Sword of Gluttony Princess Chapter v21 Discussion

Let me start off by saying that this is not a terrible novel. Though, it's not amazing either. I legitimately thought this was written by the same author as Unwanted Undead Adventurer, because of how similar the writing styles are. By that, I mean that this novel has A LOT of exposition. I mean a single chapter might have one action occur, while the rest of it is the MC either describing why he took such an action, why this action is a thing he can do, or how such an action can take place in this world. It's not my favorite kind of style, but it's not enough for me to knock off too many points.

Where is the 3-star rating coming from then? Well, like the reviewer Old_Man stated, the MC is naïve. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, because I enjoy naïve MCs that either learn from their mistakes or push through with their idealism and win regardless. However, this MC is not naïve, he just has a room temp IQ.

Spoiler

I don't mind MC's that refuse to kill. I'm not an edgyboi, and don't read CN novels for that very reason. That said, I cannot get behind the MC being betrayed by Gilbert, then having his "revenge" be that he slams the table at a restaurant and says "don't talk to me ever again, bucko!" The MC has the nerve to act like that was some sort of win for him. The author explains (in excruciating but well-reasoned detail) why the MC is forced to do nothing in this situation, and why he has to let it go. That's fine. Just don't act like this is some sort of victory over the dude that almost got you killed. I guess the author got some complaints or something, because 10-20 chapters later, the MC implies that he's not satisfied leaving it there, but it felt out of character since the MC was already established as your typical doormat. I'm calling it now, that any revenge on Gilbert will probably be done in the background by a third party (monsters, another adventurer, the military, his own greed) and will not be cathartic in the slightest or that the author will just plainly forget about him.

[collapse]

The other problem I have is that the author leaves nothing to the reader's imagination.

!!Pretty big Act 1 spoilers ahead, but honestly, you'd have to not be paying any sort of attention to not see this coming.!!

Spoiler

Gilbert's betrayal was okay, but the one with Fredo (or whatever his name is), was done so poorly, I actually laughed out loud when he betrayed the MC. I mean the author introduced a strong character out of nowhere, with a kind personality (in a setting that admonishes kindness), and has him invite the "weak" MC to a dungeon capture with a tsundere airhead (read "harem capture target"). What do you think is gonna happen?

Then the author spends 5 chapters telling us that the MC feels something's off, but can't explain it after F-kun kills a trio of PK-ing bandits super easily, even though this supposed trio had been wiping the floor with high level adventurers (and the author will not let this go unheard since he repeats it ad nauseum).

Then F-kun turns out to be the true bandit! Woah! What a surprise! The author sure got me with that one!

[collapse]

Positive notes:

1. Translator is doing a nice job. There are some hiccups here and there, but it's 100% legible and that's already more than I can ask for. (Though the curse-words in one chapter are censored using 1337speak which threw me off, luckily changed to *'s in the following one)
2. When the story is good, it's good. There are some chapters out of what I've read that had me excited (for example, some of the fight scenes in the second major fight).
3. The ideas behind how things work in the world can be interesting (i.e. Battle bones, demon cores, etc.)
4. The logic behind the MC's actions can be really interesting when it doesn't take an entire chapter to explain.

I'll keep reading this, but it's a novel where once I reach the current chapter release I'll probably let it build up for a long time.

(I'll be honest only write reviews when I've been drinking and get exclusively angry at a novel, so some of this is probably hyperbole and nitpicky. I'm also just an a**h*le that reads absolute tr*sh so don't take my opinions too seriously.)