The second coming of Gluttony Review, is it worth it ?

This novel started off very, very similar to every other damn novel with the same premise that I almost drop it within the first few chapters. Memories of MC or MC being sent back in time after an "end-of-the-world" event for the human faction and this time around he/she is not going to mess up. Almost every freaking' time the story structure would be something about MC encountering an event, access his memories or whatever and voila MC saves the day, repeat.

BUT!!! this novel didn't do that! None of that BS accessing memory stuff this time around and thank god for it. It is so much better to discover the world alongside the MC. Man, when Seol (Main Character) exits the neutral zone and enters the world of Paradise for the first time not knowing what to expect. I'm all like I feel ya, I feel ya. It is damn refreshing to see a world unveil itself naturally instead of the old' samey main character who gives the reader an exposition of "oh I remember this, blah blah." Looking at you Reincarnator.

Unfortunately, this novel does have the same problem exhibited in other novels with this premise. Seol is a very weak main character. I don't mean he has to be an overpowered, rational, always making the best choices kind of character. What bums me out is that he started off very interesting at the beginning of the story. He was a gambling addicted, manipulative arse, whose behavior drove away people that care about him. He dug the hole himself. I wanted to see how he was going to turn his life around but after the neutral zone/training arc he became like any other bumbling dense s*upid MC with bad dialogues. This is a 26-year old man who acts like he's in his teens. A man who receive his past memory feeling like he had lived it. I know I praise the novel for not doing memory accessing exposition dumps and it's better for it; but, the author does not do anything with him gaining his past memories either. This is the initial premise of the story and the most important one too. Without sending his memory back in time this story would not have started the way that it did. His past life was about being bought off, taken advantage of, going to war with monstrosities known as Parasites, abandon by people blinded with greed, and eventually with him dead. I just wanted to emphasize it again: he received his memory feeling like he's lived it. And it's written off like a fleeting forgotten dream. Present Seol does not act like a 26 year old who has receive the memories of the past Seol who has seen sh*t and it's such a missed opportunity.

The supporting cast can be a mixed-bag. The one's introduced at the very beginning area are completely forgettable. In the neutral zone arc you had a more colorful cast of character being introduced with some of them being quite memorable and have a distinct voice to them. Especially the Priest Maria she is definitely one of my favorite character. Unlike other story of this kind the author doesn't just abandon these characters and introduce new ones every new arc so that's a plus. The problem that arises is whenever Seol, the main character, is in a scene or interacting with these character. The dialogue just feels off and it's always his dialogue for some reason. Seol's dialogue feels like it comes from text bubble you choose when your playing a visual novel or Skyrim interacting with NPCs. It feels so bizarre and not only that, the MC always ends up one-upping the supporting casts too. Oh crap, this supporting character just did something cool but look here's the main character doing something even cooler. And his interactions... my god, just no. Another problem is that the MCs always the one with the right plan or solution to the problem presented. One can only read so many times of that before it gets tiring. So, the supporting cast tend to shine less whenever the main character is present.

The game-like system is done wonderfully. It's straightforward and very easy to understand. Scenes with tension were also done really well. As a reader you can just feel what is at stakes for Seol in some of these situations.

Although the plot is a generic travel back in time, having a second chance, and doing it right the second time I thought it was good. Main character's "Nine-eye" ability is creative, well thought-out, and suited for a main character in this type of story. How Seol was able to send his memories back in time is a little weak but I can buy it. I do have questions about the world building and some of the plot holes but I probably won't be reading this novel anymore. Man, if only Seol hadn't turn into the same bland main character commonly found in Chinese and Korean Novels on this site.