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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37701
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37701
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In my opinion, your story would be fine, and readers would be fine, if your characters exhibit a significant amount of agency _once_ and _early_.

If the hero (and sidekick or whatever) _chooses_ to subject themselves to a harrowing experience that lasts the entire book, and this choice is real (not a "your money or your life" choice), then what follows can be coerced.

In the Hunger Games, Katniss makes a choice: Take her sister's place. She could legitimately have held her tongue, but out of love she chose to risk her own life instead of letting her sister march to almost certain death. That's a real choice that showed agency. After that, it's fight or die.

The same could be said for McClane in Die Hard (Bruce Willis). He could have left the hostage situation to the police, but chose to risk his life to save his wife and two daughters that were victims. After making that decision, for Katniss or McClane, future "agency" is pretty much in never giving up no matter how bad it gets.

Your story can be similar, just be sure you engineer the situation so the characters make _one_ real choice in the beginning. Even if it seems a little coerced by love (like both Die Hard and Hunger Games), make it a decision against orders, wise advice, the law or the Expected Norm in their culture (as is true for both Die Hard and Hunger Games).

Original score: 4