The Black Mage by Daniel Barnes

The Black Mage by Daniel Barnes and illustrated by DJ Kirkland

When St. Ivory Academy, a historically white wizarding school, opens its doors to its first-ever black student, everyone believes that the wizarding community is finally taking its first crucial steps toward inclusivity. Or is it? When Tom Token, the beneficiary of the school’s “Magical Minority Initiative,” begins uncovering weird clues and receiving creepy texts on his phone, he and his friend, Lindsay, stumble into a conspiracy that dates all the way back to the American Civil War, and could cost Tom his very soul.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism (theme)
  • Klu Klux Klan, on-page
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Cults
  • War themes recounted
  • Bullying
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

The ancient city of Troy has withstood a decade under siege of the powerful Greek army, which continues to wage bloody war over a stolen woman—Helen. In the Greek camp, another woman—Briseis—watches and waits for the war’s outcome. She was queen of one of Troy’s neighboring kingdoms, until Achilles, Greece’s greatest warrior, sacked her city and murdered her husband and brothers. Briseis becomes Achilles’s concubine, a prize of battle, and must adjust quickly in order to survive a radically different life, as one of the many conquered women who serve the Greek army.

When Agamemnon, the brutal political leader of the Greek forces, demands Briseis for himself, she finds herself caught between the two most powerful of the Greeks… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Victim blaming
  • Slavery
  • Graphic rape
  • Paedophilia
  • Cheating
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Suicide
  • Self harm
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a baby
  • Graphic murder
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal death
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

A Plague upon Humanity by Daniel Barenblatt

A Plague upon Humanity by Daniel Barenblatt

From 1932 to 1945, in a headlong quest to develop germ warfare capability for the military of Imperial Japan, hundreds of Japanese doctors, nurses and research scientists willingly participated in what was referred to at the time as ‘the secret of secrets’ – horrifying experiments conducted on live human beings, in this case innocent Chinese men, women, and children. This was the work of an elite group known as Unit 731, led by Japan’s answer to Joseph Mengele, Dr Shiro Ishii.

Under their initiative, thousands of individuals were held captive and infected with virulent strains of anthrax, plague, cholera, and other epidemic and viral diseases. Soon entire Chinese villages were being hit with biological bombs. Even American POWs were targeted. All told, more than 250,000 people were infected, and the vast majority died.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Medical experimentation
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • War & biological warfare themes
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Finding Serendipity by Angelica Banks

Finding Serendipity by Angelica Banks

When Tuesday McGillycuddy and her beloved dog, Baxterr, discover that Tuesday’s mother ― the famous author Serendipity Smith ― has gone missing, they set out on a magical adventure. In their quest to find Serendipity, they discover the mysterious and unpredictable place that stories come from. Here, Tuesday befriends the fearless Vivienne Small, learns to sail an enchanted boat, tangles with an evil pirate, and discovers the truth about her remarkable dog. Along the way, she learns what it means to be a writer and how difficult it can sometimes be to get all the way to The End.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Needles
  • Physical injuries
  • Battle violence
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic by Armand Baltazar

Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic by Armand Baltazar

The world did not end. At least not permanently. The Time Collision came from beyond the stars, a cosmic event that fractured time and space, tearing apart the earth and reshaping it into something entirely new. This is the world Diego Ribera was born into. The past, present, and future coexisting together. Timeless.

In New Chicago, Diego’s middle school hallways buzz with kids from all eras of history and from cultures all over the world. The pieces do not always fit together neatly, but this is the world he loves. There are those, however, who do not share his affection… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Murder of a brother mentioned
  • Sword violence
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Near-drowning incident
  • War themes & battle scenes
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Major’s Welcome Home by Tessa Bailey

The Major’s Welcome Home by Tessa Bailey

When Kenna Sutton is tasked with driving home newly returned Beck “True Blue” Collier, she expects the strategic Army mastermind to be a pasty number cruncher. Never at a loss for words, Kenna is nonetheless rendered speechless by the gorgeous, hard-bodied and utterly inexperienced Army Major that lands in her passenger seat. Outraged by Beck’s lack of a welcome home after seven long years overseas, Kenna takes matters into her own hands, giving Beck something he’s only ever fantasized about in his bunk.

Beck has never shied away from a test of will and Kenna gives new meaning to the word challenge. One problem? Kenna’s father… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Abandonment
  • Antiziganism (g slur)
  • Heart attacks mentioned
  • War & military service mentioned
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Brazen by Pénélope Bagieu

Brazen by Pénélope Bagieu and translated by Montana Kane

Throughout history and across the globe, one characteristic connects the daring women of Brazen: their indomitable spirit. Against overwhelming adversity, these remarkable women raised their voices and changed history.

With her one-of-a-kind wit and dazzling drawings, celebrated graphic novelist Pénélope Bagieu profiles the lives of these feisty female role models, some world-famous, some little known. From Nellie Bly to Mae Jemison or Josephine Baker to Naziq al-Abid, the stories in this comic biography are sure to inspire the next generation of rebel ladies.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injuries & burns
  • Hospital
  • Death of a husband
  • Murder
  • Fire
  • War themes & battle scenes
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Whatnot by Stefan Bachmann

The Whatnot by Stefan Bachmann

Pikey Thomas doesn’t know how or why he can see the changeling girl. But there she is. Not in the cold, muddy London neighborhood where Pikey lives. Instead, she’s walking through the trees and snow of the enchanted Old Country or, later, racing through an opulent hall. She’s pale and small, and she has branches growing out of her head. Her name is Henrietta Kettle.

Pikey’s vision, it turns out, is worth something. Worth something to Hettie’s brother—a brave adventurer named Bartholomew Kettle. Worth something to the nobleman who protects him. And Pikey is not above bartering—Pikey will do almost anything to escape his past; he’ll do almost anything for a life worth living… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Starvation mentioned
  • Eyeball trauma
  • Battle scenes
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann

Don’t get yourself noticed and you won’t get yourself hanged. In the faery slums of Bath, Bartholomew Kettle and his sister Hettie live by these words. Bartholomew and Hettie are changelings–Peculiars–and neither faeries nor humans want anything to do with them.

One day a mysterious lady in a plum-colored dress comes gliding down Old Crow Alley. Bartholomew watches her through his window. Who is she? What does she want? And when Bartholomew witnesses the lady whisking away, in a whirling ring of feathers, the boy who lives across the alley–Bartholomew forgets the rules and gets himself noticed… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse mentioned
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Sophia’s War by Avi

Sophia’s War by Avi

On the remote island of Isola, seven people have been selected to compete in a 48-hour test for a top-secret intIn 1776, young Sophia Calderwood witnesses the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, which is newly occupied by the British army. Sophia is horrified by the event and resolves to do all she can to help the American cause. Recruited as a spy, she becomes a maid in the home of General Clinton, the supreme commander of the British forces in America. Through her work she becomes aware that someone in the American army might be switching sides, and she uncovers a plot that will grievously damage the Americans if it succeeds. But the identity of the would-be traitor is so shocking that no one believes her, and so Sophia decides to stop the treacherous plot herself, at great personal peril: She’s young, she’s a girl, and she’s running out of time. And if she fails, she’s facing an execution of her own.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Physical injury
  • Hanging, on-page
  • Incarceration of a sibling
  • Gun violence
  • War themes (central)
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com