Even if we adopted a completely neutral position, these things would remain.
Empress Theresa is poor writing. It is objectively true that Empress Theresa contains plot holes and has factual mistakes.
Empress Theresa has been universally panned. From chapter 5 onwards, it's about a girl playing a sandbox game with the world, free of any real sense of excitement and danger. This stuff hardly sells.
Norman's antics, ego and lies are also demonstrably true. Just go to the Amazon review sections or see the screen captures yourself.