Tag Archives: Slavery & Indentured Servitude

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of slavery and indentured servitude.

See also Racism.

Activation Degradation by Marina Lostetter

Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter

When Unit Four—a biological soft robot built and stored high above the Jovian atmosphere—is activated for the first time, it’s in crisis mode. Aliens are attacking the Helium-3 mine it was created to oversee, and now its sole purpose is to defend Earth’s largest energy resource from the invaders in ship-to-ship combat. But something’s wrong. Unit Four doesn’t feel quite right. There are files in its databanks it can’t account for, unusual chemical combinations roaring through its pipes, and the primers it possesses on the aliens are suspiciously sparse. The robot is under… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Panic attack, on-page
  • Drugging
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Murder mentioned
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Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

In Regency London, Zacharias Wythe is England’s first African Sorcerer Royal. And that’s only the first of his problems. He must juggle the conflicting demands of a wayward Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, where a faction schemes to remove him from his position by fair means or foul. He must cope with the Fairy Court refusing to grant Britain the magical resources it needs. And now the British Government is avid to deploy this increasingly scare magic in its war with France. He must also contend with rumours that he murdered his predecessor and guardian… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Colourism
  • Misogyny
  • Classism
  • Slavery & indentured servitude
  • Hallucinations mentioned
  • Suicide recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Burns
  • Dead bodies
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a husband
  • Death of a father
  • Murder discussed
  • Fire
  • Death by drowning recounted
  • War & colonialism themes
  • Workplace bullying
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The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

Fallon is the daughter of a proud Celtic king, the sister of the legendary warrior Sorcha, and the sworn enemy of Julius Caesar. When Fallon was a child, Caesar’s armies invaded her homeland, and her beloved sister was killed in battle. Now, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Fallon is eager to follow in her sister’s footsteps and earn her place in the fearsome Cantii war band. She never gets the chance. Fallon is captured and sold to an elite training school for female gladiators—owned by none other than Julius Caesar. In a cruel twist of fate, the man who destroyed Fallon’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Child neglect
  • Attempted rape & sexual assault
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a baby brother from fever mentioned
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Murder
  • Sword violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Colonialism & military violence
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Witchmark by CL Polk

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be enslaved to his family’s interest or to be committed to a witches’ asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn’t leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family, but even after faking his own death and reinventing himself as a doctor at a cash-strapped veterans’ hospital, Miles can’t hide what he truly is. When a fatally poisoned patient exposes Miles’ healing gift and his witch… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Homophobia
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Dissociation & depersonalisation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Medical experimentation
  • Cancer
  • Death of a spouse
  • Poisoning
  • Strangulation
  • Torture
  • War themes

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Jo Montfort is beautiful and rich, and soon—like all the girls in her class—she’ll graduate from finishing school and be married off to a wealthy bachelor. Which is the last thing she wants. Jo secretly dreams of becoming a writer—a newspaper reporter like the trailblazing Nellie Bly. Wild aspirations aside, Jo’s life seems perfect until tragedy strikes: her father is found dead. Charles Montfort accidentally shot himself while cleaning his revolver. One of New York City’s wealthiest men, he owned a newspaper and was partner in a massive shipping firm, and Jo knows he was far… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical sexism & ableism
  • Slavery
  • Forced sex work
  • Suicide
  • Involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation
  • Murder of a father
  • Physical assault & kidnapping

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the genetically-engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the pirate-infested NeoPacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water. There’s no time to mourn. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an unhatched Reckoner… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Suicide, attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Emesis
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Graphic animal death & cruelty

The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.. At least, that’s what he thinks. In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Forced drug dependency
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Torture
  • War themes
  • Animal cruelty
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Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

When his master’s eccentric brother chooses him to be his manservant, Wash is terrified of the cruelties he is certain await him. But Christopher Wilde, or “Titch,” is a naturalist, explorer, scientist, inventor, and abolitionist. He initiates Wash into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky; where two people, separated by an impossible divide, might begin to see each other as human; and where a boy born in chains can embrace a life of dignity and meaning. But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash’s head, Titch abandons everything to save him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Body mutilation & disfigurement
  • Torture mentioned
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The Company of Fiends by Kathryn Moon

The Company of Fiends by Kathryn Moon

After eight years on the stage with The Company of Fiends, the glow of the spotlight is starting to wear thin for Hazel Nix. The theatre is perfect for a girl like her—one with a secret she keeps even from her more monstrous peers—but playing pretend is only exciting for so long. After so many lovers, on stage and otherwise, Hazel has yet to make a lasting connection with anyone and considers taking her last bow at the company. Just as Hazel encounters a new and intriguing patron, disaster strikes the theatre. Girls are going missing… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Human trafficking mentioned
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Involuntary body modifications recounted
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Murder
  • Torture, off-page
  • Strangulation
  • Home invasion
  • Physical assault (mugging)
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The Ones That Disappeared by Zana Fraillon

The Ones That Disappeared by Zana Fraillon

Separated, scared and looking after a small child, Esra will do whatever she can to reunite with her friend Miran, who was captured by the police – the police who she mustn’t trust. Hiding in the shadows of the forest, Esra is found by a local boy, a boy with his own story. Together they will create a man out of mud. A man who will come to life and lead them through a dark labyrinth of tunnels until they finally have the courage the step above ground. Until they finally have the courage to speak their story. Until they finally have the courage to be free.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Child abuse
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
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