poverty themes
  • Animal death and hunting
  • War and military themes
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The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan

The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan

The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan book cover

Bracing for a final clash with the evil warlord Morgarath, the Rangers rally the kingdom’s allies, and Will is chosen, along with his friend Horace, as special envoys to nearby Celtica. But the simple mission soon takes an unsettling turn – the Celticans have disappeared, their town abandoned. The scheming hand of Morgarath, it seems, has been far from idle. He has found a way to bring his legions over the once impassible eastern mountains and is planning to ambush the king’s army in a rout. Now with help many miles away, Will and Horace are the only ones standing in the way of the dark lord’s plans.They have shown great skill and courage in their training, but how will they fare in the face of true evil?

With bigger battles and higher stakes, John Flanagan’s epic adventure charges ahead with this rousing follow-up to The Ruins of Gorlan.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Fire and arson
  • Grief and loss depiction
  • Hostage situation and kidnapping
  • Slavery
  • Knife violence
  • Mind control and possession
  • Physical injuries and wounds, murder and attempted murder
  • War and military themes
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The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan

The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan

The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan book cover

They have always scared him in the past — the Rangers, with their dark cloaks and shadowy ways. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now 15-year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger’s apprentice. What he doesn’t yet realize is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, he will not be denied….

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Verbal abuse
  • Burns, whipping and physical injuries
  • Death of a parent
  • Conscription
  • Knife violence, murder and attempted murder
  • Fire
  • Hunting
  • Bullying
  • War and military themes
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Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo book cover

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her—or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Body shaming
  • Suicide attempt by self-sacrifice
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood and gore depiction, including dead bodies
  • Physical injuries
  • Emesis
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical and psychological torture
  • Knife violence
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions & bombings
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Hostage situation
  • Airship accident
  • War themes
  • Animal death
  • Animal dead bodies & body parts
  • Hunting
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Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo book cover

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova’s amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling’s secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Classism
  • Victim blaming
  • Facial difference discrimination
  • Persecution for witchcraft (mentioned)
  • Rape and sexual assault (recounted)
  • Parental abandonment (implied)
  • Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Suicide attempt as self-sacrifice (recounted)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood and gore depiction, dead bodies, eyeball trauma and branding
  • Physical sickness and scars
  • Death of a brother, son, girlfriend and friend (recounted)
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Explosion, knife violence, physical assault and poisoning
  • Captivity, blackmail, hostage situation, exile and banishment
  • War themes
  • Animal death and bodies (recounted), hunting
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Reverb by Anna Zabo

Reverb by Anna Zabo

Twisted Wishes bass player Mish Sullivan is a rock goddess—gorgeous, sexy and comfortable in the spotlight. With fame comes unwanted attention, though: a stalker is desperate to get close. Mish can fend for herself, just as she always has. But after an attack lands her in the hospital, the band reacts, sticking her with a bodyguard she doesn’t need or want.

David Altet has an instant connection with Mish. A certified badass, this ex-army martial arts expert can take down a man twice his size. But nothing—not living as a trans man, not his intensive military training—prepared him for the challenge of Mish. Sex with her is a distraction neither of them can afford, yet the hot, kink-filled nights keep coming.

When Mish’s stalker ups his game, David must make a choice—lover or bodyguard. He’d rather have Mish alive than in his bed. But Mish wants David, and no one, especially not a stalker, will force her to give him up.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Transmisia mentioned
  • Misogyny & misogynistic slurs
  • Threats of child sexual assault recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a parent from cancer recounted
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Stalking
  • Hospital
  • Online harassment
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Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighbourhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyper-empathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others. When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Slavery
  • Child sexual assault & abuse
  • Rape, including statutory rape
  • Abusive relationship
  • Adult-minor relationships
  • Arranged, forced & coerced marriage
  • Domestic abuse
  • Estrangement
  • Physical child abuse & neglect
  • Addiction
  • Drug abuse
  • Blood and gore depiction including dead bodies and body parts
  • Cannibalism
  • Physical injuries
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a sibling
  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Bushfire
  • Earthquake
  • Home invasion
  • Homelessness
  • Poverty themes
  • Hunting

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Undead Girl Gang by Lil Anderson book cover

Mila Flores and her best friend Riley have always been inseparable. There’s not much excitement in their small town of Cross Creek, so Mila and Riley make their own fun, devoting most of their time to Riley’s favorite activity: amateur witchcraft.

So when Riley and two Fairmont Academy mean girls die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone’s explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body-shaming
  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Cheating
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Physical injuries
  • Grief depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a sister
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a girlfriend
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Hanging
  • Drowning
  • Fire
  • Home invasion
  • Animal death and animal sacrifice
  • Bullying
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The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can’t protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism, internalised ableism & ableist language
  • Racism & race riots (theme)
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • OCD & intrusive thoughts (protagonist)
  • Hospital
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Emesis
  • Death of a mother discussed
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence
  • Fire & being burned alive
  • Hostage situation
  • Displacement & homelessness
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