What I find fun about this series is the fact that the heroic sacrifice isn’t the end, but rather the beginning, and we get to experience the repercussions of it – for better or for worse.
Edit; done writing now after a minor mishap with posting prematurely LOL.
unsure how aggressive to be with tagging spoilers so I'll just hide it all LOL; spoilers abound
I think that’s the reason I like Leon despite how book 1 ended; you so rarely get to see crippling flaws of characters introduced as the “golden boy”. They might have flaws, sure. Pride, wrath, etc, but the repercussions of those flaws are rarely (if ever) explored, because, at the end of the day, you’re meant to like that character.
He’s introduced as reckless, self-righteous, and oblivious. Interestingly enough, the fate of our MC ends up painting even some of his positive traits as a flaw – self-assurance/confidence is rarely a negative trait, but in context of the ending/beginning of book one, it actually works against him. His own self-assurance is part of what leads him not to consider alternative options. He’s not the type to stop and think – not when people’s lives can be saved. If indeed the MC is dangerous, something needs to be done before something worse happens. In the snippets of his life that we are privy to, that sort of thinking never backfired on him in any meaningful capacity. The stakes are higher now, and I think that feeds into the recklessness that is displayed in him from the beginning. What’s great about him, I think, is how all of his flaws play into his decision, ultimately.
It’s also rarely explored in media, what comes after the heroic sacrifice. The story ends when the main character dies, and it’s assumed that people live on happily ever after. Those close grieve, but ultimately the grief of a few matter less than the greater repercussions.
That’s probably why I’m personally keen on getting back to Param. We get to see some of the repercussions of grief and heroic sacrifice in what Eli did for MC, and the MC does the same for Param and the crew there. I’m excited to see how everyone is coping (or isn’t) after the execution. Grief is part of growth, and what the MC did for the Param crew is, with certainty, something that will change each character. Being able to ask Ilya to forgive Leon being a conscious choice at the end is fascinating, because of the implication is that she may not even consider that a possibility if you don’t ask that of her. Despite being the “healer” (a character archetype often recklessly giving), she’s always been far more grounded and practical than Leon. Saine, we’ve seen, is taking things rather poorly. Being the youngest and most impressionable of the crew, I think he had the greatest potential to bounce back positively or be affected disastrously by the loss of a close friend.
All this is to say – the book 2 demo is delightful so far, but I’m itching to see my old friends again ;O;. And Leon I guess LOL. I’m so keen to see how he grows and changes from the MC’s death, whether he leans even harder into his flaws or truly works to change them; whether the MC’s final moments and how they acted would have an effect on his character trajectory.
Tahlia is also easy to dislike but at the same time she’s an incredibly compelling character. The further tragedy that the MC continues to be a tool on someone else’s chessboard even after death is so fun. Regardless of how the MC feels upon death, whether they swore revenge or sought to forgive, the MC is once again being used. One can argue that she is a convenient tool for vengeful MCs to achieve their goals, but ultimately, the MCs dependence upon her means that they’re still ultimately collared and lacking agency. I’m curious to see how the MC ends up taking their agency back after being so firmly shackled to someone as Tahlia did by resurrecting the MC (potentially against their will).
It’s a fun story and I can’t wait to see where it goes!
(but I love characters that are easy to bully, so maybe those are my biases showing too LOL)
