YA ARC Review: Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer

Catfishing on Catnet
Author: Naomi Kritzer
Publication: Tor Teen (November 19, 2019)

Description: How much does the internet know about YOU?  A thought-provoking near future YA thriller that could not be more timely as it explores issues of online privacy, artificial intelligence, and the power and perils of social networks.

Because her mom is always on the move, Steph hasn’t lived anyplace longer than six months. Her only constant is an online community called CatNet―a social media site where users upload cat pictures―a place she knows she is welcome. What Steph doesn’t know is that the admin of the site, CheshireCat, is a sentient A.I.

When a threat from Steph’s past catches up to her and ChesireCat’s existence is discovered by outsiders, it’s up to Steph and her friends, both online and IRL, to save her.

Catfishing on CatNet is a surprising, heartfelt near-future YA thriller by award-winning author Naomi Kritzer, whose short story “Cat Pictures Please” won the Hugo Award and Locus Award and was a finalist for the Nebula.

My Thoughts: This is a near future science fiction thriller about a girl on the run and a computer network that is her one constant. Steph has been on the run with her mother since she was a small child. Her mother has told her that her father is a psychopath who tried to burn down their house, had her mother kidnapped, and tortured her. He is also very computer savvy and can track them down if they give the slightest hint of their presence online.

Steph has one online home - CatNet - and a bunch of good friends in her clowder. All are working through online personas and very few share much personal information. One of the people in her clowder is CheshireCat who, unknown to everyone, is an AI who runs the whole site and who is self-aware. Parts of the story are told from the AI's point of view.

At first, Steph doesn't like her new school so she tries to find a way to cause trouble knowing that it will make her mom move them again. But she becomes friends with a girl named Rachel and decides that she doesn't want to be jerked away from another school and another town. However, using her clowder's help to change the answers the robot teaching their sex education class gives the town national attention and her mother suffers a ruptured appendix which leaves Steph vulnerable to being found by her father.

Luckily, she has the help of meat friends including Rachel and online friends from her clowder and CheshireCat to help her bring her father to justice and find a place of safety.

This was an excellent and fast-paced thriller. I liked Steph who loves her mother but who is frustrated by her secrets and by her disrupting Steph's life over and over again. I liked the close friendships that she develops online. I liked the AI who didn't want to be evil but who just wanted to help her friends.

Favorite Quote:

There's power in disclosure. People feel better when other people know them, the real them. That sort of disclosure is key to real friendships. To real connections. People make real friend on CatNet, but they have to let people in, to see who they are. They have to take risk and accept vulnerability.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Edelweiss. You can buy your copy here.