Plague, Pandemic & Contagion – Page 5 – Trigger Warning Database

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish

Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history. As the novel opens, Helen has been summoned by a former student to view a cache of seventeenth-century Jewish documents newly discovered in his home during a renovation. Enlisting the help of Aaron Levy, an American graduate student as impatient as he is… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Misogyny
Homomisia
Antisemitism
Chronic illness
Plague
Death of a parent
Murder
Exile
Forced conversion

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC’s goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened.

Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Eating disorder (anorexia)
Suicidal ideation
Pandemic

All That’s Left in the World by Erik Brown

All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown

When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie’s house, he’s injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world’s population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it’s to be scared of what other desperate people will do . . . so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other?

After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn’t… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Pandemic
COVID-19 mentioned
Dead bodies
Murder
Gun violence

Clay’s Ark by Octavia Butler

Clay’s Ark by Octavia E. Butler

In an alternate America marked by volatile class warfare, Blake Maslin is traveling with his teenage twin daughters when their car is ambushed. Their attackers appear sickly yet possess inhuman strength, and they transport Blake’s family to an isolated compound. There, the three captives discover that the compound’s residents have a highly contagious alien disease that has mutated their DNA to make them powerful, dangerous, and compelled to infect others. If Blake and his daughters do not escape, they will be infected with a virus that will either kill them outright or transform them into outcasts whose very existence is a threat to the world around them… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Pandemic
Torture
Kidnapping
Imprisonment

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

‘Are you happy in your life?’ Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before the man he’s never met smiles down at him and says, ‘Welcome back.’ In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it… Read more.

Goo d reads • The Story Graph

Grey-area cheating
Drug use
Death of a child
Contagion
Murder
Gun violence
Kidnapping

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik

Tragedy has struck His Majesty’s Aerial Corps, whose magnificent fleet of fighting dragons and their human captains valiantly defend England’s shores against the encroaching armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. An epidemic of unknown origin and no known cure is decimating the noble dragons’ ranks– forcing the hopelessly stricken into quarantine. Now only Temeraire and a pack of newly recruited dragons remain uninfected–and stand as the only means of an airborne defense against France’s ever bolder sorties.

Bonaparte’s dragons are already harrowing Britain’s ships at sea. Only one recourse remains: Temeraire and his captain, Will Laurence… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Unplanned pregnancy
Plague
War themes

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

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

Fever 1973 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Fever 1973 by Laurie Halse Anderson

It’s late summer 1793, and the streets of Philadelphia are abuzz with mosquitoes and rumors of fever. Down near the docks, many have taken ill, and the fatalities are mounting. Now they include Polly, the serving girl at the Cook Coffeehouse. But fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook doesn’t get a moment to mourn the passing of her childhood playmate. New customers have overrun her family’s coffee shop, located far from the mosquito-infested river, and Mattie’s concerns of fever are all but overshadowed by dreams of growing her family’s small business into a thriving enterprise. But when the fever begins to strike closer to home, Mattie’s struggle to build a new life must give way to a new fight—the fight to stay alive.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Blood letting
Yellow fever pandemic
Death of loved ones

The Girl with All the Gifts by MR Carey

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favourite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Blood & gore depiction
Global pandemic
Gun violence
Animal death