As far as Lauren goes, I can see why the students see her as a Mary Sue. She seems to have all the right answers most of the time, and I don’t think she was challenged enough. I think if the character (his name escapes me) who was very critical of her Earthseed ideas had pushed it a bit more and maybe even defected, it would have made the story and Lauren a bit more compelling. On her hyperempathy ability, I honestly kept forgetting she had it. I wanted to learn more about it and see it develop into more than just a problem Lauren/the group has to deal with as they travel/now defend their territory.

Off topic from the original post, but I also just recently read it because of how highly praised it was on this sub, and I was a bit disappointed as well. It’s remarkably prescient and I love the world Butler created, but I had a problem with the lack of personality and nuance in the characters. Maybe the second one adds a bit more depth that really enhances the story, but I don’t think I’ll be tackling it soon at least.