Tag Archives: Slavery & Indentured Servitude

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

See also Racism.

To Poison a Prince by Aldrea Alien

To Poison a Prince by Aldrea Alien

Imperial Crown Prince Darshan knew his journey home wasn’t going to be the modest one he hoped for, especially not after eloping with Hamish, a former prince—and now exile—of Tirglas. When he thwarts a clumsy attempt on his husband’s life during a soirée hosted by his long-standing rival and half-sister, he figures the worst is behind them. Yet, the threat of death continues to shadow them across the empire. Someone is intent on making the rumours of his husband’s demise a reality, someone who can erase the memory of their very presence from people’s minds… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Homophobia mentioned
  • Physical & psychological child abuse mentioned
  • Depression mentioned
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Graphic attempted murder
  • Poisoning

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden

In South Africa, the future looks promising. Personal robots are making life easier for the working class. The government is harnessing renewable energy to provide infrastructure for the poor. And in the bustling coastal town of Port Elizabeth, the economy is booming thanks to the genetic engineering industry which has found a welcome home there. Yes–the days to come are looking very good for South Africans. That is, if they can survive the present challenges: A new hallucinogenic drug sweeping the country. An emerging AI… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Child abuse
  • Rape
  • Genital mutilation
  • Torture
  • Mass murder
  • Bombing
  • Animal hunting & poaching

Gutter Child by Jael Richardson

Gutter Child by Jael Richardson

Set in an imagined world in which the most vulnerable are forced to buy their freedom by working off their debt to society, Gutter Child uncovers a nation divided into the privileged Mainland and the policed Gutter. In this world, Elimina Dubois is one of only 100 babies taken from the Gutter and raised in the land of opportunity as part of a social experiment led by the Mainland government. But when her Mainland mother dies, Elimina finds herself all alone, a teenager forced into an unfamiliar life of servitude… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Indentured servitude
  • Rape
  • Forced sex work
  • Child abuse
  • Suicide
  • Teen pregnancy
  • Miscarriage
  • Murder of an infant
  • Police brutality

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Edinburgh for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they’ve arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic––leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible. When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Slavery
  • Misogyny
  • Domestic violence
  • Substance addiction
  • Self-harm including self-flagellation
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Lynching
  • Kidnapping
  • Torture

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. The Mage… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Slavery
  • Rape recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hospitalisation
  • Emesis
  • Physical injuries
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother in a car accident
  • Loss of autonomy (possession, mind control & memory manipulation)

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore

What if you could live forever—but without your one true love? Reincarnation Blues is the story of a man who has been reincarnated nearly 10,000 times, in search of the secret to immortality so that he can be with his beloved, the incarnation of Death. Neil Gaiman meets Kurt Vonnegut in this darkly whimsical, hilariously profound, and wildly imaginative comedy of the secrets of life and love. Transporting us from ancient India to outer space to Renaissance Italy to the present day, is a journey through time, space, and the human heart.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Slavery
  • Graphic rape
  • Sexual assault of a child
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Torture
  • Animal death

Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Amidst the whir of city life, a girl from Harlem is drawn into the glittering underworld of Manhattan, where she’s hired to use her knives to strike fear amongst its most dangerous denizens. But the ghosts from her past are always by her side—and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she loves most. Can one woman ever sacrifice enough to save an entire community?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Racism
  • Rape
  • Death of a child
  • Torture
  • Lynching

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

They did the impossible – deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire. They did the impossible – deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Hallucinations
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm
  • Forced pregnancy
  • Eugenics
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • War themes
  • Animal cruelty

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death

Alice by Christina Henry

Alice by Christina Henry

In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo with the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blonde, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place-just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood… Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Slavery & sex slavery
  • Rape & threats of rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Cannibalism
  • Body horror
  • Psychiatric hospitalization
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Animal death & abuse