Brain damage

Not everybody loves what I write and everybody is also entitled to their opinion. Some readers have gone through Rome's Revolution and found Rei and Rome unrealistic characters. One person told me real people don't act like that.

On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of readers have loved the stories and the characters. The one thing that turned off the reader above and attracted fine reviews from others is how well Rome and Rei handle change and all the curves that life (actually me, the author) throws at them. Here is what one reviewer (Risingshadow.net) wrote:

The protagonists are endearing three-dimensional characters. What I like most about the protagonist is that they feel realistic. Although they're intelligent and they seem to be perfect, they also have human traits and faults that make them vulnerable. This kind of characterization is a bit rare in hard science fiction

I have a different theory. I will claim that Rome, as a Vuduri, was built from the ground up to take things with aplomb. She actually had to learn how to be horrified or suffer from panic. I also claim that Rei suffered from brain damage or at least a drug-induced stupor when he was first revived. He even acknowledged this when Rome first met him. This insulation of his higher brain functions allowed him to take things in stride when normally he might have lost it.

Slowly but surely, Rei adapted to all the weirdness going on around so that by the time they arrived on Deucado, he was fully ready to embrace anything that might come his way. You can see from this little vignette that comes right on the heels of the scene recounted yesterday:

     Rei started to jog forward and found that each footfall cast a sound that went out and returned an image of the forest to him that was colorless but crystal clear.
     “He’s given me some kind of sonar vision,” Rei shouted. “Woo hoo,” he said, galloping through the woods. The whole experience was so exciting that he forgot how tired he was. Faster and faster he ran. The faster he ran, the more noise he made. The more noise he made, the clearer his path became.
     “This is the greatest thing ever,” Rei thought to himself.
     “Even better than a telephone in the head?” asked MINIMCOM.
     “Yeah. This is so sleek! Remind me to thank OMCOM the next time I see him,” Rei thought to himself.

Does this seem like someone who is unrealistic or brain damaged or just ready to embrace the gifts that life hands him?