Tag Archives: Torture

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

Rise Up from the Embers by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons

Rise Up from the Embers by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons

Two gods are dead. The Mother Goddess has returned. War is rising. Fleeing war-ravaged Deimos, Ash and Madoc sail across the ocean to their only possible allies: the water and plant gods. But when Anathrasa attacks on the way, Ash leaps to the defense—by using a power she didn’t know she had. When Madoc made the fire and earth gods mortal, he inadvertently transferred their magic to Ash. Now, if Ash can get energeias from the other four gods, she would be powerful enough to end Anathrasa once and for all. But not all the gods want the Mother Goddess defeated. To stop…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Adult-minor relationship*
  • Murder
  • Torture mentioned

*Context : A relationship between a teenager and a god that’s implied to be hundreds of years old.

Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre

Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

On an Earth scarred by nuclear war, Snake harnesses the power of venom to cure illnesses and vaccinate against disease. The healer can even ease patients into death with the power of her dreamsnake. But she is not respected and trusted by all, and when she tries to help a sick nomad child, the frightened clan kills her dreamsnake. Ashamed of being misjudged and grieving the loss of her dreamsnake, Snake has one choice to maintain her livelihood: she must travel to the city, which jealously guards its knowledge. And before she faces the prejudices and arrogance…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Paedophilia
  • Child abuse
  • Substance addiction
  • Medical procedures
  • Torture
  • Animal cruelty

Human Omega by Eileen Glass

Human Omega: Discovered on the Slave Planet by Eileen Glass

How does a bad day get worse, you ask? Well, how about being squished between two huge, naked dudes with their meaty schlongs hanging out and everything? It’s all a matter of opinion, but Carter’s day is going pretty badly. He’s an engineer captured by bug aliens, now depending on his large, muscled, naked cage mates for food and warmth. They seem sentient, so that’s good. But they’re also handsy. Which is… complicated. The military isn’t looking for him. Slaves taken by the bug race never come back. Yet, Carter is very much alive, and if he wants to stay that way, he’ll need to trust Pykh and Siel, two affectionate aliens with claws, teeth, and size.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Attempted rape
  • Cannibalism
  • Torture

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus

It is 1962, and Elisa Esposito—mute her whole life, orphaned as a child—is struggling with her humdrum existence as a janitor working the graveyard shift at Baltimore’s Occam Aerospace Research Center. Were it not for Zelda, a protective coworker, and Giles, her loving neighbour, she doesn’t know how she’d make it through the day.. hen, one fateful night, she sees something she was never meant to see, the Center’s most sensitive asset ever: an amphibious man, captured in the Amazon, to be studied for Cold War advancements. The creature is terrifying … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Homomisia & slurs
  • Racism & n slur
  • Blood & injury depiction including loss of limb
  • Torture
  • Animal death

The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

Life is good for Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood. They’re living together in a fabulous loft, their warlock son, Max, has started learning to walk, and the streets of New York are peaceful and quiet—as peaceful and quiet as they ever are, anyway. Until the night that two old acquaintances break into Magnus’s apartment and steal the powerful Book of the White. Now Magnus and Alec will have to drop everything to get it back. They need to follow the thieves to Shanghai, they need to call some backup to accompany them, and they need a babysitter. Also, someone has stabbed… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

Vaelin Al Sorna is the Sixth Order’s newest recruit. Under their brutal training regime, he learns how to forge a blade, survive the wilds and kill a man quickly and quietly – all in the name of protecting the Realm and the Faith. Now his skills will be put to the test. War is coming. Vaelin must draw upon the very essence of his strength and cunning if he is to survive the coming conflict. Yet as the world teeters on the edge of chaos, Vaelin will learn that the truth can cut deeper than any sword.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • War themes

There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark

There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark

I loathe Alastor Shaw. The city of San Francisco thinks we’re rival artists. In truth, we’re predators battling for hunting ground. We never chased the same prey. Until the night we both laid eyes on Mara Eldritch. Shaw wants to use her as a pawn in his twisted game. I’m fixated on her for a different reason… She makes me feel things I never thought I could feel. Want things I never wanted. Only she can make me lose control. I don’t know if I should protect her at all cost or destroy her before she ruins me. Mara knows I’m no saint. But she has no idea she’s dancing with the devil…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking

The Cursed King by Abigail Owen

He will burn. She will rise. Airk Azdajah, the rightful King of the White Clan, spent half a millennium being tortured by the false High King Pytheios. The only reason he’s alive is a curse— the man to kill Airk will be consumed in his own fire. Which is why Pytheios kept Airk alive, barely, unable to shift in his prison cage, driving the creature half of him into madness. Airk escaped, but he’ll never be truly free. What good is a king who can never let his feral dragon loose, never fly, and never lead his people? He’s better off dead. Angelika Amon is the last unmated… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Torture recounted
  • Kidnapping & captivity recounted

Sweet Sacrifice by Sav Miller

Sweet Sacrifice by Sav R. Miller

Fiona Ivers has been in love with her brother’s best friend since she was a kid. He’s older and oblivious to her existence—which only makes her want him more. She’s always believed he was disinterested until a charity gala pushes them together. There, she realizes maybe he pays more attention than he’s ever let on. Broody, tattooed loner Boyd Kelly has a low tolerance for distractions and has no issues letting those around him know. His best friend’s younger sister doesn’t seem to care, though. Each time the high-strung… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human & sex trafficking
  • Parental infidelity
  • Sexual assault
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Drug abuse
  • Hospitalisation for anaphylaxis (deliberate self-exposure)
  • Parent with chronic illness
  • Death of a mother
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Organised crime

Sweet Solitude by Sav Miller

Sweet Solitude by Sav R. Miller

In the wake of her father’s death, lonely Juliet Harrison struggles with the guilt over her loss. She deals with it the way she deals with everything: by burying her feelings beneath impulsive decisions and desecrating the local graveyard. But Juliet isn’t as invisible as she believes. Hiding out from the ghosts of his past, Kieran Ivers is known in King’s Trace as a homicidal hermit. But the rumours don’t stop him from visiting the cemetery to taunt his late brother’s remains. It’s there he first spots a woman engaging in lascivious acts on her father’s grave and becomes enraptured by… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Sexual assault, voyeurism & dubious consent scenario
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Torture
  • Organised crime
  • Erotic asphyxiation