Chaos on Catnet, by Naomi Kritzer

[sophia_sol]

Sometimes I finish a book and groan a bit at the thought of writing it up, because I don't know how to organize my thoughts into coherence, but I know I'll be happier if I do because then I'll have a better handle on my own understanding of the book!

So this is a sequel to Catfishing on Catnet, and after the exciting events of that book Steph and her mom are trying to settle down and live a "normal" life, now that the threat of her dad is gone. But because of a number of reasons, including her friendship with the AI CheshireCat, Steph gets drawn into trying to save the world from another AI. Among other things.

There's a lot that's good about the book, and I really enjoyed it a lot, when I wasn't totally stressed out with worry about what was going to happen to these kids. I felt so much for Nell, doing her best to escape the fundamentalist religious cult she was raised in but not yet sure how to feel confident in who she is outside of it. And Steph and her mom are doing their best after the chaos and trauma of the last many years but still struggling to learn healthy ways of relating to each other and to the world. And they're all in SO MUCH DANGER! As well as Nell and Steph's respective girlfriends, and their various other friends, and tbh most humans??

But one thing that made me laugh was how much I enjoyed all the adults in this YA novel......signs you've gotten old, I guess. (other signs you've gotten old: I just realized I referred to the main characters as kids in the previous paragraph.) But hot damn, Nell's dad's polycule! Steph's grandmother! the random lesbian activist in whose house they take refuge at one point!

I appreciated that there were understandable explanations for why a lot of these kids would not feel comfortable going to the adults in their lives for help, and also about interference in communication when they DID try, so that various excellent adults could be present and part of the story while still allowing for the usual YA thing of making sure the teens are the ones to save the day. Nicely done.

However. A lot of the plot in this book is kicked off because of all these people using what are honestly EXTREMELY sketchy apps, and it takes people forever to be like "hmm maybe there's something concerning about this app" EVEN AFTER it's convinced them to do all sorts of things that any reasonable person would be suspicious of. The cult's app, sure, it's a cult, that checks out. But the other apps???

Anyway as long as I turned up my dial in suspension-of-disbelief alllllll the way up, I think it was a good book. But that was a heck of a lot of belief to suspend, tbh.

Okay was this review helpful to me? might it be helpful to you? idk on either point but here we are.

Comments

[oracne]

I adored Random Lesbian Activist.

[sophia_sol]

she was truly amazing!

[profiterole_reads]

I enjoyed these books, as well as her Eliana's Song duology (f/f).

I'm new on Dreamwidth and need more book friends, so I'm adding you. I see you're in Chinese fandoms as well, so that's great.

[sophia_sol]

Welcome to Dreamwidth, and to my journal! Happy to have you here :)

I hadn't heard of Eliana's Song, I'll have to look it up!

[china_shop]

Yeah, I had a lot more mixed feelings about this than the first one, particularly when I realised what a coincidence it was that Nell and Steph had met and made friends. But overall, with as you say my suspension-of-disbelief dial cranked up, I liked it too. The polycule and other sympathetic adults were great! :-)

[sophia_sol]

yeah, the coincidence of Nell and Steph connecting was also a thing to dial up suspension of disbelief on! too bad, because the good parts of the book really were good

[silverflight8]

I enjoy reading thoughts on books even when they are not super comprehensive! And you always give books a fair shake 🙂

I know, I also started to empathize and feel for the adults more. It's not that I dislike Anne, I still love her, but man, I appreciate Marilla so much. And Will Stanton from Dark is Rising still great, but I felt for Hawkin so much :(

[sophia_sol]

I enjoy reading thoughts on books even when they are not super comprehensive! And you always give books a fair shake 🙂

awww, thank you!

and yeah, I haven't read the specific books you refer to, but there are a lot of great adults in ya/kidlit it turns out!

[chestnut_pod]

I appreciate even your most scattered book thoughts!

[sophia_sol]

<33333

[mergatrude]

I think you got me onto these books in the first place, so thank you! I, too, had the reaction of, "OMG! Delete the app immediately!" But like you, I otherwise enjoyed the adults in this book, especially the Minneapolis non-police.

[sophia_sol]

yes, the non-police were great too! It's nice to see a book imagining a better future in that respect; I'm not sure I've seen that kind of thing before

[lirazel]

Sometimes I finish a book and groan a bit at the thought of writing it up, because I don't know how to organize my thoughts into coherence, but I know I'll be happier if I do because then I'll have a better handle on my own understanding of the book!

Literally me with The Dawn of Everything. I was like, "This is going to be so long...but I need to figure out what I think, so I should just write it." And then I was glad I did!

[sophia_sol]

yeah I bet that was a doozy of a review to write, but you did a great job!

[lirazel]

Thank you! It really helped me organize my thoughts! Reading the book, as enjoyable as it was, was kind of like juggling with Big Ideas.

[sophia_sol]

Yeah totally, one of the many reasons I love writing book reviews!