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.

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

Queen of Myth and Monsters by Scarlett St Clair

Queen of Myth and Monsters by Scarlett St. Clair

Isolde, newly coronated queen, has finally found a king worthy of her in the vampire Adrian. But their love for each other has cost Isolde her father and her homeland. With two opposing goddesses playing mortals and vampires like chess pieces against one another, Isolde is uncertain who her allies are in the vampire stronghold of Revekka. Now, as politics in the Red Palace grow more underhanded and a deadly blood mist threatens all of Cordova, Isolde must trust in the bond she’s formed with Adrian, even as she learns troubling information about his complicated past.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape recounted, off-page (sc)
  • Blood drinking
  • Murder
  • War themes

In Pain and Blood by Aldrea Alien

In Pain and Blood by Aldrea Alien

Dylan’s life in the spellster tower has everything he should want: magical knowledge, safety from the King’s Hounds and frequent clandestine affairs with women. All at the cost of his freedom. So when the chance to leave the tower—even as a leashed weapon for the King’s Army—arises, he seizes it. When his first scouting mission goes awry, Dylan is left alone in a hostile world with the tower a distant beacon of safety. Only the flirtatious Tracker, an elven man whose very presence awakens Dylan’s long-repressed desire… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Bimisia
  • Threats & mentions of rape
  • Sex-trafficking
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Suicide
  • Death of children
  • Graphic mass murder including infanticide
  • Kidnapping
  • War

The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector

The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector

Perhaps you know the myths. Furious, benevolent Gods. A tree that binds nine realms. A hammer stronger than any weapon. And someday, the end of everything. Furious, benevolent Gods. A tree that binds nine realms. A hammer stronger than any weapon. And someday, the end of everything. Looking back, it’s easy to know what choices I might have made differently. At least it feels that way. I might have given up on my title. Told my father he was useless, king of Gods or no, and left Asgard. Made a life somewhere else. Maybe I would never have let Loki cross my path. Never… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Coming out scene
  • Psychological, emotional, and verbal abuse
  • Rape mentioned
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Death of an infant & teenager mentioned
  • Kidnapping
  • Torture
  • Battle scenes
  • Animal death

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

Princess Thia was born to be a crow rider—a warrior. In her kingdom of Rhodaire, magical elemental crows keep the city running. But when the Illucian empire invades, they kill all the crows in a horrible fire that also robs Thia of her mother and mentor. Then Thia’s sister, Caliza, becomes the new queen of Rhodaire, she is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the Illucian heir in an effort to save her people. Prince Ericen is rude and cruel and Thia can’t imagine travelling into the heart of an enemy city after so much has been taken from her. But before she… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism & internalised ableism
  • Racism
  • Forced arranged marriage
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Depression (theme)
  • Nightmares
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm & self-injury
  • Serious injury of a loved one
  • Dead bodies
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother on-page
  • Death of an aunt, off-page
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Torture
  • Fire
  • Graphic animal death, on-page
  • War themes, including invasion & colonialism

Motherhood by Sheila Heti

Motherhood by Sheila Heti

In Motherhood, Sheila Heti asks what is gained and what is lost when a woman becomes a mother, treating the most consequential decision of early adulthood with the candor, originality, and humor that have won Heti international acclaim and made How Should A Person Be? required reading for a generation. In her late thirties, when her friends are asking when they will become mothers, the narrator of Heti’s intimate and urgent novel considers whether she will do so at all. In a narrative spanning several years, casting among the influence of her peers, partner, and her duties to her forbearers, she struggles to make a wise… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Pregnancy
  • Abortion
  • The Holocaust

Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski

Geralt of Rivia. A witcher whose mission is to protect ordinary people from the monsters created with magic. A mutant who has the task of killing unnatural beings. He uses a magical sign, potions and the pride of every witcher — two swords, steel and silver. But what would happen if Geralt lost his weapons?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • War

Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Wizards Guild has been shattered by a coup and, in the uproar, Geralt was seriously injured. The Witcher is supposed to be a guardian of the innocent, a protector of those in need, a defender against powerful and dangerous monsters that prey on men in dark times. But now that dark times have fallen upon the world, Geralt is helpless until he has recovered from his injuries. While war rages across all of the lands, the future of magic is under threat and those sorcerers who survive are determined to protect it. It’s an impossible situation in which to find one girl – Ciri, the heiress to the throne of Cintra, has vanished – until… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Torture
  • War

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary killer. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world. But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good…and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism (fantastical)
  • Incest
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Dismemberment
  • Torture
  • Sword violence
  • Genocide mentioned
  • War
  • Animal abuse

9/11 by Alan Gratz

9/11 by Alan Gratz

September 11, 2001. New York City. Nine-year-old Brandon goes to work with his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. Out of nowhere, an aeroplane slams into the tower, creating a fiery nightmare of terror and confusion that threatens everyone in the building. Can Brandon survive–and escape? September 11, 2019. Afghanistan. Eleven-year-old Reshmina has grown up in the shadow of war, but she dreams of peace and progress. When a battle erupts in her village, Reshmina stumbles upon a wounded American soldier named Taz. Should she help him–and put herself and her family in mortal danger?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • War themes
  • The events of 9/11 (theme) including building collapse and plane crash