Song of the Crimson Flower

There's no real gore, but blood and pain are sometimes briefly described from illness or injury. A few battles with crossbows, grenade-type explosives, and chemical warfare involving a mind-altering gas mention horses screaming and dead bodies. Some fights involve hitting and knocking unconscious with blunt weapons and magically knocking people out. A magical spell is made stronger using blood from the victim's cut hand. A contagious disease called "bloodpox" ends with victims bleeding from eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

A few kisses, one mentions tongue and several embraces interrupted just before kissing. Growing feelings of attraction and love. One narrator sees two other people passionately kissing.

A major plot element involves a poppy-based substance called black spice that's used as medicine and is a possible cure for disease, but it's also highly addictive and has destroyed many lives. It's been outlawed, but one community continues to manufacture and experiment with it and exports it illegally. The story takes the strong stance that the addictive nature of black spice makes it too dangerous to allow growing, manufacturing, and experimenting with it, not even to find benefits and reduce how addictive it is. A couple of mentions of adults drinking rice wine; no drunken behavior.