YMMV / Garen: First Shield

• Character Rerailment: For Garen. Prior to this, Garen's usual role in lore was to get his ass handed to him to prove how strong an enemy (Like Sylas) was, and never had an opportunity to display any command skill. Here, he's portrayed as both a complete ass-kicker in battle and a capable commander of the First Shield.
• Like You Would Really Do It: The book really tries to convince the reader that Quinn, a playable character in the game, was fatally struck by a crossbow bolt. It naturally doesn't stick.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Eldwyn is complicit in an treacherous attempt to murder the Demacian delegation during a state dinner, is angry about Demacia not protecting his kingdom from Noxian imperialism while seemingly not angry at all with Noxian imperialism, fails to notice the Demacian ambassador being murdered and impersonated and blames Demacia for the consequences, and at the end of it all doesn't even apologize. Bizarrely, the novel ends with Garen and Cithria expressing sympathy for his plight rather than having to resist the urge to kill him as painfully as possible.