Tag Archives: Torture

Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim

Channi was not born a monster. But when her own father offers her in sacrifice to the Demon Witch, she is forever changed. Cursed with a serpent’s face, Channi is the exact opposite of her beautiful sister, Vanna—the only person in the village who looks at Channi and doesn’t see a monster. The only person she loves and trusts.

Now seventeen, Vanna is to be married off in a vulgar contest that will enrich the coffers of the village leaders. Only Channi, who’s had to rely on her strength and cunning all these years… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Self-harm
  • Pregnancy
  • Decapitation
  • Cannibalism
  • Torture
  • Human sacrifice

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjej-Brenyah

Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own.

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Homomisia
  • Rape
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Police brutality

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

This powerful and moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea weaves together past and present, tracing the ripple effects of war and immigration on one child in Europe in 1938 and another in the United States in 2019.

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler was six years old when his father disappeared during Kristallnacht—the night their family lost everything. Samuel’s mother secured a spot for him on the last Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to the United Kingdom, which he boarded alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Antisemitism
  • Rape mentioned
  • Sexual assault of a child
  • Domestic violence mentioned
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Suicide
  • Torture mentioned
  • War themes including the depiction of a pogrom & Kristallnacht

The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado

FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera escaped a serial killer’s trap at sixteen. Years later, when she’s jumped in a Virginia park, a video of the attack goes viral. Legions of new fans are not the only ones impressed with her fighting skills. The man who abducted her eleven years ago is watching. Determined to reclaim his lost prize, he commits a grisly murder designed to pull her into the investigation…but his games are just beginning. And he’s using the internet to invite the public to play along… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & child sexual abuse
  • Child abandonment recounted
  • Foster care system
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking
  • Torture recounted

Where They Wait by Scott Carson

Recently laid-off from his newspaper and desperate for work, war correspondent Nick Bishop takes a humbling job: writing a profile of a new mindfulness app called Clarity. It’s easy money, and a chance to return to his hometown for the first time in years. The app itself seems like a retread of old ideas—relaxing white noise and guided meditations. But then there are the “Sleep Songs.” A woman’s hauntingly beautiful voice sings a ballad that is anything but soothing—it’s disturbing, and more of a warning than a relaxation—but it works. Deep, refreshing sleep follows. So do the night… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Suicide
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Car accident
  • Stalking
  • Fire & arson

Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee

When Shuos Jedao wakes up for the first time, several things go wrong. His few memories tell him that he’s a seventeen-year-old cadet–but his body belongs to a man decades older.  Hexarch Nirai Kujen orders Jedao to reconquer the fractured hexarchate on his behalf even though Jedao has no memory of ever being a soldier, let alone a general.  Surely a knack for video games doesn’t qualify you to take charge of an army? Soon Jedao learns the situation is even worse.  The Kel soldiers under his command may be compelled to obey him, but they hate him thanks to a mass… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Memory loss
  • Suicide
  • Body horror
  • Death of a child
  • Torture
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • War themes

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next. Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fort… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & sexual assault, on-page & discussed
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Graphic animal death
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Dismemberment
  • Loss of autonomy (possession & mental manipulation/control)
  • Murder & mass murder, on-page, discussed in-detail
  • Torture mentioned
  • Gun violence, on-page
  • Knife violence
  • Explosions & bombings, on-page
  • War & rebellion (central theme)
  • Battle scenes & military violence, on-page

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself. But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival. Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Anxiety attacks
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Blood, gore and injury depiction including dead bodies
  • Death of a wife and child recounted
  • Building collapse
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Whipping
  • Explosions & fire
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal attack
  • Animal hunting & death

Daughter of the King by Kerry Chaput

La Rochelle France, 1661. Fierce Protestant Isabelle is desperate to escape persecution by the Catholic King. Isabelle is tortured and harassed, her people forced to convert to the religion that rules the land. She risks her life by helping her fellow Protestants, which is forbidden by the powers of France. She accepts her fate – until she meets a handsome Catholic soldier who makes her question everything. She fights off an attack by a nobleman, and the only way to save herself is to flee to the colony of Canada as a Daughter of the King. She can have money, protection, and a new life… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Religious persecution
  • Hate crimes
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Infidelity
  • Death of a mother
  • Attempted murder
  • Torture

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty

Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there. Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of the battle that saw Dara slain at Prince Ali’s hand, Nahri must forge a new path for herself, without the protection of the guardian who stole her heart or the counsel of the prince she considered a friend. But even as she embraces her heritage and the.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Slavery
  • Threats of rape recounted
  • Self harm mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Stillbirth mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injury
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Knife violence
  • Poisoning
  • Fire
  • War themes
  • Riots