im reading a book series, it's written at a middle schooler reading level

in the 2nd book the main character's maid was assaulted by another character. afterwards the characters talked of reporting the incident but the victim decided not to and the other abided by her decision.

at the time i remembered thinking it was well handled and being surprised it had been included and impressed that it even featured a discussion between the character regarding the consequences (both good and bad) of reporting the crime

its such a difficult topic to broach even in REALITY and it was treated well

now in the sequel the attacker confessed to murder of 2 girls and rape

and the main character is blaming herself for not forcing the maid to confess thinking it could have been prevented and i am fucking shocked like

i never expected this to come up the first time in a book aimed at a young audience

and now even the long term result has been touched on. and seeing the characters different reactions to it

im really impressed

but also like it hurts that this is still something people need to talk about and god i know there aren't content warnings for media and i guess i worry about the girls reading it who may not have been ready for such a topic to feature in the plot

anyway im just like "fuck" over the whole thing

I remember when they reached this point in Mark Reads, people were angry with Kel for feeling guilty because it's not about her.
but like of course she'd feel guilty, she's Kel.

buri coming to talk to her in the snow is one of my favorite scenes in a book I like very much.