Tag Archives: War Themes & Military Violence

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of war themes & military violence, including political coups, battle scenes, and other related topics.

See also Genocide, Rebellion, revolution & mutiny, Military service & deployment, Conscription, Chemical gassing & warfare, and Police brutality & violence.

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.
Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.
Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Gun violence
  • War themes
  • Animal attack (fantastical)
  • Animal death

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, including slurs & cultural appropriation
  • Classism
  • Colourism
  • Misogyny & sexism
  • Islamophobia
  • Violent hate crime
  • Slavery, including child labour
  • Sexual assault
  • Suicide discussed
  • Self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Feet binding discussed
  • Plague
  • Death of mother
  • Grief depiction
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Genocide
  • Gun violence
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Colonization
  • War themes

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Homomisia mentioned
  • Sexual assault
  • Prostitution
  • Intimate domestic abuse
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drug & alcohol abuse
  • Starvation
  • Cancer recounted
  • Death of a loved one
  • Grief depiction
  • Physical assault
  • Imprisonment
  • War themes

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Bullying
  • Anxiety
  • Emesis
  • Heart failure mentioned
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of an animal
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Poisoning mentioned
  • War themes

Wings of Shadow by Nicki Pau Preto

Veronyka is no longer an orphaned stable boy or a nameless Phoenix Rider apprentice: she is the daughter of Pheronia Ashfire, the last queen of the Golden Empire…and the niece of Avalkyra Ashfire, the resurrected rebel queen who tore the empire apart. Now that the secret is out, everyone at the Eyrie treats Veronyka differently, and with Tristan still a hostage of the scheming Lord Rolan—and Sev with him as a spy—Veronyka feels very much alone. Except for her beloved phoenix, Xephyra, of course, and her new friend, Kade, who has his own reasons for wanting to… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical injury
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
  • War themes

Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto

In a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, a grand empire was built upon the backs of Phoenix Riders—legendary heroes who soared through the sky on wings of fire—until a war between two sisters ripped it all apart. Sixteen years later, Veronyka is a war orphan who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka strikes out alone to find the Riders—even if that means disguising herself as a boy to join their ranks. Just as Veronyka finally feels like she belongs, her sister turns up and reveals… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Knife & sword violence
  • Poisoning
  • Physical assault
  • Fire
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • Animal attack
  • Animal death & injury
  • Animal cruelty
  • War themes & battle scenes

Words on Fire by Jennifer Nielsen

Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Danger is never far from Audra’s family farm in Lithuania. She always avoids the occupying Russian Cossack soldiers, who insist that everyone must become Russian — they have banned Lithuanian books, religion, culture, and even the language. But Audra knows her parents are involved in something secret and perilous. When Cossacks arrive abruptly at their door, Audra’s parents insist that she flee, taking with her an important package and instructions for where to deliver it. But escape means abandoning her parents to a terrible fate. As Audra embarks on a…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental separation (theme)
  • Gun violence
  • Physical assault
  • Drowning & attempted drowning
  • Fire
  • Military violence

That Burning Summer by Lydia Syson

That Burning Summer by Lydia Syson

It’s July 1940 on the south coast of England. A plane crash-lands in the marsh, and sixteen-year-old Peggy finds its broken pilot—a young Polish airman named Henryk. Afraid and unwilling to return to the fight, Henryk needs a place to hide, and Peggy helps him find his way to a remote, abandoned church. Meanwhile, Peggy’s eleven-year-old brother Ernest is doing his best to try to understand the war happening around him. He’s reading all the pamphlets—he knows all the rules, he knows exactly what to do in every situation. He’s prepared, but not for Peggy’s hidden pilot.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Plane crash
  • World War Two (theme)

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, joins up with an eclectic group of thieves (whether they like it or not) in order to protect a sacred object, and finds herself in a far more complicated situation than she could have ever imagined.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misgendering
  • Religious persecution
  • Massacres, off-page
  • War themes

Kingdom of Ice and Bone by Jill Criswell

Kingdom of Ice and Bone by Jill Criswell

Lira and Reyker have lost everything. Including each other. Lira of Stone watched her home burn and her clan fall beneath the sword of the warlord known as the Dragon. She believes the man she loves, a warrior who defected from the Dragon s army, is dead. Alongside her exiled brother and his band of refugees, she will fight the forces that conquered her island. But the greatest danger may come from Lira herself with the blood of banished gods running through her veins, she s become a weapon, and no one is safe from the power of her wrath. Reyker Lagorsson thought he was done being a Dragonman. That was before he saw Lira… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • War themes