Beast had dark moments, but was overall portrayed as good guy who's primarily invested in finding more peaceful solutions. He was also a protagonist...
This. And I think that also, because it's so fantastical and can't be replicated in real world situations, it creates this disconnect where it's hard...
Yeah, I found it highly off-putting at first, but... it was a book with real stakes, where you didn't know if the characters actually had plot armor....