Tag Archives: Slavery & Indentured Servitude

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th-century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles. But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Slavery
  • Antisemitism
  • Queermisia
  • Rape mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking and medicinal drug use mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction including broken bones and knife wounds
  • Depiction of corpses
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Genocide recounted
  • Torture mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Knife violence
  • Drowning
  • Fire
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
  • War themes
  • Animal death

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Physical, verbal & emotional child abuse recounted
  • Parental abandonment
  • Panic attack
  • Suicide recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging mentioned
  • Stillbirth recounted
  • Blood & physical injuries depiction
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father in a fire recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Explosion
  • Poisoning
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • Blackmail
  • Colonialism & slavery discussed
  • Animal death mentioned

The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove

The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove

Mal and the crew take receipt of a sealed crate which they are being paid to transport to Badger, no questions asked. Yet once their cargo is safely stowed aboard, River insists Mal should “space” it out of the airlock, for it contains, she insists, ghosts. With supplies running low, the crew desperately need another pay day, but soon find themselves paralysed by hallucinations of their deepest hopes and desires, so vivid they cannot be distinguished from reality. River is the only one unaffected, and desperately tries to awaken her crew mates, while the fantasies turn sour, and the ship begins to spin out of control.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Human trafficking
  • Torture

The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

They say the thirst of blood is like a madness – they must sate it. Even with their own kin. On the eve of her divining, the day she’ll discover her fate, seventeen-year-old Lil and her twin sister Kizzy are captured and enslaved by the cruel Boyar Valcar, taken far away from their beloved traveller community. Forced to work in the harsh and unwelcoming castle kitchens, Lil is comforted when she meets Mira, a fellow slave who she feels drawn to in a way she doesn’t understand. But she also learns about the Dragon, a mysterious and terrifying figure of myth and legend who takes girls… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Antiziganism
  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
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The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan

Magnus Chase, a once-homeless teen, is a resident of the Hotel Valhalla and one of Odin’s chosen warriors. As the son of Frey, the god of summer, fertility, and health, Magnus isn’t naturally inclined to fighting. But he has strong and steadfast friends, including Hearthstone the elf, Blitzen the dwarf, and Samirah the Valkyrie, and together they have achieved brave deeds, such as defeating Fenris Wolf and battling giants for Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Now Magnus faces his most dangerous trial yet. His cousin, Annabeth, recruits her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, to give Magnus… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Transmisia
  • Domestic abuse

The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan

The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan

Those were the orders my old enemy Nero had given to Meg McCaffrey. But why would an ancient Roman emperor zero in on Indianapolis? And now that I have made it here (still in the embarrassing form of Lester Papadopoulos), where is Meg? Meg, my demigod master, is a cantankerous street urchin. She betrayed me to Nero back at Camp Half-Blood. And while I’m mortal, she can order me to do anything . . . even kill myself. Despite all this, if I have a chance of prying her away from her villainous stepfather, I have… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Torture

Death Knocks Twice by Robert Thorogood

Death Knocks Twice by Robert Thorogood

Reluctantly stationed on the sweltering Caribbean island of Saint-Marie, Detective Inspector Richard Poole dreams of cold winds, drizzly rain and a pint in his local pub. Just as he is feeling as fed up as can be, a mysterious vagrant is found dead in the grounds of the historic Beaumont plantation. Immediately assumed to be suicide, DI Poole is not so convinced and determined to prove otherwise. Never mind that the only fingerprints on the murder weapon belong to the victim. Or that the room was locked from the inside. Before long, death knocks twice and a second… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Domestic violence
  • Child abuse
  • Suicide
  • Colonialism mentioned

Beasts of Abigaile, Volume 1 by Spica Aoki

Beasts of Abigaile, Vol. 1 by Spica Aoki

Nina feels like she’s entered a fairy tale after moving to the beautiful country of Ruberia. But the charm wears off quick when she gets bitten by a wolflike luga and becomes one herself! She’s soon dragged off to the penitentiary academy known as Abigaile, where young luga learn how to serve humans. Her strong-willed attitude soon wrecks havoc on the academy’s alpha-omega hierarchy, winning her a few friends, plenty of enemies—and maybe even a lover or two?! Will Nina ever make it home? Or will she remain a luga forever? 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Child abuse
  • Torture mentioned

Empress of All Seasons by Holly Miller

Empress of All Seasons by Holly Miller

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete—all except yōkai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren’t hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yōkai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Child abuse
  • Parental abandonment
  • Self-injury
  • Childbirth
  • Forced adoption
  • Exile
  • Death by starvation
  • Murder
  • Poisoning
  • Explosions
  • Fire
  • Cyclones
  • Animal attack
  • Animal cruelty & death
  • Bullying

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 20 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 20 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Princess Yona lives an ideal life as the only princess of her kingdom. Doted on by her father, the king, and protected by her faithful guard Hak, she cherishes the time spent with the man she loves, Su-won. But everything changes on her 16th birthday when tragedy strikes her family! Betrayal leads to Yona and Riri being abducted by the nation of Sei! Forced to work as slaves, the two stubbornly refuse to be controlled, but their situation is dire. In order to save Yona and Riri, Hak and the Four Dragons split into two groups and sneak into enemy territory!

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Substance addiction
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