Military Violence & War Themes – Page 62

Twinchantment by Elise Allen

Twinchantment by Elise Allen

Princesses Flissa and Sara are even closer than most twins. In fact, most of the kingdom thinks they’re the same person.
When magic was outlawed in Kaloon generations ago, twins, black cats, and other potentially -magical beings were outlawed, too. Since they were born, Flissa and Sara have pretended to be one princess, Flissara, trading off royal duties like attending glamorous balls, participating in fencing exhibitions, and making friends with other young nobles, all while hiding in plain sight.

But when the first magical attack in years puts their mother’s life in danger, the girls must break the rules that have protected them to save her. Enlisting a brave servant boy and his plucky black kitten as their guides, they set off on an epic quest to the Twists-a forbidden place full of dark magic-to find the evil mage who cursed the queen. With a case of mistaken identity, a wickedly powerful exile out for vengeance, and time running out for their mother, the twins might just need to make their own magic to save the day.
In the first book of this new series, author Elise Allen brings to life a fantastical world filled with high-stakes adventure, incredible twists, and all the spark and humor of sisterhood.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Death and loss depiction
War themes

The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

Callum Hunt’s summer break isn’t like other kids’. His closest companion is a Chaos-ridden wolf, Havoc. His father suspects him of being secretly evil. And, of course, most kids aren’t heading back to the magical world of the Magisterium in the fall.

It’s not easy for Call . . . and it gets even harder after he checks out his basement and discovers that his dad might be trying to destroy both him and Havoc.

Call escapes to the Magisterium — but things only intensify there. The Alkahest — a copper gauntlet capable of separating certain magicians from their magic — has been stolen. And in their search to discover the culprit, Call and his friends Aaron and Tamara awaken the attention of some very dangerous foes — and get closer to an even more dangerous truth.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism, internalised ableism & ableist language
Child abuse
Physical injuries, scars & surgery mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & wife recounted
Murder & mass murder (off-page)
Fire
Kidnapping
War themes
Animal experiments mentioned
Bullying

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism, including blackface, and antiziganism (g slur)
Anti-semitism and Nazism (theme)
Ableism & ableist language
Parental abandonment & verbal abuse
PTSD & nightmares
Recreational drug use (smoking)
Emesis
Starvation
Gore depiction (dead bodies)
Death of a brother
Death of a child
Death of a father & uncle mentioned
Murder
Explosions, including air raids, and fire
Death by exposure to the cold
War themes* and battle scenes
Poverty themes
Bullying

*Set during WWII and discussed the Holocaust.

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abwai

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abwai

In a country ripped apart by war, Tareq lives with his big and loving family . . . until the bombs strike. His city is in ruins. His life is destroyed. And those who have survived are left to figure out their uncertain future.

In the wake of destruction, he’s threatened by Daesh fighters and witnesses a public beheading. Tareq’s family knows that to continue to stay alive, they must leave. As they travel as refugees from Syria to Turkey to Greece, facing danger at every turn, Tareq must find the resilience and courage to complete his harrowing journey.

But while this is one family’s story, it is also the timeless tale of all wars, of all tragedy, and of all strife. When you are a refugee, success is outliving your loss.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape (mentioned)
Grief depiction and death of a parent, child and sibling
Murder and bombings
Drowning
War themes

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny (theme)
Religious persecution (theme)
Ableism & ableist language
Rape (multiple, off-page), martial rape & sexual assault
Adult-minor relationship and forced arranged marriage
Physical child abuse
Suicide (self-sacrifice)
Pregnancy & death from childbirth
Abortion discussed
Alcohol consumption
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a wife & mother
Death of a father
Graphic animal death & hunting
War themes mentioned

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

The dashing young king, Nikolai Lantsov, has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war–and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, Nikolai must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threat-ening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha general, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible…. Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Fatphobia & body-shaming
Slavery
Sexual assault (implied)
Substance addiction & drug abuse
Suicide
Torture
Captivity
War themes
Bullying

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot. To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those…. Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Persecution for witchcraft
Misogyny
Rape by coercion recounted & disccussed
Paedophilia mentioned
Sexual harassment
Aquaphobia & related anxiety attacks
Amnesia
Death of a mother & a newborn son mentioned
Exile & banishment
Kidnapping
Military violence mentioned & recounted
Cave collapse
Animal death & animal attack

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Racism & racial slurs
Slavery
Attempted rape
Threats of rape
Child abuse
Domestic violence
Self-harm
Death of a parent recounted
Death of a friend
Torture
Kidnapping
War themes

The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad

The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad

Fatima lives in the city of Noor, a thriving stop along the Silk Road. There the music of myriad languages fills the air, and people of all faiths weave their lives together. However, the city bears scars of its recent past, when the chaotic tribe of Shayateen djinn slaughtered its entire population — except for Fatima and two other humans. Now ruled by a new maharajah, Noor is protected from the Shayateen by the Ifrit, djinn of order and reason, and by their commander, Zulfikar.

But when one of the most potent of the Ifrit dies, Fatima is changed in ways she cannot fathom, ways that scare even those who love her. Oud in hand, Fatima is drawn into the intrigues of the maharajah and his sister, the affairs of Zulfikar and the djinn, and the dangers of a magical battlefield.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Sexual harassment
Grief depiction
Death of a brother recounted
Death of a father recounted
Disappearance of a sibling
Murder & attempted murder
Massacre and genocide recounted
Knife violence & stabbing
Poisoning
Fire
War themes
Poverty themes

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Antisemitism & Nazism
Rape
Murder
Torture
Bullying
War themes*

*The book is set in France during World War 2.