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A review by jlamontbooks
Reactive by Becky Moynihan
3.0
Ractive is the first in a YA dystopian romance series set in a future USA where all civilization has fallen and wild beasts and monsters hunt the forests. Our story takes place in Tatum City. Within it, the population is split between the poor and the elite. And the only way to become an elite or earn your freedom out of the city is to battle and win in 3 competitions known as the Elite Trials. Each trial has 1 winner, where competitors battle to the death or desperately try to survive the hardships and dangers within.
Our story follows Lune Tatum, the adoptive daughter of the cruel leader of Tatum. Although Lune lives her life in luxury as an elite, she suffers physical abuse at the hands of her father. As such, she decides to compete in the Elite Trials, risking her life for the chance at freedom. But when Lune is given the responsibility of training a new competitor, Brendon, for the trials, she suspects her father might be up to no good.
Ractive brings us a beautiful world of forests and rivers, and provides all the right pieces of broken, dystopian society that readers crave from this genre. It’s also a romance, with this 1st book more focused on the development of the relationship between Lune and Bren.
The initial several chapters were captivating, and I found myself hooked to know more about Tatum City and the Elite Trails. But as I got about 35% of the way through the book, I found myself no longer interested and wanted to DNF it. I’m a completionist, however, so I pushed through. As I came into the 2nd half of the book, I was more entertained and was once again turning pages like crazy until the end.
My thoughts are mixed on this one. The writing was great, but I just wasn’t in love with our heroine. I imagined Lune to be a total bad ass but was disappointed when she rarely kicked butt and usually needed someone to save her. I did love Bren, however. His character was funny, sweet, and walked the line of bad-boy and not-a-bad-boy deliciously well.
For me, the romance was lacking and burned way too slow. I’m not a fan of slow burn, however, so this book might be for you if you’re a fan of this type of romance.
Reactive is a dystopian, but I hungered for so much more information. I wanted to understand why Tatum City existed, why the Trails were created, and how the world got turned upside down. Sadly, none of these questions got answered, and only more questions appeared as I came to the end of the story. There are 2 more books in the series, however, and many of these questions might be answered within them.
I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys slow burn romances and dystopian settings. The Elite Trails have a Hunger Games-vibe to them, so those who enjoyed that trilogy might be interested in giving this series a try. I will also note that the romance is very benign and soft, and there is virtually no cursing that I can remember, so it is appropriate for a younger YA audience.
Our story follows Lune Tatum, the adoptive daughter of the cruel leader of Tatum. Although Lune lives her life in luxury as an elite, she suffers physical abuse at the hands of her father. As such, she decides to compete in the Elite Trials, risking her life for the chance at freedom. But when Lune is given the responsibility of training a new competitor, Brendon, for the trials, she suspects her father might be up to no good.
Ractive brings us a beautiful world of forests and rivers, and provides all the right pieces of broken, dystopian society that readers crave from this genre. It’s also a romance, with this 1st book more focused on the development of the relationship between Lune and Bren.
The initial several chapters were captivating, and I found myself hooked to know more about Tatum City and the Elite Trails. But as I got about 35% of the way through the book, I found myself no longer interested and wanted to DNF it. I’m a completionist, however, so I pushed through. As I came into the 2nd half of the book, I was more entertained and was once again turning pages like crazy until the end.
My thoughts are mixed on this one. The writing was great, but I just wasn’t in love with our heroine. I imagined Lune to be a total bad ass but was disappointed when she rarely kicked butt and usually needed someone to save her. I did love Bren, however. His character was funny, sweet, and walked the line of bad-boy and not-a-bad-boy deliciously well.
For me, the romance was lacking and burned way too slow. I’m not a fan of slow burn, however, so this book might be for you if you’re a fan of this type of romance.
Reactive is a dystopian, but I hungered for so much more information. I wanted to understand why Tatum City existed, why the Trails were created, and how the world got turned upside down. Sadly, none of these questions got answered, and only more questions appeared as I came to the end of the story. There are 2 more books in the series, however, and many of these questions might be answered within them.
I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys slow burn romances and dystopian settings. The Elite Trails have a Hunger Games-vibe to them, so those who enjoyed that trilogy might be interested in giving this series a try. I will also note that the romance is very benign and soft, and there is virtually no cursing that I can remember, so it is appropriate for a younger YA audience.