#and ‘mom friend’ who fixes everything for everyone 🤦🏽‍♀️

[yourqueenb]

you’re not wrong at all but i guess im just used to mcs having absolutely no backstory, feelings, or definitive character traits. the plot just happens to mcs, mcs don’t make the plot happen. even though expectations are higher for blades its still choices with all the limits and misses opportunities of any other book. i cant really think of an mc that feels like their own character before the book and plot starts, besides maybe cop mc in the first book and th:m mc

Just wanna start off by saying I’m so sorry that I never actually responded to this! I could’ve sworn I had already posted, but found this fully typed up sitting in my drafts just now 😵‍💫 But yeah anyway…

See I don’t normally have a problem with “blank-slate MCs” though. I actually prefer them because I can use my imagination to create a backstory and (ideally) give them the traits I want through my choices. My main problem is that the few choices we are allowed to make usually just don’t matter beyond like a slight variation in dialogue as a result. And even bigger than that, there isn’t much diversity in the options we’re given to begin with.

I think if those problems didn’t exist, Blades MC was allowed to react to whatever happens on a deeper level, and our so-called friends showed more concern through their actions, then the story would be a bit better for me. However, I will say that I also think that’s the bare minimum, especially considering the fact that the writers already gave MC a partial backstory but decided it wasn’t important to have that affect present MC and the story for whatever reason.

Doing that worked in a series like TRR/TRH because, in the grand scheme of things, that MC’s backstory didn’t really matter and the plot was a little more cut and dried. But with Blades, the stakes are incredibly high and everyone is basically questioning the meaning of life and existence itself, what morality means in a world where things are a lot more gray than previously thought, and the roles they play in that world. So although I usually don’t mind it, I don’t think keeping Blades MC’s background from affecting anything significant really works.

Not sure where I’m going with all this though because none of it really counters your point. You’re right that it’s still Choices after all, so our expectations should be a bit lower even for a book like Blades. But it still sucks because I feel like PB really didn’t have to push too much further to make it an outstanding story. They were the ones who gave themselves all this material and then just didn’t follow through :/