Noteworthy Elements:

• Violence: There are many references to the torture and gruesome executions that imprisoned Covenanters were forced to endure. Torture methods such as the rack, the boot, the gallows, the thumbscrew, dismemberment, and being burned alive are referenced and occasionally detailed. Other tortures are referenced (non-descriptively) to threaten Covenanters to denounce their faith. Soldiers threaten to roast an old man alive for refusing to submit to the Church of England’s authority, and a Covenanter is beheaded on the battlefield. Angus contemplates being tortured on the rack. The heads and hands of faithful Covenanters are displayed on the iron pikes outside of the M’Kethe’s town. Covenanter prisoners being shipped to the Americas as slaves are shipwrecked and locked below decks to die. The execution of David Hackston (a historical Scottish Covenanter) is described as his hands and heart were both cut off as he was being hung. One of the Covenanters is beheaded and the soldiers play games with his head. Many of these concerns are relayed to the main character, not witnessed personally. Angus describes how ravens will gruesomely slaughter young lambs. Battlefields are described vividly but tactfully. 
• Sexual Tension: When Angus and his sister, Jennie, go to help their neighbors, Jennie is captured by the soldiers. Angus fights to bring back his sister along with “her virtue”, though nothing happens to Jennie. The clan chief studies Jennie in a way that makes Angus uneasy. Angus fears what the soldiers will do to his mother and sister if the men are all killed in battle, though no explicit details are given. There is a reference to a Covenanter’s wife being “used very ill” by the soldiers. King Charles II is described as having scandalous relationships and a reference is made to the King “carousing with one of his mistresses”.
• Profanity: The term “hell-hound” is used to describe James Turner, a persecutor of the Covenanters and the phrase “hell-kites” is used when describing the Battle of Rullion Green. The phrase “demon if it did” is used to describe Angus’ talking raven. The words “bastard” and “damning” are used a few times in a literal sense.
• Spiritual: Angus teaches his pet raven to say a few words and friends warn Angus that he may be accused of practicing dark arts with the bird. There are a few references to witches who were tried and executed for practicing dark magic, as well as a reference to a faithful Covenanter who was condemned as a witch.