AFAIK no distro forces you to reboot, but they all require it for some updates to take effect. You can’t reload the kernel while the system is running.
Fedora just makes that clearer to the user by only installing those updates when they’re going to be active - after a reboot. I think it also blocks new system updates until the current set is completely finished.
You can disable offline updates in the system settings, but I think they’re a good idea, especially for the average user.