Military Violence & War Themes – Page 4

Zenobia by Morten Dürr and Lars Horneman

Zenobia was once a great warrior queen of Syria. She was courageous. No one gave her orders. Once she even went to war against the emperor of Rome. When things feel overwhelming for Amina, her mother reminds her to think of Zenobia and be strong. Amina is a Syrian girl caught up in a war that reaches her village. To escape the war she boards a small boat crammed with other refugees. The boat is rickety and the turbulent seas send Amina overboard. In the dark water Amina remembers the journey she had to undertake with her uncle to escape. And she thinks of the brave warrior Zenobia.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Death of a child from drowning in a boating accident
War themes
Refugee experiences

Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik

As the youngest member of her High House, Catarina von Hasenberg is used to being underestimated, but her youth and flighty, bubbly personality mask a clever mind and stubborn determination. Her enemies, blind to her true strength, do not suspect that Cat is a spy—which makes her the perfect candidate to go undercover at a rival House’s summer retreat to gather intelligence on their recent treachery. Cat’s overprotective older sister reluctantly agrees, but on one condition: Cat cannot go alone. Alexander Sterling, a quiet, gorgeous bodyguard, will accompany her, posing as her lover. After Cat tries, and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Physical & emotional parental abuse
Alcohol consumption
Non-consensual medical experimentation recounted
Minor physical injury including maiming by cutting out tongue
Death of parents in a bombing
Murder & attempted murder
Imprisonment
Near-fatal motorcycle accident
Torture (secondary character)
War themes & attempted coup

Context : The protagonist’s father manipulated her genes as a child; her brother-in-law experimented on her sister without consent and tortured her.

The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri

Malini has claimed her rightful throne as the empress of Parijatdvipa, just as the nameless gods prophesied. Now, in order to gain the support of the priesthood who remain loyal to the fallen emperor, she must consider a terrible Claim her throne and burn in order to seal her legacy—or find another willing to take her place on the pyre. Priya has survived the deathless waters and now their magic runs in her veins. But a mysterious yaksa with flowering eyes and a mouth of thorns lies beneath the waters. The yaksa promises protection for Ahiranya. But in exchange, she needs a sacrifice. And she’s chosen Priya as the one to offer it… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny & sexism
Intimate partner violence
Forced parent-child separation mentioned
Alcoholism
Suicidal ideation & self-sacrifice
Alcohol consumption & drug use (pipe & hookah smoking)
Blood & injury depiction including burns, broken bones, chronic pain, illness (which causes plants to grow through skin) and emesis
Death of a brother recounted
Murder & attempted murder
Fire
Drowning
Imprisonment
War themes & battle scenes
Animal death

An Honored Vow by Melissa Blair

Still reeling over her discovery of a staggering secret about her closest ally, Keera has no time to rest. She and her fellow rebels plan a desperate rescue mission after King Damien takes one of their own hostage. Opening the kingdom’s magical seals has transformed Keera in ways even the wisest Fae elders could not have anticipated. With the kingdom’s Halfling population suddenly posing a risk to the crown, the land is plunged into violence as the king begins a new blood purge. Keera and her allies gather an army to meet Damien’s forces in a final confrontation of epic, and tragic, proportions.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Alcohol consumption
Alcoholism
Self-harm
Suicidal ideation
Emesis
Torture
War themes

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

One of the most influential literary works of our time, One Hundred Years of Solitude remains a dazzling and original achievement by the masterful Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child marriage, paedophilia & incest
War themes

A War of Swallowed Stars by Sangu Mandanna

A prince without his kingdom. A kingdom without its princess. The destruction of the stars themselves. War is destroying the galaxy. Esmae has vanished without a trace. A terrifying, ravenous beast is devouring the stars one by one. Titania is offered a gift that may well be a curse. Alexi, the exiled prince, is asked to pay a heavy price for his mistakes. And far, far away, on a dark, mysterious planet, a sleeping god stirs awake. War or family. Pride or peace. As the end of the world draws ever closer, Esmae and Alexi must decide how far they’ll go to win—and who they’ll sacrifice along the way.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Graphic blood & injury depiction & needles
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a brother & son
Death of a friend recounted
Murder & mass murder
Attempted infanticide recounted
Knife & sword violence
Poisoning recounted
Kidnapping & captivity
Fire recounted
War & battle scenes (theme)

A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna

Raised alone and far away from her home on Kali, Esmae longs to return to her family. When the King of Wychstar offers to gift the unbeatable, sentient warship Titania to a warrior that can win his competition, she sees her way home: she’ll enter the competition, reveal her true identity to the world, and help her famous brother win back the crown of Kali. It’s a great plan. Until it falls apart.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism
Parental abandonment
Blood & injury depiction
Infanticide mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Knife & sword violence
Fire recounted
War, rebellion & royal coup (theme)

Quicksilver by Callie Hart

Do not touch the sword. Do not turn the key. Do not open the gate. In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water. Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember. But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone. When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape of the protagonist’s mother & sex work mentioned
Suicidal ideation
Forced sterilization recounted
Blood, injury & gore depiction including decapitation & emesis
Murder & torture
War themes
Extreme childhood poverty recounted

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back. Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate. Believing he’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual assault & Harassment
Blood & injury depiction
Murder
Fire
War themes

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again.Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Forced arranged marriage
Emesis mentioned
Death of a parent (off-page)
Attempted murder by poisoning
Attempted kidnapping of a child
War themes