[quote=@POOHEAD189]
Who to believe!? 
[/quote]
[img]https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7aCRloybJlXpNjSU/giphy.gif[/img]
At least, I figure if you look for the threads of similarity between the one review that gushes and the one that is critical, we see that both reviews ultimately recommend it.  That, more than anything else, is probably the most important detail.

[hr]

Though, to continue the discussion...

To put things in perspective, let's say someone was starting their own roleplay and is looking over character sheets people have posted.  Then, you come across this one fedora-tipping m'ladies-man with his anime-style "true-red" hair and traditional tragic dead-parents past.  Then we get to reading about personality.  Under a section labeled "Character strengths"  he has written "He is amazing at everything he tries. If needed, he could learn and entire language in a day and a half or get officially certified as a musician on a lute with a broken string.".  Things are looking a little dicey already, but you move on to "character flaws", where the only thing written is: "he is aware of how good he is at everything and it makes him reckless and overconfident".  Let's be honest, someone is probably getting told that their character sheet is problematic and needs several major changes before it is acceptable.

Even so, I touched on the part where I think that it is a cohesive story written by a decent author  I feel like that by itself can go a long way, even with a protagonist who likely wouldn't pass muster in a casual roleplay.  As far as the overarching themes you mention go, I will admit that these are a couple of the more classic tropes that I am rather fond of.  Like I mentioned in my last post, I am genuinely interested in seeing exactly which point he switches tropes from being a Gary Stu to being more of a Broken Ace.  It hasn't happened by the end of the first book, but that transition is part of what is keeping the series on my reading list.  Beyond that, the whole "whoops I accidentally broke the world by doing my irresponsible main character shenanigans" is one of those super standard first disc plots of RPGs that I happen to love playing through. XD