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A review by alexiacambaling
Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
3.0
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen!
I also read the author's award-winning short story Cat Pictures Please which features the same concept about a benevolent AI who tries to help humanity. If you're familiar with Isaac Asimov, the three laws of robotics was heavily featured in the story and makes use of it in a very interesting way. I highly recommend reading that alongside this book as it was a very good short story on its own and when combined with this book, becomes even better. You can read for free on the Clarkesworld Magazine website.
Catfishing on CatNet is the story of a girl whose mother is on the run from her father. They're always moving from one city to another and as a result, Steph doesn't actually have in real life friends. What she has are friends in an online chatroom where she spends an inordinate amount of time because they're essentially the only group of friends she has that she doesn't have to abandon on her next move. Then, she moves to a new city and a lot of things change when she starts to question her life and the administrator of her Clowder chatroom reveals themselves to be a sentient AI.
Catfishing on CatNet is essentially a YA thriller set in the near-future and it does have a couple of twists thrown in as Steph gets the answers she's looking for and finds out about her parents' past. Here, the story does get a little out there at some points and there were times when I had to blink and put the kindle down because it can get a little crazy. However, for the most part the story is fairly straightforward and could use a few twists and turns.
The writing was pretty okay overall and the book reads fast. I think I read this in a day or so. It was very fast-paced and it's very easy to get into the story which was a good thing. I did hope for more science fiction stuff involving the A.I. and in that, I was kind of disappointed but it's okay.
The characters were pretty good. Steph didn't have a lot of real friends except for her Clowder until she moved to a new city. I liked how diverse her group of friends was in terms of sexuality and race. Steph herself was questioning her sexuality- she didn't really have time to have a crush before.
As I said, the plot can be a little out there and does get a little crazy. However, it's still decent and pretty enjoyable as a lazy afternoon read. Overall, I can recommend it to anyone looking for a cute story with a decent plot and a good, diverse cast of characters. Again, I recommend that this book be read with the short story I linked. It really adds to the experience.
I also read the author's award-winning short story Cat Pictures Please which features the same concept about a benevolent AI who tries to help humanity. If you're familiar with Isaac Asimov, the three laws of robotics was heavily featured in the story and makes use of it in a very interesting way. I highly recommend reading that alongside this book as it was a very good short story on its own and when combined with this book, becomes even better. You can read for free on the Clarkesworld Magazine website.
Catfishing on CatNet is the story of a girl whose mother is on the run from her father. They're always moving from one city to another and as a result, Steph doesn't actually have in real life friends. What she has are friends in an online chatroom where she spends an inordinate amount of time because they're essentially the only group of friends she has that she doesn't have to abandon on her next move. Then, she moves to a new city and a lot of things change when she starts to question her life and the administrator of her Clowder chatroom reveals themselves to be a sentient AI.
Catfishing on CatNet is essentially a YA thriller set in the near-future and it does have a couple of twists thrown in as Steph gets the answers she's looking for and finds out about her parents' past. Here, the story does get a little out there at some points and there were times when I had to blink and put the kindle down because it can get a little crazy. However, for the most part the story is fairly straightforward and could use a few twists and turns.
The writing was pretty okay overall and the book reads fast. I think I read this in a day or so. It was very fast-paced and it's very easy to get into the story which was a good thing. I did hope for more science fiction stuff involving the A.I. and in that, I was kind of disappointed but it's okay.
The characters were pretty good. Steph didn't have a lot of real friends except for her Clowder until she moved to a new city. I liked how diverse her group of friends was in terms of sexuality and race. Steph herself was questioning her sexuality- she didn't really have time to have a crush before.
As I said, the plot can be a little out there and does get a little crazy. However, it's still decent and pretty enjoyable as a lazy afternoon read. Overall, I can recommend it to anyone looking for a cute story with a decent plot and a good, diverse cast of characters. Again, I recommend that this book be read with the short story I linked. It really adds to the experience.