Tag Archives: Slavery & Indentured Servitude

Blood and Sand by CV Wyk 

Blood and Sand by C.V. Wyk

Roma Victrix. The Republic of Rome is on a relentless march to create an empire―an empire built on the backs of the conquered, brought back to Rome as slaves. Attia was once destined to rule as the queen and swordmaiden of Thrace, the greatest warrior kingdom the world had seen since Sparta. Now she is a slave, given to Xanthus, the Champion of Rome, as a sign of his master’s favor. Enslaved as a child, Xanthus is the preeminent gladiator of his generation… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Suicidal ideation
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Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. It is a place he will never forget. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy: how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous man she had loved since she was young. How her choice led to betrayal and terrible revenge – and continues to torment those in the present. How love can transgress authority, convention, even death.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Indentured servitude
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Arranged marriage
  • Abusive relationship
  • Gambling addiction
  • Hallucinations & delusions
  • Suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Pregnancy
  • Death from childbirth
  • Death from starvation
  • Desecration of a corpse
  • Captivity & confinement
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Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.

Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem – he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Slut-shaming
  • Slavery
  • Attempted rape
  • Suicide
  • Self-harm
  • Chronic pain
  • Cannibalism
  • Torture
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Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

The end is coming. Logan Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him but it’s going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there’s only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy. It’s past time for the Bloody-Nine to come home.

With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no one is safe, and no one can be trusted. His days with a sword are far behind him. It’s a good thing blackmail, threats and torture still work well enough… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Chronic pain
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Torture
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Hexmaker by Jordan Hawk

Hexmaker by Jordan L. Hawk

Fox shifter Malachi steals for one of the biggest crime rings in New York City. But when he witnesses the murder of a millionaire, the only person who can keep him safe is Dr. Owen Yates, forensic hexman for the Metropolitan Witch Police—and Malachi’s witch.

Owen is horrified to discover his familiar is an uneducated thief. Even worse, Malachi threatens to unleash Owen’s deepest desires…desires Owen can’t act upon, as he’s destined for an arranged marriage to secure the Yates family fortune.

Their agreement: Malachi will be Owen’s lover as well as his partner, until the day of the wedding. But as their hunt for the murderer carries them from teeming slums to Fifth Avenue mansions, Owens begins to realize Malachi commands his heart as well as his body.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Child abandonment
  • Physical abuse
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood dpiction
  • Dead body
  • Attempted murder
  • Gun violence
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The Princess Knight by GA Aiken

The Princess Knight by G.A. Aiken

Gemma Smythe dedicated her life to the glory of battle. With her fellow War Monks, she worshipped the war gods, rained destruction on her enemies, and raised the dead when the fancy took her. Until her sister, Keeley became the prophesied Blacksmith Queen, and Gemma broke faith with her order to journey to the Amichai Mountain and fight by Keeley’s side. The Amichai warriors are an unruly, never-to-be-tamed lot, especially their leader-in-waiting, Quinn… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child slavery, off-page
  • Misogyny
  • Self-sacrifice in battle, on-page
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Decapitation
  • Graphic murder & attempted murder
  • Graphic sword, hammer & knife violence
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Attempted animal sacrifice
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A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham

A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham

The city-state of Saraykeht dominates the Summer Cities. Its wealth is beyond measure; its port is open to all the merchants of the world, and its ruler, the Khai Saraykeht, commands forces to rival the Gods. Commerce and trade fill the streets with a hundred languages, and the coffers of the wealthy with jewels and gold. Any desire, however exotic or base, can be satisfied in its soft quarter. Blissfully ignorant of the forces that fuel their prosperity, the people live and work secure in the knowledge that their city is a bastion of progress in a harsh world. It would be a tragedy if it fell.

Saraykeht is poised on the knife-edge of disaster… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Fatmisia
  • Slavery
  • Child abuse
  • Cheating
  • Drug use
  • Forced abortion

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey 

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

The land of Terre d’Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good… and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.

Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with very a special mission… and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel’s Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one.

Phèdre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze… Read more.

.Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Paedophilia
  • Child abuse
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Animal death

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black and illustrated by Rovina Cai

Before he was a cruel prince or a wicked king, he was a faerie child with a heart of stone. Revealing a deeper look into the dramatic life of Elfhame’s enigmatic high king, Cardan, his tale includes delicious details of life before The Cruel Prince, an adventure beyond The Queen of Nothing, and familiar moments from The Folk of the Air trilogy, told wholly from Cardan’s perspective.

This new instalment in the Folk of the Air series is a return to the heart-racing romance, danger, humour, and drama that enchanted readers everywhere. Each chapter is paired with lavish and luminous full-colour art, making this the perfect collector’s item to be enjoyed by both new audiences and old.

.Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Parental abandonment
  • Cheating
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Recreational drug use, including forced & coerced use
  • Whipping mentioned
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • Murder mentioned
  • Bullying

The Rise of Kyoshi by FC Yee

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee with Michael Dante DiMartino

F. C. Yee’s The Rise of Kyoshi delves into the story of Kyoshi, the Earth Kingdom–born Avatar. The longest-living Avatar in this beloved world’s history, Kyoshi established the brave and respected Kyoshi Warriors, but also founded the secretive Dai Li, which led to the corruption, decline, and fall of her own nation. The first of two novels based on Kyoshi, The Rise of Kyoshi maps her journey from a girl of humble origins to the merciless pursuer of justice who is still feared and admired centuries after she became the Avatar. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Child neglect
  • Starvation
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Torture