User blog comment:Magical Toddler/Second Person Perspectives - Why They're Hard to Write/@comment-26425680-20170819064131/@comment-32906717-20170819104936

The problem isn't risk. It's effectiveness in pulling that risk off.

If you're capable of getting a reader like Banning or even myself to step into a murderer's shoes for Second Person, then go for it. The chances of doing so are low, and that's for the larger majority of readers - it's simply a general rule. But again, you must have an extremely effective hook.

The problem with adding more risk is simple: Remember, you've traded character depth for complete immersion. If you screw it up, that immersion, and by extension any emotional connection the reader had to your work, is shattered.

An Egg works because it isn't entirely Second Person, and it hits on just the right idea - the right diversion from the formula. It starts off with you dying, but explains how you did. The twist is incredibly subtle (you're essentially a god-in-the-making and the universe is an egg) and it pulls on just the right emotions of wonder.

But for every An Egg, you'll end up with 10 attempts that fall flat on the same concept.