The Last of the Renshai/YMMV

Canon Sue: Averted upon examination. At first glance, Colbey appears to be a Gary Stu in the making, what with his being the greatest swordsman ever, a God in Human Form, the long-lost Western Wizard, and so powerful that he can silence the combined wisdom of all the previous Western Wizards by mind power alone. However, he is excused on three counts: one, in that he is genuinely humble about his capabilities, two, the character is likeable and his jokes are actually funny and three, the Rule of Cool. He is a Dual-Wielding Badass with a Cool Horse, after all. Maybe this even counts as Refuge in Audacity...
Crowning Moment of Awesome: There are a few over the series, as is only to be expected:
- Rache's aforementioned last stand, where he prays for a final burst of strength in order to die on his feet.
- Arduwynn shooting the evil King of the East, despite Colbey's being so close that he could have easily missed and accidentally killed the Renshai warrior instead.
- Colbey overcoming the army of small beasties as part of his initiation into the order of the Wizards. Most applicants try tactical or magical solutions, such as charming the creatures or striking down the leader to claim his place. Colbey's solution? He just keeps fighting wave after wave. The survivors end up concluding that he must be a god. He's a Renshai. It's what they do.
- Near the end of the first trilogy, when Colbey reveals his plan to the Wizards opposing him.
Jerkass Sue: Kevral displays quite a few of the traits for this. Arrogance, incredible skill, and of course she's one of the few women unaffected by the infertility plague inflicted by the elves. Luckily, she improves after Colbey teaches her a few lessons in humility.
Take That, Scrappy!: At least one troper cheered on seeing Kevral get her ass handed to her by Colbey, then receiving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from her aforementioned hero. It was the beginning of some seriously needed Character Development.