That one plot point
I don’t review books (because I don’t enjoy writing reviews, though during that brief time I was studying writing in postgrad I received excellent marks for my book reviews), so I don’t tend to name books I’m reading. It’s more about the lessons I learn from a piece of media than the piece of media itself.
There’s an unpopular subplot in the third book of a trilogy.
And I get it, it is most certainly an uncomfortable subplot. It’s also an important subplot, because it shows how people will manipulate for control in particular desperate situations.
It’s a shame that instead of seeing a lesson in the subplot, the main response I see is one of anger. That it’s unnecessary. That it came out of nowhere (definitely did not, there was clear foreshadowing).
But you can’t make people see anything. You can only write it and hope.
Given the things going on in the world right now, this one fills me with a bit of disappointment. I wish the general response to this subplot was more nuanced, because it would mean more literacy on how people in power and desperate situations behave.
Image description: a row of books on a bookcase or reshelving cart