No one has any sex at all in The Goblin Emperor, so that dynamic doesn't come up. It's still idficcy, but in a much gentler "everyone likes you and accepts you! Except these few bad people, but whatevs, it's not like you cared about them" kind of way.
(I thought Felix was unsympathetic not because he recovered slowly, but because he dealt with his trauma by being cruel to everyone. But I suppose the fact that he reacts to trauma by becoming petty and cruel while Mildmay reacts by becoming strangely compassionate is, in itself, an unfortunate dynamic...)
I agree that Monette is generally only interested in writing female characters until male characters show up. The Goblin Emperor also solidified my feeling that there's really only one type of female character she really approves of, the sensible no-nonsense bluestocking type (I guess Mehitabel isn't really a bluestocking, but she knows enough to be a governess, at least). She has no patience at all for women who are silly or emotional or too femme (and she tends to collapse these three categories together).
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(I thought Felix was unsympathetic not because he recovered slowly, but because he dealt with his trauma by being cruel to everyone. But I suppose the fact that he reacts to trauma by becoming petty and cruel while Mildmay reacts by becoming strangely compassionate is, in itself, an unfortunate dynamic...)
I agree that Monette is generally only interested in writing female characters until male characters show up. The Goblin Emperor also solidified my feeling that there's really only one type of female character she really approves of, the sensible no-nonsense bluestocking type (I guess Mehitabel isn't really a bluestocking, but she knows enough to be a governess, at least). She has no patience at all for women who are silly or emotional or too femme (and she tends to collapse these three categories together).