I read Sower and Talents pretty recently and IMO Lauren's characterization was pretty flat, especially before the climax. I felt like I was taking crazy pills when my cousin was reading it and she didn't notice. Hearing about your students' opinion makes me not feel crazy.

I also thought the empathy was inconsistent.

This is going to be a tangent but it will be relevant. My wife has really been into the anime Demon Slayer. I watched it and the main character, IMO, is pretty flat to me but I started to realize that a lot of main characters can be like that. Basically a blank slate for the story to drive their development.

Going back to Sower, Lauren seems like your typical boring kid. And another revelation I had, is that there probably exists many real people like that. Yet, the most interesting stories will have a main character with lots of flaws who actually isn't like your typical everyday person.

I liked her character in Talents though.