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This week I had a look at 'Stars Ascending' by HeatherSmith672. I read all of the chapters currently up. (20)
TLDR; If you like Supergirl, Lucifer, or Jupiter Ascending and love triangles you would be fully on board with this.
Main Character: the Good kind of Mary Sue - Typically when a Mary Sue is mention it is with distaste. I cannot blame anyone. I've read true Mary Sue stories and they are HORRIBLE. But this character manages to narrowly avoid the pitfalls of being a bad Mary Sue. You have a lot of trademarks. Seemingly no flaws, no real character growth until much later, being told she is awesome, loved by everyone just because she is awesome, rediculas powers, is prophesied to be basically greater than god, and then most of all the universe/story bends over backwards to plop the solution into her lap. (Almost literally as people/solutions seem to teleport.) But the MC manages to pull this off and become the good, shall I say, even the healthy kind by a Mary Sue. 1. Not being a stuck-up brat where the bullshit has gone to her head. 2. Not abusing the Mary Sue powers (except once, which managed to come across more as immaturity rather than universe-level abuse, allowing for actual character growth and not be one-dimensional) 3. the Mary Sue focuses on other people, comforts others, cares about others more than herself, and generally makes good moral choices. Most of the time. there are a few moments of being seemingly bipolar, but I think thats more how the scene was written than a long-term character trait. I dont think its intentional. Anyway, combine all these things and you have a character that is basically Supergirl/Superman. and you know what? It works. It took a little bit to get into, I won't lie. Moments sent red flags through my mind, but I pressed on and when I reflect on all of it as a whole I don't see a toxic Mary Sue that just wants to self-insert and abuse everything, but Supergirl. The comparisons are even uncanny. Without spoiling much, as this is all seen early, she is adopted by parents with humble means by literally landing on their doorstep (like superman), has birthparents of higher birth who died saving her (like superman and seen in the prologue), has Marvel/DC level powers, has normal people for friends, works on a farm (do I really need to say it?), and focuses more on doing what is right and moral and being humble than much else. Or boys, because its a romance.
One real problem I have with her is that with all of the good and bad and sheer 'universe-level-perfection' comes a lack of agency and growth for a long time. She never steps up and takes a decisive action or decision of her own that pushes the story forward for a long time. I don't consider super-normal decisions like going to a bookstore to hang out as decisive action, agency, power within a narrative, nor growth. Visiting other characters, yes, but most of the time people, solutions, animals, and things come to her, depriving her of agency and choice and leaving her tossed in the stream for a long time. But at the same time her innate powerful nature could have been too much early, as I will describe later.
Some characters can avoid this pitfall of lacking character growth by being flat character arcs whose role is to influence the world around them and show others the philosphical truth the story is trying to make, rather than grow themselves. More or less being the teacher to the pupil. This is where I would expect her to fit, but she doesn't really make effort to do this either.
