Torture – Page 88 – Trigger Warning Database

Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf

Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf

In order to protect Prince Lucien d’Malvane’s heart, Zera had to betray him. Now, he hates the sight of her. Trapped in Cavanos as a prisoner of the king, she awaits the inevitable moment her witch severs their magical connection and finally ends her life. But fate isn’t ready to give her up just yet.

With freedom coming from the most unlikely of sources, Zera is given a second chance at life as a Heartless. But it comes with a terrible price. As the king mobilizes his army to march against the witches, Zera must tame an elusive and deadly valkerax trapped in the tunnels underneath the city if she wants to regain her humanity.

Winning over a bloodthirsty valkerax? Hard. Winning back her friends before war breaks out? A little harder. But a Heartless winning back Prince Lucien’s heart? The hardest thing she’s ever done.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Classism
Persecution for witchcraft (theme)
Child abuse recounted
Nightmares
Self-harm (on-page)
Self-sacrifice discussed
Alcohol consumption
Nonconsensual drugging
Graphic blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Cannibalism mentioned
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father recounted
Death of a grandfather mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Torture
Knife violence & stabbing
Poisoning
Fire
Loss of autonomy (mind control)
Imprisonment
War themes (central theme)
Animal cruelty & torture
Animal injury, blood & body parts
Animal attack
Hunting mentioned

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf

Zera is a Heartless – the immortal, unageing soldier of a witch. Bound to the witch Nightsinger ever since she saved her from the bandits who murdered her family, Zera longs for freedom. With her heart in a jar under Nightsinger’s control, she serves the witch unquestioningly. Until Nightsinger asks Zera for a Prince’s heart in exchange for her own.

Crown Prince Lucien d’Malvane hates the royal court as much as it loves him – every tutor too afraid to correct him and every girl jockeying for a place at his side. No one can challenge him – until the arrival of Lady Zera. She’s inelegant, smart-mouthed, & out for his blood.

So begins a game of cat and mouse between a girl with nothing to lose and a boy who has it all. Winner takes the loser’s heart. Literally.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Classism
Persecution for witchcraft (theme)
Fatmisia & body shaming
Child abuse
Arranged marriage
Alcohol consumption
Alcohol abuse & alcoholism recounted
Graphic blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Cannibalism
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a sister
Death of a mother & father
Death of a child mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Torture
Knife violence & stabbing
Explosions
Fire
Kidnapping
Loss of autonomy (mind control)
Death from a fall mentioned
War themes (central theme)
Animal death and dead bodies
Death by animal attack mentioned
Bullying
Poverty themes

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Attempted sexual assault
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injuries, including eyeball trauma
Suicide mentioned
Death of a parent recounted
Murder
Torture
War themes
Animal sacrifice

Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young

The Girls of Innovations Academy are beautiful and well-behaved—it says so on their report cards. Under the watchful gaze of their Guardians, the all-girl boarding school offers an array of studies and activities, from “Growing a Beautiful and Prosperous Garden” to “Art Appreciation” and “Interior Design.” The girls learn to be the best society has to offer. Absent is the difficult math coursework, or the unnecessary sciences or current events. They are obedient young ladies, free from arrogance or defiance. Until Mena starts to realize that their carefully controlled existence… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny, slut-shaming & victim blaming
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Rape culture (theme), including sexual harassment, sexual assault (on- & off-page) and rape of a minor, implied
PTSD, trauma, nightmares & flashbacks
Dieting & food-shaming
Alcohol consumption & drugging
Infertility mentioned
Blood & injury depiction including body horror, dead bodies, consensual & non-consensual medical treatment, graphic use of needles, and human medical experimentation
Murder & attempted murder
Graphic torture
Knife violence
Strangulation
Physical assault
Loss of autonomy (memory & mind manipulation)
Disappearance of a friend

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets–an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Incest
Pregnancy & childbirth
Stillbirth
Police brutality
Gun violence
Murder
Torture
Fire

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Body shaming
Slut-shaming
Slavery
Physical & psychological child abuse
Cheating
Disownment
Nightmares mentioned
Suicide, on-page
Coerced self-harm
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Drug use & drugging
Self-harm (mithridatism)
Death of a pregnant character mentioned*
Blood and gore depiction, including dead bodies & emesis
Graphic physical injuries
Decapitation & dismemberment mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of mother and father, on-page
Death of friend
Death of a sister & brother
Death by a fall mentioned
Drowning
Murder and attempted murder
Knife and sword violence & stabbing
Strangulation
Torture
Kidnapping & captivity
Loss of autonomy (glamour magic)
War themes discussed
Bullying

*Context: The father of an unborn child poisons his pregnant consort in an attempt to murder her and the unborn child.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Homomisia
Misogyny
Rape and rape of a child mentioned*
Self-harm (cutting) for ritual
Blood & gore depiction, and physical injuries
Graphic murder (on-page)
Torture

*Discussed in more detail on-page roughly around pages 277-278 in the UK edition.

Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton

Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton

In the ancient river kingdom, where touch is a battlefield and bodies the instruments of war, Mia Rose has pledged her life to hunting Gwyrach: women who can manipulate flesh, bones, breath, and blood. The same women who killed her mother without a single scratch.

But when Mia’s father announces an alliance with the royal family, she is forced to trade in her knives and trousers for a sumptuous silk gown. Determined to forge her own path forward, Mia plots a daring escape, but could never predict the greatest betrayal of all: her own body. Mia possesses the very magic she has sworn to destroy.

Now, as she untangles the secrets of her past, Mia must learn to trust her heart…even if it kills her.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny (central theme)
Homomisia, coming out themes and hate crimes
Rape (mostly recounted, one graphic on-page scene) and sexual assault
Forced non-consensual arranged marriage
Physical abuse
Suicide and suicidal ideation (mentioned)
Blood and gore depiction, including dead bodies
Grief and loss depiction
Death of mother & wife recounted
Death of a father & husband recounted
Emesis
Graphic physical injuries and illness
Torture (secondary character, off-page)
Murder & attempted murder
Poisoning
Imprisonment
War themes
Graphic animal death, animal bodies, and hunting
Mind control discussed

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her—or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Body shaming
Suicide attempt by self-sacrifice
Alcohol consumption
Blood and gore depiction, including dead bodies
Physical injuries
Emesis
Murder & attempted murder
Physical and psychological torture
Knife violence
Gun violence
Explosions & bombings
Physical assault
Kidnapping & captivity
Hostage situation
Airship accident
War themes
Animal death
Animal dead bodies & body parts
Hunting

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg & Chancellorsville—derailing the War and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism (theme), colourism & racial slurs
Sexism
Slavery
Child abuse recounted
Sexual assault
Forced use of medication
Blood & gore depiction
Death of a friend
Torture
Gun violence
War themes & military violence