So, although I do not think every book should be white washed optimism, a kind of "pollyanna" story if you will. I do believe that without genuine hope and examples of selfless service this world will become measurably worse and that the stories we claim as our's play a role in what we become.
Well put! It's a big part of why I've so thoroughly enjoyed Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow & Thorn trilogy. I find people trying to do good/the right thing in a world that seems to so readily reward the opposite far more interesting than people being reluctantly dragged into doing a bit of good while still being just ambivalent enough about it to remain cool.
I recently read the
Poppy War, which was intense and unsettling, but unfulfilling. The main character is quite the trendy anti-hero, channeling her rage into significant power. But her motives make little sense: ostensibly patriotism to a country that doesn't care about or do anything for her, which she acknowledges might be a simple pretext for pursuit of power. There are surely the usual gray questions... how bad can she be before she is worse than the enemy? But it's boring. I'm supposed to root for her because... their atrocities were the ones I read about first? Does this character deserve my attention simply because they're not as awful as everyone else in the book?
In contrast, I just picked up
To Green Angel Tower, (bailed on Zahn's
Specter of the Past... the SW novels were always hit and miss with me and this one is a textbook case of diminishing sequel returns) the final installment of Williams' trilogy and was immediately hooked again. These are people I root for, people I want to think about in my real life... people that don't give up and sell out their principles because everyone else is and it's easier. People that stand by friends and loved ones, no matter the cost, that keep fighting even when it seems futile.
And as you say, I just don't see how this is somehow deemed hard to believe, while Joe Abercrombie or GRRM are "realistic" in portraying every human in their novels as a self-centered, psychopathic narcissist. Sure they're bad-asses and have all the cool quips, but in my world people DO stop to help stranded motorists they don't know, or donate time to soup kitchens and mentoring programs, or help old ladies carry groceries. I don't see how a world where no such people exist and everyone is like Eastwood's Man With No Name is somehow more realistic.
