Tag Archives: Military Violence & War Themes

This page lists books which contain trigger warnings under the umbrella of war & military themes, including themes of rebellion and revolution, political coups, military violence & battle scenes, regicide, conscription, military service, and other related topics.

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel

Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance. But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical racism & antisemitism
  • Hate crime
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sister/child
  • Kidnapping
  • World War II (theme)

Strangers in Time by David Baldacci

Charlie Matters’ life has always been a fight for survival. Orphaned with no prospects, Charlie steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he can enlist in the battle against the Germans. He miraculously emerges unscathed from the Blitz, but there’s no telling when the next bomb will fall, and whether it will be the one to end his life. Molly Wakefield’s dreams of a joyful homecoming are all she’s had to hold on to after being evacuated to the countryside via ‘Operation Pied Piper’ five years before. But when she finally returns to the city, Molly faces a London changed… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction (secondary character)
  • Death of a wife (secondary character)
  • World War II (theme)

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence. Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them….. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical Nazism & antisemitism mentioned
  • Military service (war-time spy)
  • World War II & the Holocaust (theme)
  • Torture

The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz

On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children. Their adventures take them on a chase through France: they are taken captive by knights, sit alongside a king, and save the land from a farting dragon. On the run to escape prejudice and persecution and save precious and holy texts from being burned, their quest drives them forward to a final showdown at Mont Saint-Michel, where all will come to question if these children can perform the miracles of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical antisemitism & misogyny, including the destruction & arson of a Jewish village by Christians, and a woman burned at the stake

Rising Storm by Erin Hunter

Fireheart’s traitorous enemy Tigerclaw has been vanquished and exiled from Thunder Clan — but Fireheart can’t shake the feeling that he’s lurking in the forest, waiting for his chance to strike. That’s not the only problem facing the young warrior in these blazing summer months, as he struggles to handle sinister omens, an apprentice with a shocking secret, and a devastated Clan leader who is a shell of her former self. Meanwhile the forest gets hotter and hotter … and everyone braces for the coming storm…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Car accident
  • Fire
  • War themes
  • Animal death

Beasts of War by Ayana Gray

Once a prisoner to Fedu, the vengeful god of death, Koffi has regained her freedom, but she is far from safe. Fedu will stop at nothing to hunt her down and use her power to decimate the mortal world. Koffi knows when Fedu will during the next Bonding, a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event. To survive, Koffi will have to find powerful new allies quickly, and convince them to help her in the terrible battle to come. Once a warrior-turned-runaway, Ekon has carved out a new life for himself outside Lkossa, but the shadows of his past still haunt him. Now, alongside unexpected friends, Ekon tries to focus on getting Koffi to the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Battle scenes with bow & arrow and sword violence

The Rise of Neptune by Scott Reintgen

The Rise of Neptune by Scott Reintgen

Lunar Jones and the Dread Knights have brought hope to Mars. Between Dread’s power and a newly formed alliance with Earth, the once-dying planet is headed for prosperity at last. The only shadow is the one cast by Dav Robinson’s Neptune is coming. As predicted, Neptune’s ships arrive in Martian space—and they’re not interested in talking. The ships launch an immediate attack. Lunar was prepared for hostilities, but the way the attack happens is unexpected. Neptune’s dragons seem divided, and its ships, while countless in number, are almost too easy to defeat. It’s clear… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fantasy violence & battles, including combat & stabbings

War Games by Alan Gratz

War Games by Alan Gratz

Evie can’t believe she’s made it to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. After fleeing the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, Evie’s family is still poor and reeling from devastating losses. She could have never guessed that the sport she took up to escape her reality would lead to this. Now, she’s competing in gymnastics on Team USA, with some of the greatest athletes in the world like track and field star Jesse Owens. But all is not as it seems in Berlin, a city now ruled by the Nazis and their tyrannical leader, Adolf Hitler. And Evie has secrets of her own. With two other Olympic athletes, who each have their own reasons for despising the Nazis, Evie has… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical antisemitism, racism, homophobia, ableism & Nazism
  • Gun & knife violence
  • World War II including discussions of genocide, concentration camps and forced sterilization of disabled people (theme)
  • Homelessness & poverty (protagonist)

Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents’ murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn’t quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn’t have a habit of causing trouble… Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Persecution for witchcraft (theme)
  • Child abuse recounted (on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption (on-page)
  • Attempted murder by poisoning (on-page)
  • Minor blood & injury depiction
  • Murder of a father by poisoning mentioned
  • Murder of a mother & great-aunt from their throats being slit (recounted & on-page)
  • Minor battle scenes and fantasy violence, including sword, bow and arrow & knife violence (recounted & on-page) as well as discussions of past war and genocide
  • Imprisonment (on-page)
  • Torture mentioned (off-page)
  • Kidnapping (on-page)
  • Loss of autonomy (magical-induced memory loss and sleep)
  • Animal death (snow leopard, elk, birds)
  • Bullying, including being magically suffocated and thrown off a cliff into the ocean to drown (on-page)

The Chemistry of Familiar Objects by Alexandra Vasti

57 Gresham Street is the most incendiary building in London. Upstairs, unconventional chemist Emmeline Starling uses combustion to solve scientific mysteries. Downstairs, buttoned-up children’s book printer Robert Vane tries very hard not to panic when the ceiling catches on fire. And when these two opposing forces are contained within one small building? Explosions are just the beginning. After two years of putting up with Robert Vane’s scowls, his precious rules, and the infuriating cleft in his chin, Emmeline has seized upon a solution to the problem of sharing 57 Gresham: she’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Gun violence
  • War themes