Slavery & Indentured Servitude – Page 17

The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green

The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green

In Brigant, Princess Catherine prepares for a loveless political marriage arranged by her brutal and ambitious father. In Calidor, downtrodden servant March seeks revenge on the prince who betrayed his people. In Pitoria, feckless Edyon steals cheap baubles for cheaper thrills as he drifts from town to town. And in the barren northern territories, thirteen-year-old Tash is running for her life as she plays bait for the gruff demon hunter Gravell. As alliances shift and shatter, and old certainties are overturned, our four heroes find their past… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Slavery
Self-harm
Torture mentioned

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.

So begins an unexpected journey that takes…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Slavery
Suicide mentioned

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

As soon as the government passed legislation allowing humans to be genetically engineered and sold as pets, the rich and powerful rushed to own beautiful girls like Ella. Trained from birth to be graceful, demure, and above all, perfect, these “family companions” enter their masters’ homes prepared to live a life of idle luxury.

Ella is happy with her new role as playmate for a congressman’s bubbly young daughter, but she doesn’t expect Penn, the congressman’s handsome… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Fatmisia & body shaming
Paedophilia

The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff

So began the ceremony that was to make young Phaedrus, ex-slave and gladiator, Horse Lord of the Dalriadain. Phaedrus had come a long way since the fight in the arena that gained him his freedom. He had left behind his old Roman life and identity and had entered another, more primitive, world—that of the British tribes in the far north. In this world of superstition and ancient ritual, of fierce loyalties and intertribal rivalry, Phaedrus found companionship and love, and something more—a purpose and a meaning to his life as he came fully to understand the significance of the Mark of the Horse… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Sexual assault (nonconsensual kiss)
Forced arranged marriage
Suicide, on-page
Unplanned pregnancy
Emesis
Death of a father recounted
Forced murder of a friend
Animal sacrifice (horse)

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear. It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Rape & threats of rape mentioned
Death of parents recounted
Murder & genocide
Graphic torture

Fresh Romance, Volume One

Fresh Romance, Vol. 1 by Kate Leth, Sarah Vaughan, Sarah Kuhn and Marguerite Bennett

FRESH ROMANCE is an exciting collection of romance comics from some of comics’ most talented creators, including Kate Leth, Arielle Jovellanos, Sarah Vaughn, Sarah Winifred Searle, Sarah Kuhn, Marguerite Bennett, and Trungles. From unhappy historical marriages to covert teenage romances, there’s something for everyone in FRESH ROMANCE.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Queermisia
Misogyny

The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley

The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley

As an African tightrope dancer in Victorian London, Iris is used to being strange. She is certainly a strange sight for leering British audiences always eager for the spectacle of colonial curiosity. But Iris also has a secret that even “strange” doesn’t capture… She cannot die.

Haunted by her unnatural power and with no memories of her past, Iris is obsessed with discovering… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Sexism
Slavery
Human trafficking
Eugenics mentioned
Sex work mentioned
Sexual harassment
Domestic abuse
Amnesia
Suicide
Drugging
Blood & gore depiction
Involuntary medical experimentation
Hospitalisation
Cannibalism
Murder
Torture
Kidnapping
Police brutality
Fire
Poverty

A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris

A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris

In this second thrilling instalment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straightforward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time..

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Slavery
Domestic violence
Lynching
Gun violence

The Institute by Stephen King

The Institute by Stephen King

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Physical child abuse
Suicide
Suicidal ideation
Alcohol consumption
Medical experimentation
Death of a child from a seizure
Death of parents
Murder
Torture
Kidnapping
Drowning

The Splinter King by Mike Brooks

The Splinter King by Mike Brooks

Darel, dragon knight and the new leader of Black Keep, must travel to the palace of the God-King to beg for the lives of his people. But in the capital of Narida, Marin and his warrior husband will be drawn into a palace coup, and Princess Tila will resort to murder to keep her hold on power.

In the far reaches of the kingdom an heir in exile is hunted by assassins, rumours of a rival God-King abound, and daemonic forces from across the seas draw ever nearer… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Slavery
Execution mentioned
War themes