Things about my novel that I just know will get pissed on by the poor:
-A 10/14-year-old girl who is generally a truthful person is still not necessarily a reliable narrator. She unwittingly jumps into the middle of an issue that the ENTIRE CATHOLIC CHURCH and secular governments butt heads about frequently. Her perception of the situation is limited, people around her are either shielding her from the worst of it or outright lying to her. Thus her telling of events is not entirely reliable, even if she's telling the truth as she sees and understands it.
-Yes the Church is hypocritical regarding a lot of things, and also how its adherents apply doctrine. I'm not sure why this always trips people up, this is like the least fantasy-based part of the entire story.
-Yes the Plague Doctor fucked up, big time. In trying to get past his own trauma, he inflicted new ones on the main character. He loves her so much he would literally kill to protect her, but he still done fucked up. And he knows it. He doesn't know how NOT to fuck it up. That's the point. You can do your best and it may still be terrible in certain situations. Your coping mechanisms may have worked for you in one context, but for someone else in a different context they don't. You can love someone and unintentionally harm them. Someone can go through trauma and still love the person who did it to them. Generational trauma is a complicated bitch to break free from.
-people are complicated. Events are complicated. You're going to have to use your brain a little with this story. I'm not going to spoonfeed people and have a tidy little story that wraps up neatly with a bow all feely-goody. Die mad about it.
-also I want to keep a running tally of how many people are able to figure out who the Plague Doctor is before the actual reveal. So far there's been one person but he made a lucky guess. I tried to put in plenty of hints, I just wanna know how well that worked out for people. I mean I'm glad it was as much of a surprise to the readers as the main character, I just really don't want it to be one of those nonsensical 'plot twists' that creators do nowadays because they think having twists with no bases is good storytelling.
