Tag Archives: Torture

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of torture, including psychological torture and non-consensual sensory deprivation.

Whispers of Shadow and Flame by L Penelope

The Mantle that separates the kingdoms of Elsira and Lagrimar is about to fall. And life will drastically change for both kingdoms. Born with a deadly magic she cannot control, Kyara is forced to become an assassin. Known as the Poison Flame in the kingdom of Lagrimar, she is notorious and lethal, but secretly seeks freedom from both her untamed power and the blood spell that commands her. She is tasked with capturing the legendary rebel called the Shadowfox, but everything changes when she learns her target’s true identity. Darvyn ol-Tahlyro may be the most powerful Earthsinger in generations, but guilt over… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Slavery
  • Child abuse
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self injury for blood magic
  • Scars
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder, on-page
  • Gun violence
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Disappearance of a parent

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson

Jack Nevin’s clever trickery and moral flexibility have served him well his entire life—making him the perfect assistant to the Enchantress, one of the most well-known stage magicians in early-twentieth-century Europe. Without Jack’s steady supply of stolen tricks and copycat sleight-of-hand illusions, the Enchantress’s fame would have burned out long ago—not that she would ever admit it. But when they’re forced to flee the continent for America, the Enchantress finds a new audience in Seattle at the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific World’s Fair Exposition. She and Jack are set to make a fortune until a new magician arrives on… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Racism
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Bloodletting
  • Physical injuries, including graphic burns
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment
  • Arson

Keep Me Safe by Maya Banks

When Caleb Devereaux’s younger sister is kidnapped, this scion of a powerful and wealthy family turns to an unlikely source for help: a beautiful and sensitive woman with a gift for finding answers others cannot. While Ramie can connect to victims and locate them by feeling their pain, her ability comes with a price. Every time she uses it, it costs her a piece of herself. Helping the infuriatingly attractive and impatient Caleb successfully find his sister nearly destroys her. Even though his sexual intensity draws her like a magnet, she needs to get as far away from him as she can. Deeply remorseful for the pain he’s caused, Caleb… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Physical and psychological torture
  • Bombing
  • Disappearance of a sibling
  • Kidnapping
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)

Colters’ Woman by Maya Banks

Adam, Ethan and Ryan aren’t looking for women. They’re looking for a woman. One woman to share their lives and their beds. They don’t want a casual romp in the hay, they want the woman who will complete them and they’re losing hope of finding her. That is until Adam finds Holly lying in the snow just yards from their cabin. He knows she’s different the minute he holds her in his arms. But before Adam gets his hopes up, he knows he has to gauge his brothers’ reactions. Soon it’s evident that she’s the one. There are a few problems, however, like convincing her she belongs with them and keeping her safe from the man who wants her dead.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Dubious consent scene (nonconsensual somnophilia)
  • Military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from torture as a prisoner of war
  • Illness from exposure to the cold and dehydration
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence

Dawn of the Jaguar by J.C. Cervantes

Too bad death wasn’t the answer to her problems. Ren soon realizes she must return to the land of the living to make things right. Unfortunately, that means negotiating with Ixtab, queen of the underworld. Ixtab offers her ten days aboveground in exchange for the discarded crown of jade and shadow. If Ren fails, she will return to the darkness for eternity. Ren agrees, knowing full well that she also has to save her friends Marco, Monty, and Edison and, while she’s at it, put those pesky Lords of Night back to sleep forever. The only problem is, Ren lost her shadow magic and time… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Torture
  • Captivity
  • Animal attack (spider)

55 by James Delargy

Wilbrook in Western Australia is a sleepy, remote town that sits on the edge of miles and miles of unexplored wilderness. It is home to Police Sergeant Chandler Jenkins, who is proud to run the town’s small police station, a place used to dealing with domestic disputes and noise complaints. All that changes on a scorching day when an injured man stumbles into Chandler’s station. He’s covered in dried blood. His name is Gabriel. He tells Chandler what he remembers. He was drugged and driven to a cabin in the mountains and tied up in iron chains. The man who took him was called Heath. Heath told Gabriel he was going to be…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Adult-minor relationship recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Death of a child, presumed
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

Julie Crews is a coked-up, burnt-out thirty-something who packs a lot of magic into her small body. She’s been trying to establish herself in the NYC magic scene, and she’ll work the most gruesome gigs to claw her way to the top. Julie is desperate for a quick career boost to break the dead-end grind, but her pleas draw the attention of an eldritch god who is hungry for revenge. Her power grab sets off a deadly chain of events that puts her closest friends – and the entire world – directly in the path of annihilation.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Intimate partner violence, off-page
  • Self-harm
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Torture, off-page
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

Fritzi is a witch. A survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she’s determined to find her only surviving family member and bring the hexenjägers—zealot witch hunters—to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader—Kommandant Dieter Kirch. Otto is a hexenjäger and a captain, the second in command to Dieter Kirch—but that’s just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjagers burned his innocent mother alive and since then, he has been planning a move against the witch hunters that tore his family apart. And now the time has come for… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic & child abuse recounted
  • Murder
  • Physical & psychological torture
  • Imprisonment
  • Loss of autonomy (magical coercion)
  • Animal abuse recounted

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle

Emory might be a student at the prestigious Aldryn College for Lunar Magics, but her healing abilities have always been mediocre at best—until a treacherous night in the Dovermere sea caves leaves a group of her classmates dead and her as the only survivor. Now Emory is plagued by strange, impossible powers that no healer should possess. Powers that would ruin her life if the wrong person were to discover them. To gain control of these new abilities, Emory enlists the help of the school’s most reclusive student, Baz—a boy already well-versed in the deadly nature of darker magic, whose sister happened to be one of the drowned… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Depression
  • Self-harm & bloodletting
  • Institutionalisation
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Drowning

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-injury for magic
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & drugging (protagonist)
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder by stabbing & knife violence
  • Torture mentioned
  • Protagonist is kidnapped, bound, pushed into a well, magically stripped of her memories, and nearly killed with a knife
  • Animal death (fox by arrow)