Tag Archives: Torture

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.

To her parents’ despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight. With John, Marjorie’s father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse mentioned
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Schizophrenia
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Death of a child
  • Loss of autonomy (demonic possession)
  • Bullying mentioned

Iron Heart by Nina Varela

Iron Heart by Nina Varela

For too long, Automae have lorded over the kingdom of Rabu, oppressing its human citizens. But the human revolution has risen, and at its heart is Ayla. Once a handmaiden, now a fugitive, Ayla narrowly escaped the palace of Lady Crier, the girl she would’ve killed if she hadn’t fallen in love first. 

Now Ayla has pledged her allegiance to Queen Junn, who can help accomplish the human rebellion’s ultimate goal: destroy the Iron Heart. Without its power, the Automae will be weakened to the point of extinction. Ayla wants to succeed, but can’t shake the strong feelings she’s developed for Crier. And unbeknownst to her, Crier has also fled the palace, taking up among travelling rebels, determined to find and protect Ayla.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Panic attack
  • Body horror
  • Murder
  • Torture

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery & sex slavery
  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming
  • Rape
  • Suicide
  • Body horror
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a father in a hunting accident recounted
  • Murder of a mother by poisoning recounted
  • Torture
  • Immolation

The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

This is the way the world ends… for the last time.

The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women.

Essun has inherited the power of Alabaster Tenring. With it, she hopes to find her daughter Nassun and forge a world in which every orogene child can grow up safe.

For Nassun, her mother’s mastery of the Obelisk Gate comes too late. She has seen the evil of the world, and accepted what her mother will not admit: that sometimes what is corrupt cannot be cleansed, only destroyed.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Amputation
  • Body horror
  • Murder
  • Torture

Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks

Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks

Kylar Stern has rejected the assassin’s life. The Godking’s successful coup has left Kylar’s master, Durzo, and his best friend, Logan, dead. He is starting over: new city, new friends, and new profession.

But when he learns that Logan might actually be alive and in hiding, Kylar is faced with an agonizing choice: will he give up the way of shadows forever and live in peace with his new family, or will he risk everything by taking on the ultimate hit?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Suicide
  • Self-harm
  • Blood depiction
  • Cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death
  • War themes

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

One minute, Katrina King’s enjoying an innocent conversation with a hot guy at a coffee shop; the next, a stranger has live-tweeted the entire episode with a romantic meet-cute spin and #CafeBae is the new hashtag-du-jour. The problem? Katrina craves a low-profile life, and going viral threatens the peaceful world she’s painstakingly built. Besides, #CafeBae isn’t the man she’s hungry for…

With the internet on the hunt for the identity of #CuteCafeGirl, Jas Singh, bodyguard, friend, and possessor of the most beautiful eyebrows Katrina’s ever seen, comes to the rescue and whisks her away to his family’s home. Alone in a remote setting with the object of her affections? It’s a recipe for romance. But after a long dating dry spell, Katrina isn’t sure she can trust her instincts when it comes to love—even if Jas’ every look says he wants to be more than just her bodyguard…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Sexual assault (groping) recounted
  • Emotional parental abuse
  • Anxiety
  • Panic attack, on-page
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Nightmares
  • Dissociation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a parent
  • Torture recounted
  • Explosion recounted
  • Kidnapping recounted
  • Blackmail
  • Military service recounted
  • Doxing

Bluebird by Sharon Cameron

Bluebird by Sharon Cameron

In 1946, Eva leaves behind the rubble of Berlin for the streets of New York City, stepping from the fiery aftermath of one war into another, far colder one, where power is more important than principles, and lies are more plentiful than the truth. Eva holds the key to a deadly secret: Project Bluebird — a horrific experiment of the concentration camps, capable of tipping the balance of world power. Both the Americans and the Soviets want Bluebird, and it is something that neither should ever be allowed to possess.

But Eva hasn’t come to America for secrets or power. She hasn’t even come for a new life. She has come to America for one thing: justice. And the Nazi that has escaped its net.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Antisemitism & Nazism
  • Rape, off-page
  • Suicide by cyanide pill
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Death of children
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Torture
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Concentration camps
  • Human medical experimentation
  • Animal death (bird) recounted
  • Animal cruelty

We Are the Fire by Sam Taylor

We Are the Fire by Sam Taylor

In the cold, treacherous land of Vesimaa, children are stolen from their families by a cruel emperor, forced to undergo a horrific transformative procedure, and serve in the army as magical fire-wielding soldiers. Pran and Oksana―both taken from their homeland at a young age―only have each other to hold onto in this heartless place.

Pran dreams of one day rebelling against their oppressors and destroying the empire; Oksana only dreams of returning home and creating a peaceful life for them both.

When they discover the emperor has a new, more terrible mission than ever for their kind, Pran and Oksana vow to escape his tyranny once and for all… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Forced medical procedures
  • Kidnapping
  • Torture
  • Whipping
  • Death by fire

Legion by Brandon Sanderson

Legion by Brandon Sanderson

“Stephen Leeds, AKA ‘Legion,’ is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his ‘aspects’ are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society”–From publisher’s description

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Schizophrenia mentioned
  • Torture
  • Gun violence

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

For a thousand years the ash fell. For a thousand years, the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years, the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Every attempted revolt has failed miserably.

Yet somehow hope survives. A new kind of uprising is being planned, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the courage of an unlikely heroine, a Skaa street urchin, who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a mistborn.

What if the prophesied hero had failed to defeat the Dark Lord?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Physical & emotional abuse
  • Death of a child
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic murder
  • Torture