Pokémon Book Reviews

"Loyal to the Game" - by eri_quin

Loyal to the Game:

"All Ash Ketchum has ever wanted was to be the best. Ash's dream was to be the unbeatable, greatest and grandest Pokémon Master there ever was. So now of legal age to get a Trainer's license at 16, Ash can start the road for just that. Problem? Ash is a girl and perverts are everywhere.

There's also that she's a huge trouble magnet, starting by gaining the interest of Giovanni, boss of Team Rocket, then gaining an overprotective sister, a smartass of a pokedex, and collecting gym leaders along with gym badges.

Her mother might be extremely befuddled and horrified at her daughter's luck, especially since she'd gone to extreme measures to protect her daughter by persuading Ash to dress like a guy."

Genre: Fanfiction

Rating: PG-13

X (@calliope95)'s review:

"Loyal to the Game". I've definitely never read a book like this before. It started off somewhere, and ended- currently- somewhere else.  

The cover isn't so bad. Nothing much to say there, but it's okay-ish. What really captures the attention of the readers in this book is the theme- the reverse harem/genderbender combo. Taking a marvelous detour from the main stream of fan fictions here in Wattpad, Loyal to the Game seems to bring an entirely different perspective to the Pokemon world.  

But I digress.   Pros:   The grammar. It was almost perfect- a few errors here and there, but it paints a portrait, just like that. The Japanese words inserted here and there add an extra flavor to the book, like adding chocolate fudge to vannila ice cream, which tastes wonderful. The amount reduces as the story progresses, but the language and the grammar is most certainly impressive. Also, the right spelling for some words have been used- blasé and naïve are two of them. Most of us ignore them, but they might mean something else entirely. (Like Poke and Poké)  

The comedy. Oh, good heavens, where do I start with the comedy! The right expressions have been portrayed at the right time- sweatdropping, deadpanning, facepalming, hits to the head by hand and mallet... the book just gets hilarious! If you want to read a cheerful book, come no further. It's amazing how many of the Pokemon world's favorite characters appear in this book. And they've been portrayed pretty differently, as well-   *SPOILER ALERT!*   Delia Ketchum's sensitive and maternal side, Giovanni's soft spot... I certainly have never thought of Steven Stone as a "playboy"! XD   *SPOILER ENDS*   That brings a whole new meaning to the Pokemon world.

Cons:

I understand that the main theme of themes like this book centers around a female surrounded by males trying to win her attraction- but does every male human the main character crosses have to be attracted to her? Seriously, literally every male- boy, man or old men- I encountered while reading the story have some sort of attraction to Ash. Not all men are the same, even in reverse harems- I do hope the author realizes that and corrects it in future chapters.

During most of the story, there's no indication that the scene changes. All of a sudden, a group of characters are talking, they suddenly decide to look for someone, and the scene changes to that someone. No break, no line. This could really confuse people.

* MAJOR SPOILER ALERT*

If you have a substantial knowledge of the anime and certain elements in the game, it's basically easy to predict what happens next- the book follows the anime's timeline for most of its chapters. Some people might get bored of reading such a predictable story. The author should probably include a change in the flow.

*SPOILER ENDS*

The storyline. All of a sudden, they move from Viridian to Pewter, and then Cerulean, and then Vermillion, Saffron and so on. There aren't any teleportation pads connecting Kanto cities- there are routes and roads connecting them. It is always good if you elaborate on each aspect of the journey, even travelling on the several routes, caves and waters. It adds more color and flavor to the story.