 Hello there, faithful watchers. Today we're going to talk about a not very well known fantasy book called Reactive. It is the first in the Elite Trial series, and like I said, it's not very well known and there's a lot of reasons for that, but before I go into a lot of detail, I need to go to the store because I can't talk to a camera on an empty stomach. Oh, wait, I'm... Oh, no. I just got isekite again. Uh, hi, who are you? Hi, my name is Loon. I was kidnapped as a child and forced to become the daughter of a very wealthy man who runs Tatum City. Tatum City is a walled off city. It's walled off because, you know, this is after the apocalypse and there are now mutated beasts roaming around that want to kill everybody. And I was forced to train as a warrior, but I hate it here, so I am now signing up for the Elite Trials, which are a series of very dangerous and deadly competitions, and if I win, I get my freedom. That is a lot of very blatant exposition that you just threw in my face right away. I'm the protagonist of this book. I have to get your attention somehow. Watch me show off my awesome combat abilities. Well, that's cool. So you've spent many years training as a warrior. What were you trained to fight? Like bandits, raiders, armies from other cities? What's going on here? Mutated beasts. But I also have a crippling fear of them, so I mostly fight other teenagers. Oh, other teenagers. That's cool. Well, at least you're good at that. No, I spend 90% of the story being saved by men, including at the climax. What? Why did you bother becoming a fighter then? So that I can take care of small problems on my own while also being completely, and I do mean completely, helpless in more difficult situations. Isn't that just super progressive and feminist? No. If anything that just reinforces patriarchal gender roles because that says that, yeah, sure, you can try fighting if you want, but you're always going to be inferior to men. Okay, look, this is meant to be a double fantasy. I get to hurt all the ugly men who abuse me while also getting all the best, strongest, most handsome, most dashing men to fall in love with me and protect me. Isn't that great? TikTok would certainly think so. Why do you fight with knives, anyways? Because I'm small, duh. I need to take advantage of my superior speed and intelligence, which come with being small by default. No, that's the opposite of what you should do. Knives have very little reach and don't do much damage when compared to something like a sword. In order to attack, you'd have to get even closer to your opponent and be at an even bigger risk of them grabbing you. Plus, knives don't have much defensive capability against larger weapons either. Well, what should I use then? How about a regular sword? They're not that heavy. If you didn't want to do that, you could also use a staff or a spear, you know, that would negate your reach disadvantage. That sounds lame. I'd rather fight in such a way where I can punch my opponents in the throat and then they keep coming at me afterwards. That is not at all how it works. If you get hit in the throat, you are done. It happens in this book. What did you expect the author to learn about fighting before she started writing about it? I suppose not. You said you were kidnapped and forced into this life. Are your living conditions like that of a slave? Not really. My father is the leader of a city, so I have a pretty cozy existence. He does torture me sometimes when he thinks I'm doing something illegal, though. So you have an abusive parental figure, yet at the same time he provided for you and made sure that you could protect yourself in this brutal world. Do you ever have to reconcile conflicting feelings towards him? I mean, that's what a lot of people with abusive parents have to do. Nope, he's just evil. My life is full of security and material comforts, but I also get to be a victim sometimes. That way we have two fantasies at once. Uh, well, what about the elite trials? Are those at least dangerous and thrilling? Well, they don't start until 70% of the way through the book. Of course. The first one is a horse race. Fascinating. The second one is a series of one-on-one duels, but we wear special suits to make sure nobody dies during them. That is, that is thrilling. And the third one is where a bunch of people come together and try to hunt the most beasts. This is when my love interest comes along and saves me. I would have lost without him. So this whole book is trying to recapture the excitement of the Hunger Games. Yes, exactly. Yeah, but the Hunger Games were a life and death struggle. There was no way for Katniss to lose and go home. Like, you can just give up and go back to your old life whenever you want. Katniss couldn't do that. And the elite trials don't seem that much more dangerous than, say, a UFC fight. Like, you can write a story where the main character's life isn't in any real danger, but you would need to give them a sympathetic goal to strive towards at the same time, and you don't have that. But I'm trying to escape an abusive home. Then why don't you just run off? If you really are such a well-trained fighter, you should be okay surviving in the wilderness for a little while. Look, I just don't want to okay. I want to participate in the discount Hunger Games, and also not have to kill anybody, and also not be in any real danger, and also escape my terrible life, and also get the fantasy of being a rich girl. Is there anything else I should know about your book? I have a rival character who changed her name from Katarina to Katana because she fights with a Katana. Fucking weeaboo. The story takes place on Earth 100 years after a vaguely defined apocalypse. I'm about to get bingo. The prose is full of lines that sound like they're trying to be cool, but really just come across as a middle-aged writer trying to sound like a teenager. At one point I even say, I'm an idiotic idiot. That cannot be a real line. Oh, it is. Is there anything else I should know? Nope, this is a very vacuous story. Do you care to give your final verdict? Oh, uh, while Reactive has all of the elements of a fun action adventure story, it ultimately fails because it doesn't engage with any of them. It wants to have its cake and eat it too on every conceivable level. Loone is a badass, amazing fighter, but she's also a helpless damsel. The elite trials are horrible and deadly and no one should ever compete in them if they don't have to, but at the same time, they're just not that dangerous. You can't pretend that your book takes place in a dangerous world when the most dangerous thing that the characters face is bullies being mean to them. You can't pretend that the elite trials are Loone's only way out of her life when she clearly has other options. Reactive isn't even going through the motions of this type of story. It's trying to look like it's going through the motions while also being lazy and soulless. So this is the worst book ever? No, not even close. It was kind of fun at a few points, although those few good points really do not make this worth reading and... wait. Hold on, if you if you are aware that you're a fictional character that exists in a book, then what kind of isekai fantasy world is this? Oh, this isn't a fantasy world at all. You had an eneurysm and now you're lying unconscious on the bathroom floor. I'm just your brain trying to distract you from your fear of impending death. Oh, want to say anything to your audience before you go? Well, I can't. This is all a hallucination and I'm talking to myself. Then say it to yourself. Okay, thanks for watching everyone. Don't forget to like the video, comment, and subscribe. I guess I'm lying dead on the floor now. Goodbye. Tesla Shark, Vaivictus, Vimec Zoll, and Wesley. All these people are great. You can also see all the other names of other patrons on here. So if you want your name on here and you also want like early access to videos, consider going over there donating. If you don't feel like doing that, you can also become a YouTube channel member and you'll also get early access to videos. Doesn't that sound cool? Doesn't that sound awesome? Aren't you? You're all cool. Goodbye.