The Shadowed Sun by NK Jemisin

The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin

Gujaareh, the city of dreams, suffers under the imperial rule of the Kisuati Protectorate. A city where the only law was peace now knows violence and oppression. A mysterious and deadly plague now haunts the citizens of Gujaareh, dooming the infected to die screaming in their sleep. Someone must show them the way.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Incestuous rape
  • Domestic abuse
  • Child abuse

How Long ’til Black Future Month? by NK Jemisin

How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

In these stories, Jemisin sharply examines modern society, infusing magic into the mundane, and drawing deft parallels in the fantasy realms of her imagination. Dragons and hateful spirits haunt the flooded city of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mother in the Jim Crow south must figure out how to save her daughter from a fey offering impossible promises. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Queermisia
  • Rape
  • Animal cruelty

The Killing Moon by NK Jemisin

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and among the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers – the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe…and kill those judged corrupt.

But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh’s great temple, the Gatherer Ehiru must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering innocent dreamers in the goddess’s name, and Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill – or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Attempted child sexual abuse
  • Genocide

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery & sex slavery
  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming
  • Rape
  • Suicide
  • Body horror
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a father in a hunting accident recounted
  • Murder of a mother by poisoning recounted
  • Torture
  • Immolation

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

The Christmas season offers little cheer for Eileen Dunlop, an unassuming yet disturbed young woman trapped between her role as her alcoholic father’s caretaker in a home whose squalor is the talk of the neighbourhood and a day job as a secretary at the boys’ prison, filled with its own quotidian horrors.

Consumed by resentment and self-loathing, Eileen tempers her dreary days with perverse fantasies and dreams of escaping to the big city. In the meantime, she fills her nights and weekends with shoplifting, stalking a buff prison guard named Randy, and cleaning up her increasingly deranged father’s messes. When the bright, beautiful, and cheery Rebecca Saint… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape of a child
  • Anxiety
  • Eating disorder
  • Parent with alcoholism

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father – the one responsible for ruining her mother’s life. Then she’s captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unlikely partnership.

In exchange for help finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She’s amazed she doesn’t end up as his dinner – are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn’t have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side … and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut shaming
  • Rape
  • Sex slavery
  • Sexual assault
  • Kidnapping

Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks

Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks

Kylar Stern has rejected the assassin’s life. The Godking’s successful coup has left Kylar’s master, Durzo, and his best friend, Logan, dead. He is starting over: new city, new friends, and new profession.

But when he learns that Logan might actually be alive and in hiding, Kylar is faced with an agonizing choice: will he give up the way of shadows forever and live in peace with his new family, or will he risk everything by taking on the ultimate hit?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Suicide
  • Self-harm
  • Blood depiction
  • Cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death
  • War themes

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live.

When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he’s willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism
  • Slut-shaming
  • Fatmisia
  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Cheating
  • Child abuse
  • Hallucinations
  • Pregnancy mentioned
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Death of a child
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Genocide
  • Fire
  • Animal death

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he’s grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly – and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins’ world of dangerous politics and strange magics – and cultivate a flair for death. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Rape of a child

Hot as Hades by Alisha Rai

Hot as Hades by Alisha Rai

It’s not easy being Hades. Constantly guarding his world against other meddling and ambitious deities is stressful work. So when a naked goddess falls directly into his lap, along with the news that he has to shelter her for the indefinite future, he is less than thrilled. Particularly since he can’t help but lust after the beautiful female.

The Underworld isn’t the first place Persephone would pick for a vacation—who in their right mind would choose a dark palace over sunshine and flowers? Yet from Hades’s first touch, the dark, sexy ruler fascinates her and has her thinking a fling might be just the thing to while away her confinement… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Threats of rape